As time has gone on and they have developed a degree of self-sufficiency, the couple have also noticed that supply drops have become irregular and subsequently stopped and abandoned boats have started to wreck themselves on the island. There are certainly some compelling aspects to this novel in terms of depicting a dystopian future, but there were far too many questions left lingering about how this dystopian future came about. The relationship between Aina and Whitney is murky and imbalanced, with Aina not fully trusting Whitney.

Random elements are introduced which offer more depth to the world building but little advancement of any kind of story. There will be readers who respond so strongly to Watson’s transparent prose, to the curiously lulling strangeness of his world, that they can set aside the trivial matter of cause and effect. The story centers around a couple who have been banished to an island for having a child against the rules of their country.

Aina begins to form a plan of escape (due to a small timing defect in the dispensing machine) but events become even more dramatic when signs of further human life appear. The flashbacks of telling how they came to be parents and came to face their exile were engaging, as was the wedge that started to drive itself between Aina and Whitney as the end of their twelve years came and no warden appeared to end their exile. Just like the great Margaret Atwood in The Handmaid's Tale, this author doesn't inform the reader of how the world becomes what it is in this story. They’ve been in exile for twelve years and are awaiting parole when one day a sheep turns up, but sheep can’t swim so where has this one come from?

A great concept, well written with a eerie and frightening premise, but overall I felt like there could have been more to this story.It’s best to go in knowing very little, because Watson’s intricately layered novel reveals its secrets slowly and it is all the more brilliant for it. The prose was gorgeous, filled with ideas around human feelings and capabilities, but ultimately, the book sucked.

Islands are always good places to set thrillers on, dystopian or otherwise but I never really felt I understood the geography and must admit I was pleased to get to the end of the book. It was filmed on Yell, off the Isle of Skye, with its dramatic landscape and far-reaching vistas, similarly to ‘The Limits’ where Metronome is set. Set on a remote island this book plays with the theme of isolation, building a compact world cantered around predominantly two characters.

Shipwrecks have begun washing up, supply drops have stopped and on the day their punishment is meant to end, the Warden does not come. I loved the premise of this book and had high hopes of learning more about a world which exiles people as punishment, making them dependant on pills for survival. Overall I found this a worthwhile read and one that seemed quite different to many of the books I I've read. Their relationship has been understandably challenged, twelve years with nobody but your spouse would be difficult for even the most solid of couples after all, but they’ve been able to rub along together, knowing that there was an end point in sight.