Adrian McKinty went from UBER driver to global sensation with three new 7-figure deals--with Hulu, Universal Pictures, and Little, Brown and Company

The Island, out May 17, 2022, is the highly anticipated follow-up to his #1 breakout bestseller The Chain

NEW YORK, April 25, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Adrian McKinty's remarkable story has inspired people all over the world. His novel, THE CHAIN, written when he was broke, homeless, and driving an UBER to provide for his family, became a global phenomenon, a New York Times bestseller (in hardcover, paperback and mass market), a #1 international bestseller that sold in forty-three countries around the world, an acclaimed novel that made more than twenty-five "best book of the year" lists including that of Time magazine, the winner of five major international awards, and will soon be a major motion picture from Universal Pictures with visionary film director Edgar Wright at the helm (Baby Driver, Shaun of The Dead, Hot Fuzz).

Bruce Nichols, Publisher of Little, Brown and Company, announced today the publication of THE ISLAND, Adrian McKinty's magnificent new thriller, after acquiring McKinty's next two books in a seven-figure worldwide deal for from Shane Salerno at The Story Factory. Nichols commented, "Adrian McKinty is a master at creating high-stakes, white-knuckle dramas in which family members go to extraordinary lengths to protect one another—even in the most extreme of circumstances. THE ISLAND is a page-turner like no other."

Now Adrian McKinty's inspiring story continues with the worldwide release of The Island on May 17, 2022. Another harrowing thriller that draws from McKinty's determination to do what it takes to keep his family safe, and his experiences parenting through uncertainty, the book has already received widespread praise from major authors, including Don Winslow, and from booksellers, early readers, and the media, with two consecutive starred reviews from Publishers Weekly and Booklist.

THE ISLAND focuses on a young stepmother who will stop at nothing to save her family. The story centers on newly married Heather Baxter as she heads out on a trip to Australia with her doctor husband, Tom, and his two teens, Olivia and Owen. At first, the trip is a dream come true. Heather's never traveled outside of the US before. And she's been struggling to connect with her new stepchildren. But as on any family vacation, little goes as planned—the weather is too hot, the kids soon bored, and the promised koalas nowhere to be seen. When their spontaneous visit to a remote island leads to a horrific accident, Heather must make a decision that changes everything. Soon they are on the run for their lives, through a gauntlet that tops even THE CHAIN for its sheer intensity and breakneck pace.

Adrian McKinty says, "The last few years of my life have been a whirlwind experience. After seventeen books, I became an overnight success just before my fiftieth birthday. It's been an incredible journey and completely overwhelming all at once. I'm so grateful for how readers around the world have embraced THE CHAIN and if you loved THE CHAIN I think you will absolutely love THE ISLAND."

Hulu recently acquired the television rights to THE ISLAND in a major seven-figure deal that was announced on Deadline Hollywood and widely picked up.

At the same time, Universal Pictures is moving toward production with the film adaptation of The Chain from director Edgar Wright (Baby Driver) and screenwriter Jane Goldman (Kick Ass, X-Men: First Class, Kingsman: The Secret Service) and six-time Oscar nominated producer Eric Fellner of Working Title Pictures.

About Adrian McKinty:

Adrian McKinty was born and raised in Belfast, Northern Ireland. He studied philosophy on a full scholarship at Oxford University before moving to Australia and to New York. He is the author of more than a dozen crime novels, including the Dagger and Edgar-award nominated debut Dead I Well May Be, the critically acclaimed Sean Duffy series, and the award-winning standalone thriller The Chain, which was a New York Times and #1 international bestseller. McKinty's books have been translated into over 30 languages and he has won the Edgar Award, the International Thriller Writers Award, the Ned Kelly Award (3 times), the Anthony Award, the Barry Award, the Macavity Award, and the Theakston Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year Award.

