Dark Lake

Reviewer: Kelsey
Author: Louise Gaylord
Format: Paperback, ARC
Pages: 191
Rating: 7 out of 10

Summary (From GoodReads): Summer at the Lake just isn't what it used to be. This year, it's murder.
After 15 years, Allie Armington returns to her aunt Sallie's idyllic cottage retreat in the Adirondacks where she spent most of her childhood summers. Until the accident, that is. But instead of the happy reunion she's anticipating, she finds Sallie's mangled body and her cousin Arlene bound, gagged, and drugged.
The close-knit community of July 4th to Labor Day residents at the Hotanawa compound tries to portray the tragedy as a suicide to keep things out of the news. Allie knows better. There's been foul play, yet the cops have all but closed the case.
To clear her aunt's reputation, Allie's got to navigate her way around a compromised police department, wealthy neighbors with agendas, a cousin who's turned into a meth-head, and a drug conspiracy that just gets stranger and stranger- especially since the handsome drug cop is an ally in one moment and a suspected conspirator the next.
Populated with neighbors you love to hate, childhood ex-crushes you'd hate to love, and family and friends who promote more problems than solutions, Dark Lake brings us an up close look at summer life in the Adirondacks and Allie at her best.

My Take: Okay soooooo...I thought this was a pretty good book. I'm the kind of person that likes to guess "who done it" while reading a mystery. This book kept me guessing, I never knew what action would come next and I loved that. I also didn't figure out the killer until the very end when it was told to me. It had good forshadowing without giving away too many future plot points. I especially liked how everything was tied together at the end.

There were a lot of characters in this novel but i never got confused with any of them. In fact, I grew to trust many of them and even to hate a few too. I didn't, however, feel that the main character felt, or rather, expressed the right or all the emotions that she would feel with the losses that she faced in this story. It felt like some of the emotions were left out.

Another small issues was that every once and awhile there seemed to be pieces missing. Peices of dialogues and story line semmed to have been deleted but after a reread or two i found that the changes made sence, they were just slightly awkward.

Final Thoughts: It was a good mystery. I am likely to reread it in the future. It has a bit of everything. There is action, guns, death, love, comedy, and drama. It has a bit of something for every person. I would recommend this book to people who like CSI!