The fog never simply arrives on Vashon Island. It seeps. Through trees and memory, through radio signals and half-remembered dreams. In The Mysterious Visitor of Vashon Island, Albert Allen III invites readers into a version of the Island where nothing is quite what it seems, and the spaces between pine trunks hum with hidden frequencies.
The year is 1940-something. A cold July wind coils through the beach grass. Glenn Miller plays softly on a polished Philco. And then, static. Something foreign. Something not of this world.
A Disruption in the Familiar
Allen’s story lives in the moment when the ordinary turns. One second, you are wrapped in the warmth of routine, a fisherman watching the tide, a girl curled under a blanket, a father reading by lamplight. Next, you are pulled into something strange and impossible to explain.
“Wonder. Paranoia. Nostalgia. And the quiet dread that comes when something familiar turns strange,” Allen says of the book’s emotional landscape. In the middle of it all are two teenagers, Emma Sinclair and Tommy Adler, whose curiosity leads them into something far more dangerous than they expect.
When an unmarked boat drifts ashore near Point Robinson, Emma and Tommy are the first to notice what others ignore. Strange broadcasts break into KIRO radio. Orbs swirl from the lighthouse. Neighbors begin to act oddly. Beneath it all lies something ancient and waiting. Armed only with a diary, a reel-to-reel recorder, and a black stone that speaks in dreams, the teens must uncover the island’s secret before it completes its terrible cycle.
The Island as a Guide
The island is not a backdrop. It is a guide. A living, breathing presence that shifts as the story deepens. “The island is a character in the story,” Allen tells us. “Its rhythms, the way fog blankets the trees, the sound of the wind near Point Robinson, all influenced the pacing and mood. I paced the book like a tide coming in. Subtle shifts until suddenly everything is underwater.”
Readers will recognize pieces of the real Vashon. The Point Robinson Lighthouse. The towering KIRO radio structure. Even the quiet orchard plots make quiet appearances. For locals, there is a thrill in reading something that feels imagined yet rooted in the dirt of their own home.
Early readers have already shared their impressions with the author. One told him the book feels like a myth that could have really happened. That is Allen’s highest aim: to write something that slips past your defenses and feels like something you once heard from a friend of a friend.
Fear and Wonder
The story is not just about the strange. It is about how people respond to it. Allen sets his mystery during the 1940s, a time already steeped in fear and uncertainty. He blends Cold War paranoia, classic UFO lore, and small-town tension with a reverence for quiet bravery.
“The challenge was blending science fiction and nostalgia without tipping too far into either,” he explains. “I wanted it to feel grounded in the 1940s but also timeless.”
At its heart, the book follows two kids trying to protect their home. They do not have weapons or special powers. What they have is love for their island and a willingness to listen when others will not.
Something Beneath the Pines
As the story deepens, so does the mystery. Time begins to ripple. Symbols return. The fog becomes heavier. In this middle section of the novel, readers are drawn into the core of something ancient and unfinished.
Next time, we will speak with Albert Allen III about what comes after this book. Emma and Tommy’s next adventure. The possibility of a film. And what it would mean to see this story read aloud under the beam of the lighthouse that inspired it.
Until then, listen closely. Turn the radio low. The pines are moving, and the fog is not alone.
Author: Vashon Island
Vashon is an Island located between Tacoma and West Seattle. This account manages the vashon-maury.com website full on useful information for residents and visitors of the Island.
