Lake of Secrets
A Novel
-
-
4.5 • 4 Ratings
-
-
- $11.99
-
- $11.99
Publisher Description
Can Carlene really be remembering things from a past life?
Strange, fragmented memories have been haunting Carlene since she and her mother came to Lake Isadora. The vivid recollections don't seem to relate to anything in Carlene's own past. Until now, she hadn't even seen the place where Keith, the brother she never knew, disappeared during a storm fifteen years ago. Some think he drowned, but his mother thinks he was kidnapped and is still alive somewhere. She is sure the little boy's clothes that have just been found near the lake belonged to her son.
Carlene knows that her bizarre memories have something to do with Keith. They might even help her discover the truth about what happened the day he disappeared. But she can't possibly be remembering things that happened before she was born-unless the memories are from a past life.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Fifteen-year-old Carlene's brother went missing three years before she was born, and although he is presumed dead, their mother has never abandoned hope of finding him. When a piece of evidence surfaces in Lake Isadora, where Keith disappeared, her mother moves back there with Carlene, setting up the premise for Littke's (Haunted Sister) exciting though not always well-executed mystery. When they arrive in Lake Isadora, something strange happens: Carlene experiences weird flashes of memory, even though she's never been there before, and soon learns that the memories belong to a woman who drowned in the lake the day Keith disappeared. Now Carlene, previously impatient with her mother's unreasonable hope, is the one who may be able to solve the mystery. A few character flourishes feel belabored (J.P., a small boy dumped by his parents, wears his dad's necktie every day), some minor plot points are left hanging and Carlene's narration is redundant at times. Even so, the lake, now evaporating to reveal the foundations of the old town (which was relocated), provides an appropriately haunting backdrop, and Carlene's resentment of her mother's absorption in her missing brother provides an interesting tension. The suspense builds as Carlene's "memory" of that day becomes clearer and keeps this story afloat. Ages 12-up.
