The Prisoner of Hell Gate

Five friends, academics in the field of public health, take a boat ride to celebrate the end of summer. Karalee and her friends visit North Brother Island, a tiny bit of land off the coast of the Bronx, in the dangerous tides known as the Hell Gate of the East River. The isolated island has a dismal history: it once housed a quarantine hospital for smallpox, typhoid, and other communicable disease sufferers, including the infamous "Typhoid Mary" Mallon. Karalee is particularly interested, since she is a descendant of the famous public health official George A. Soper—the man who tracked down Mallon, one of the first known symptom-free carriers of typhoid fever. Today the island is off-limits to the public—but someone is living there. Chapters alternate between Karalee and the mysterious woman on the island. This story starts off, like many horror tales, as an adventurous lark. The friends, who playfully call themselves the "sewer rats," anchor their boat and walk around, chatting about the island's history while swigging beers and smoking joints. When day fades to evening and the summer temperatures begin to cool down, the group prepare to leave but find the boat damaged and unseaworthy. Assuming a benign accident, the sewer rats don't panic—but know they are, for the time being, trapped on the island. As night falls, the island's true nature reveals itself. Artfully incorporating germophobia, Wolff offers a campy work of horror that is uniquely frightening. The creep factor and fascinating history help readers overlook some of the less than believable plot elements, awkward exposition, and stock characters.