“Island Girl” by Charles R. Hinckley

Island Girl

Charles R. Hinckley
Independently Published (2024)
ISBN:  979-8324002336
Reviewed by Terri Stepek for Reader Views (07/2026)

Island Girl, a novella by Charles R. Hinckley, introduces us to Garrett, a man who lost his wife and young daughter to an airplane crash.  He dealt with this devastating loss first by heavy drinking, then by choosing to live on a small isolated island off the coast of Maine where they owned a primitive getaway cabin.  It’s now his full-time home where he is attempting to sober up from years of blackout drinking.  It would be an idyllic setting if he didn’t carry the full weight of regret and sorrow with him as constant companions that he refuses to release.  But one night he realizes he’s no longer alone on his island, and he wonders what trouble has come to his door now.

That trouble turns out to be a woman who says she escaped her captor’s boat and was swept away by the currents, spending hours in the frigid waters until she washed up on his shore.  She doesn’t remember anything other than that at first.  Or so she says.  He may be a recovering alcoholic, but he’s not an idiot.  He tells her he’ll call the sheriff for her.  Suddenly she starts remembering little snippets of why he shouldn’t do that:  they’re coming for her, they’ll kill them both, he’s been abusing her.  Garrett knows something’s not right, but he initially sees in this enigmatic young woman the disorientation that was his own when he lost his family.

The black coals and soot mirrored his mood, and deep down, his soul, if he had a soul, felt charred and blackened by the sin of regret, the sin of waste.

The girl finally says he can call her Jane, and he allows her to get cleaned up, dressed in some of his dry clothes, and he feeds her.  Before he can convince her to go into town with him to the sheriff’s office, they get unwanted guests:  Bill, who claims to be her husband, and his cousin Jack.  Jane (who Bill calls Rose) initially refuses to go with them, but after a moment of hushed conversation with Bill, she suddenly reverses her decision and tells Garrett goodbye.

But Jane, or Rose, or whatever her name is, is the proverbial Bad Penny.

Island Girl is a psychological thriller full of Hitchcockian confusion, twists, and deception.  Jane reappears on Garrett’s island, saying she escaped.  Again.  But she has much to answer for now, and Garrett wants her to tell her story to the sheriff.  Her incoherence in certain areas smacks of deceit, and he’s crystal clear that he wants none of it.  Yet Jane has a way of getting past the defenses of this lonely man and reminding him that he’s still alive.  She becomes, in a sense, a walking embodiment of his alcoholic addiction.  He knows there’s nothing good here—that he should send her packing.  But he wants her, plain and simple.

Hinckley has filled this short novella with unexpectedly fleshed-out characters and rich symbolism even as he weaves the suspense of this thriller throughout.  Birds are regular harbingers in this tale, and become fun Easter eggs to look for and decipher.  Yet the foundation of this story is a man who finds himself at a crossroads.  Should he continue to hold on to the grief and anger that have been his constant companions since the accident?  Or should he choose to open his eyes, his heart, and live again?  Are his feelings genuine, or an obsession?  His heart had been a charred ash for so long; he wasn’t sure he was capable of moving on if he wanted to.

Every face held a secret.  Smiles were a ruse.  The real dirt was inside their heads, squirming with nasty little secrets.  Drunks acted sober, drug addicts ran stolen goods, men beat their wives, and wives cheated.  The mentally ill and happy people walked side-by-side in an unforgiving world where your whole life could be torn away with one wrong move.  Everyone walked on glass…

While this is a dark thriller, Garrett is surprisingly easy to relate to.  At times, Jane feels that way, too.  But it’s hard to know when we’re really getting the truth from her, so while readers will often feel for her and her situation, there’s still a sense of wanting to keep her at arm’s length.  There’s a certain irony about a man who has chosen to alienate himself from civilization, but then finds that the very worst of it is invading his private space.  The reader may also begin to wonder if truth isn’t simply what you choose to make it when you live alone on your own island.

Charles R. Hinckley’s Island Girl is a taut thriller full of psychological intrigue, in which a likable hermit finds himself in an untenable situation.  Fans of psychological thrillers, suspense, and mind-bending mysteries will appreciate this off-the-grid powerhouse.