46 pages • 1 hour read
Natasha PrestonThe Island
Fiction | Novel | YA | Published in 2023A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Chapters 21-24Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 21 Summary
Ava, Paisley, Harper, and Gibson move back toward the jetty as Robert approaches, sword in hand. They jump into the ice-cold water, and Paisley struggles as her clothes become wet and heavy. Though Robert doesn’t follow them, she is separated from the others by a swift current, which drags her further down the shore. She yells at the others to leave her behind and eventually struggles out of the current onto the bottom of a rocky cliff. She clings to the cliff, gathering her strength, and decides to swim backwards to the original jetty, hoping that Robert will not expect her to be there. She makes it onto the jetty and lies down, exhausted and bleeding from a cut on her forehead.
Paisley decides the best course of action is to head back into the park and try to find the cell phone jammer. While looking for it, she runs into Liam. He is relieved to see her and tells her that he lost Reeve in the haunted house but found Kenna’s body. The two of them recap the last hour and try to decide who the killer might be. Liam wonders if Gibson or Reeve could be guilty, but Paisley denies it and insists they aren’t capable of it. He asks her who they can trust, and she tells him she doesn’t know. She privately thinks that the only person she can really trust is herself.
Chapter 22 Summary
Liam and Paisley head back to the restaurant and are relieved to find Harper, Ava, and Gibson there. Gibson and Harper embrace her, relieved that she is okay. Gibson suggests that they change into dry clothes and regroup, but Paisley insists that they all stay together as they do so. They go to Ava’s room first, and Harper is furious when Ava emerges from the bathroom with a new face of makeup.
The others all change quickly, and they head downstairs to get food. The influencers discuss whether their parents will start to worry, and Ava confesses that her parents will never notice if she’s not posting because they don’t pay attention to her. The conversation turns to theories about the killer, and Paisley says that she thinks Robert knows Malcolm. She hopes that they can find answers if they find Malcolm.
Chapter 23 Summary
The survivors take their supplies to the club room and barricade the door, hoping to stay there safely. As they do so, Paisley and Liam theorize that Robert might be Malcolm’s secret son, neglected by his wealthy father.
Out the window, they spot a wounded Reeve slowly walking through the park. Gibson wants to go after him, but Paisley and the others intervene. Liam asks Gibson if he’s sure Reeve isn’t the killer. He points out that he’s the only one who wasn’t knifed and that he has been alone every time the killer struck. Gibson angrily defends his friend and tries to get Paisley to side with him. Ava interrupts to point out that Reeve is on the move again and is headed toward the hotel, ducking and hiding as he goes.
They decide that they will hunt for the jammer when he makes it back. Harper suggests setting something on fire, and the others run with it, deciding that burning the check-in booths at the entrance might attract attention from the mainland. They go downstairs and meet Reeve as he arrives, covered in blood. He tells them that it isn’t his.
Chapter 24 Summary
In shock, Reeve tells them that Camilla is dead and that he found her body. They quickly recap their actions for him, including seeing Camilla’s murder, and explain the plan to set the fire. Ava accuses Reeve of being the killer, and he angrily defends himself to her and everyone else. They calm down and begin to walk toward the booths.
Reeve drops behind the others to speak to Paisley. He tells her that something doesn’t feel right. It’s strange that they have only seen one killer at a time, always dressed in black, never two killers together. She agrees but doesn’t know what to make of it.
As they start the fire, Paisley feels guilty about destroying the island. Harper tells her that it feels wrong, but her eyes gleam, and she seems excited. Paisley attributes it to finally taking action, not realizing that Harper is one of the two killers they have been hunting.
Chapters 21-24 Analysis
Preston increases the novel’s tension through Paisley’s attraction to both Liam and Reeve. She meets them both on the island and shares flirtatious moments with each of them before the killings begin. This budding romance raises the stakes. When Reeve falls under suspicion, Paisley questions herself and wonders if he is truly innocent, or if she believes he is because of her feelings for him. Cleverly, Preston ensures that Liam never falls under suspicion, though he is the killer. Instead, he uses every chance to subtly fan the flames of Paisley’s doubt. When she challenges him, defending Reeve, he tells her, “I’ve known the three of them for two days. That’s not long enough to really know a person” (232). Paisley thinks of all the crime stories she’s covered where someone close to a killer was fooled, and silently replies, “I’m not sure we ever know anyone” (232). The irony here is that she is correct and talking directly to the killer. She doesn’t know Liam, but she trusts him and Harper, putting herself in danger.
By redirecting suspicion to Reeve, Preston generates the twist of Liam and Harper’s identities. However, there are many subtle moments of foreshadowing throughout the text. For example, when Paisley tells Liam that she has the killer’s knife, he responds by saying “[w]hat? […] a little too loudly” (230). She reads his surprise as concern for her, but he is startled that she took his knife in their struggle. Another moment occurs when Gibson defends Reeve by saying that he is trying to get his life back together and doesn’t deserve what has happened. Liam responds, “None of us deserves this” (237). The irony is that Liam and Harper are carrying out the killing spree because they do believe that Malcolm and Camilla deserve to be punished. Relating to the theme of The Dangerous Allure of Wealth, the killers believe that they deserve wealth and fame that have been unfairly denied to them. The killings are a way of making a name for themselves and taking revenge.
Throughout the novel, Preston uses glimmers of humor to lighten the mood and to show Paisley’s resilience as a character. After her traumatic swim and escape from Liam, she notices a wound on her forehead and thinks, “If I’m left with a scar, hopefully it’ll be a cool one like Harry Potter’s” (227). Her dark humor as well as the pop culture allusion to Rowling’s series create an instant point of recognition for the young audience of YA literature. Later, she changes into dry clothes, including “a baggy T-shirt that says I would rather be watching a true crime doc” (239). In a moment when Paisley would very literally rather be watching a documentary, this shirt is a humorous nod to her character’s interests.
