On the clock

A dystopian thriller pits a couple stranded on a deadly island against time, and each other.

- CATRIONA FERGUSON

METRONOME, by Tom Watson (Bloomsbury, $32.99)

Even before Daniel Defoe's 18th-century classic Robinson Crusoe took the world by storm, islands have been the backdrop for some of our most enduring stories. Whether it's the outcast sorcerer Prospero weaving his spells on a remote magical island or the trickster Odysseus hopping around the archipelagos of Ancient Greece, an island setting is packed with narrative potential: unpredictable weather, hazardous landscapes, isolation both geographical and social.

In his debut novel, Londoner Tom Watson takes these touchpoints and weaves them into an intriguing genre mash-up: part thriller, part survivalist fiction, part dystopian horror.