Overview

Midwinter in Orkney. Six hours of daylight. A race against time to catch a killer. 'My debut novel of the year' CHRIS LLOYD 'I couldn't turn the pages fast enough' NASHEEMA LENNON - Reporter Freya Sinclair has always known she was different. While waiting on the outcome of an autism assessment, Freya uproots her life in Glasgow, quitting her job at one of Scotland’s top broadsheets and taking a local beat in her childhood home of Orkney. But her plans for a quiet life are shattered when human remains are exhumed by a winter storm on Orkney’s wild Atlantic coast. The identity of the bones opens old wounds in the islands, and sheds light on a darker truth nobody wants to accept. As the nights draw in, Freya’s obsessive hunt for answers turns into a cat-and-mouse game, with each secret she unearths threatening her job, compromising her family, and exposing new victims to a killer who's watching from the shadows… - 'Daniel Aubrey can do for Orkney what Ann Cleeves has done for Shetland in this absorbing novel. It transported me' MARION TODD ‘Twists and secrets galore … A nail-biting thriller you'll never forget’ CAROLINE MITCHELL 'A tense read with emotional honesty … Freya is a triumph' CALLUM McSORLEY - REAL READERS LOVE DARK ISLAND ‘I absolutely raced through this exciting murder mystery. Daniel Aubrey's writing transported me. Freya is such a brilliant and complex character’ ‘If you’re a fan of location-based mysteries, such as LJ Ross or GR Halliday, you need to get your teeth into this series NOW’ ‘Pacy and well-plotted and I loved the Orkney setting. I really liked Freya and there's lots of action and twists but it never at any point felt far-fetched’ ‘Everyone should read Dark Island. I loved the neurodivergent character at the heart of the book. The ending was extremely moving’

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9780008624408

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Reviews

AUTHORS SAY… 'With the hauntingly original backdrop of Orkney as a character in its own right, and enough twists and turns to keep the hardened thriller reader engrossed to its surprising end…[Dark Island is] a wholly satisfying reading experience. Freya Sinclair is a protagonist with mileage, and I cannot wait to see where she goes next.' Wiz Wharton 'An unputdownable thriller. In Freya, we find a truly refreshing protagonist.' Danielle Devlin 'Walking in Freya’s shoes helped me to better appreciate the impact ADHD has on a person's daily life… A truly enriching read.' Anita Frank 'Sublime. With a story that is every bit as tempestuous and powerful as an island storm, Aubrey’s writing is both supremely pacy and deeply thoughtful. Freya Sinclair is an absolute winner of a protagonist, who has you rooting for her from page one. Please may there be many more in this series.' Chris Lloyd 'What a fantastic debut. I adored the complexity of Freya’s character.' Nasheema Lennon ‘The atmospheric backdrop of Orkney enhances the reader’s experience of this compulsive debut. With a brilliant and original main character, plenty of nail-biting moments and satisfying twists, there is everything here that fans of this genre love. I can’t wait to read Aubrey’s next.’ Rebecca Netley REAL READERS SAY… ‘Fabulously dark tale set on the Scottish islands’ ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ ‘A great thriller – a fast-paced, realistic read that had me turning the pages late into the night!’ ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ ‘Would make a great TV crime drama series too!’ ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ ‘Great storyline and great characters’ ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ ‘I could not put it down’ ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ ‘A cracking debut and I’m already very much looking forward to what Daniel Aubrey does next’ ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

"“With the hauntingly original backdrop of Orkney as a character in its own right, and enough twists and turns to keep the hardened thriller reader engrossed to its surprising end…[Dark Island is] a wholly satisfying reading experience. Freya Sinclair is a protagonist with mileage, and I cannot wait to see where she goes next.” Wiz Wharton “An unputdownable thriller. In Freya, we find a truly refreshing protagonist.” Danielle Devlin “Walking in Freya’s shoes helped me to better appreciate the impact ADHD has on my daughter’s daily life and what it, in reality, means for her…a truly enriching read.” Anita Frank ""A tense read played out over a gorgeous, unforgiving backdrop, with a protagonist you can’t help but connect with. Freya is a triumph, written with genuine emotional honesty by Daniel Aubrey, and I’m looking forward to her next scoop."" Callum McSorley ""Daniel Aubrey can do for Orkney what Ann Cleeves has done for Shetland in this absorbing novel. It transported me."" Marion Todd ""Sublime. With a story that is every bit as tempestuous and powerful as an island storm, Aubrey’s writing is both supremely pacy and deeply thoughtful. Freya Sinclair is an absolute winner of a protagonist, who has you rooting for her from page one. Please may there be many more in this series."" Chris Lloyd ""What a fantastic debut. I adored the complexity of Freya’s character and I couldn’t turn the pages fast enough to see where her investigations were taking her!"" Nasheema Lennon"

“With the hauntingly original backdrop of Orkney as a character in its own right, and enough twists and turns to keep the hardened thriller reader engrossed to its surprising end…[Dark Island is] a wholly satisfying reading experience. Freya Sinclair is a protagonist with mileage, and I cannot wait to see where she goes next.” Wiz Wharton, author of Ghost Girl, Banana (Hodder Studio, 2023) “An unputdownable thriller. In Freya, we find a truly refreshing protagonist.” Danielle Devlin, author of Burnt Offerings (Polygon, 2023) “Walking in Freya’s shoes helped me to better appreciate the impact ADHD has on my daughter’s daily life and what it, in reality, means for her…a truly enriching read.” Anita Frank, author of The Lost Ones (HQ, 2019) and The Return (HQ, 2021)

“With the hauntingly original backdrop of Orkney as a character in its own right, and enough twists and turns to keep the hardened thriller reader engrossed to its surprising end…[Dark Island is] a wholly satisfying reading experience. Freya Sinclair is a protagonist with mileage, and I cannot wait to see where she goes next.” Wiz Wharton, author of Ghost Girl, Banana (Hodder Studio, 2023) “An unputdownable thriller. In Freya, we find a truly refreshing protagonist.” Danielle Devlin, author of Burnt Offerings (Polygon, 2023) “Walking in Freya’s shoes helped me to better appreciate the impact ADHD has on my daughter’s daily life and what it, in reality, means for her…a truly enriching read.” Anita Frank, author of The Lost Ones (HQ, 2019) and The Return (HQ, 2021)

Author Information

Daniel Aubrey is a former journalist whose previous jobs included writing for a local paper in Spain and working as a sub-editor at an international press agency in Hong Kong. Now living in Scotland, he has written his debut novel, Dark Island – a crime thriller about neurodivergent reporter, Freya Sinclair, who uncovers a disturbing conspiracy following the discovery of human remains on Orkney’s wild Atlantic coast.

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