**Adrian discusses how he went from almost being evicted to writing bestsellers on CBS Saturday Morning.

**Universal Pictures has acquired the screen rights to Adrian McKinty's novel The Chain in a deal that calls for a guaranteed low-seven-figure payday for the author, an Uber driver until a series of deals for the book changed his life. 

**Hulu acquires Adrian McKinty's New Novel The Island For Limited Series (Deadline Story)

About Little, Brown and Company:

Little, Brown and Company is a division of Hachette Book Group, Inc. Founded in 1837, Little, Brown has long been recognized as a publisher committed to publishing fiction of the highest quality fiction and nonfiction of lasting significance. Hachette Book Group is a leading trade publisher based in New York and a division of Hachette Livre, the third largest trade and educational publisher in the world.

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Advanced praise for Adrian McKinty and The Island:

"Deliverance meets The Road Warrior in this harrowing survival thriller set in Australia from bestseller McKinty (The Chain). Heather, a 24-year-old Seattle massage therapist, has recently married surgeon Tom Baxter, a widower who's 20 years her senior. She's also taken on the responsibility of caring for Tom's children, 14-year-old Olivia and 12-year-old Owen. Olivia and Owen view Heather as "too young to be a real mom," and Heather agrees. When Tom is invited to give the keynote speech at a medical conference in Melbourne, he packs up the family, saying they can make a mini vacation of the trip. Given the incessant demands of the kids to see koalas and kangaroos, Tom agrees to pay an exorbitant sum to take a ferry to a small private island, which turns out to be the home of the unsavory O'Neil family. A penknife Heather received as a gift from an Aboriginal man on the mainland comes in handy after an accidental road death leads the vengeful O'Neils to target the Baxters. How Heather and the children wind up pooling their abilities to stay alive against all odds makes for an exhilarating ride. McKinty is a master of suspense."–Starred review, Publishers Weekly

"Wow, this book left me breathless and on the edge of my seat from the very first page—this is thriller writing of a high order. Gripping and unpredictable, prepare to be hooked and pumped full of adrenaline as McKinty deftly weaves a compulsively readable plot with characters that you are rooting for. No one does high- stakes tension like McKinty. Put The Island at the top of your TBR—you won't regret it."
—Sarah Pearse, New York Times bestselling author of The Sanatorium

"Heart-stoppingly tense and unpredictable, The Island twists a family vacation to a nightmarish breaking point. Adrian McKinty has written another irresistible and pulse-pounding thriller about the surprising places evil hides and just how far we'll go for those we love." 
—Karin Slaughter, New York Times bestselling author

"McKinty's The Chain (2019) ran the table in terms of sales and critical acclaim, and now he's delivered another knockout stand-alone. A trip to Australia seemed like an opportunity for Tom Baxter, a Seattle doctor, and his new wife, the much-younger Heather, to help Tom's two teen children, Owen and Olivia, get over the death of their mother only a year ago. First mistake: in search of koalas, they pay a scruffy group of men, part of the O'Neill clan, to ferry them to the isolated Dutch Island. Second mistake: Tom, driving too fast, runs over a young woman. Third mistake: they hide the body and try to escape before the creepy O'Neills figure out what happened. Of course, they're captured, and after Tom is knifed by the dead woman's husband, Heather, Owen, and Olivia hightail it into the forbidding landscape surrounding the O'Neill compound. Fortunately, they have resources they don't immediately recognize: Heather knows a thing or two about survival, and the kids are both whip smart, if only they could stop hating Heather. The chase that ensues under the blistering Australian sun is expertly choreographed and breathlessly exciting, but the novel hits another level entirely through McKinty's portrayal of the developing relationship between Heather and the teens (whom she initially didn't want in her life anymore than they wanted her). The family-in-peril story is a familiar trope, but here both the peril and the family are like no other. HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: The Chain was McKinty's breakthrough novel in 2019, and this one, accompanied by a major national media campaign, could be every bit as big." — Bill Ott, Booklist (starred review)

SOURCE Little, Brown and Company