Shutter Island Spoiler? Not Here!

I’m a little bit sad today. January Magazine’s stats pages are set up in such a way that if there’s a significant bump on one page, I notice fairly quickly. And so here is something I noticed today: in the last month or so -- since the release of the film version of Dennis Lehane’s Shutter Island, we’ve had a little traffic bump: thousands of people are finding their way to January by searching for a spoiler for Shutter Island.

Now, obviously, they won’t find one on Anthony Rainone’s review of the 2003 novel: we’re pretty scrupulous about such things. Nor will they on either of the interviews we’ve done with Lehane. (For one thing, both were conducted prior to the novel’s release.) But those random visitors will find a wealth of information about Lehane.

Meanwhile, the film is doing very well. No surprise there, either. It’s a terrific book and the film version was directed by Martin Scorcese and stars Leonardo DiCaprio, Mark Ruffalo, Ben Kingsley and Michelle Williams.

And here’s a word of advice for the uninitiated: the best way to reveal a spoiler is not via Google. Not ever and not at all. Either sit alone with a book or with friends in the dark and have it play out to you. Some things in life are best left intact until you get there: life is short and the sweet surprises few and far between.