A family’s lake house becomes the center of this drama when long ago secrets are finally revealed. You thought this would be an inheritance fight over the lake house? Way more comes to light as the family must face the past in the most unexpected way.
Whether you believe this is a story about real life or magical realism, either way Dunnett will take you on a twisty ride of death, past lives and betrayal.
To start off with a positive, this was a fun one!
At the beginning of the story, I struggled with the way the author wrote. I felt the writing was short, detailed sentences that were borderline obnoxious. What I mean is every movement was noted, no fluff. At first this annoyed me, but as I continued reading I got used to the flow and found myself enjoying the writing style.
The plot line was even more of a doozy. It started out with the father’s reveal, which I won’t mention because I was surprised. Then it didn’t go anywhere. It didn’t add to the story at all. This happened one too many times in the book. Creates a bit of a distrust between author and reader. Was the author trying to sneak in a political statement (as some reviews believe?) or was it filler to distract the reader from he main story line.. I’m really not sure. Although hindsight, I don’t understand how it plays out but I’m still not annoyed reading about it.
The scenarios the author chose to put into the story, whether you consider them real or magical realism, were so far out there I was kind of blown away. It kept me fully engaged because I’ve never read anything like this before. The entire storyline was completely odd and unexpected. I absolutely loved it. I found myself unable to put the book down as I never knew what the author would throw at me next. It was a breath of fresh air for me as I’ve been in a rut of reading some formula style books lately.
Finally, the way the author overall structured the book with the back-and-forth between Kate talking to detectives and then going back to ‘present day’ of Kate’s story. I found this odd way to tell the story as a lot of irrelevant stuff was taking place. It was a bit unbelievable.
Yet, it worked. It all worked into an odd little thriller that completely captured me. I couldn’t put it down. Anyone who picks up this story will be equally captivated and possibly left a little confused, but captivated nonetheless. I would recommend this to my reader friends.
Amazon Link – The Lake House Children By: Gregg Dunnett
***Thank you to Storm Publishing, NetGalley and of course, the author Greg Dunnett, for a copy of the ARC in exchange for an honest review. Publishing September 18, 2024.
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