Daughters of the Lake

Super natural/gothic suspense is not a genre of choice for me. However I had already read one of the other books in the Kindle First list as an ARC and wanted something different. This supernatural thriller from the talented Helen Webb created an eerie feeling from the beginning that kept me swiping all day (lucky it is a public holiday in Sydney, Australia)…. I literally read it in one sitting as I was thoroughly captivated. It begins dramatically, as in the first few pages a body is discovered. Kate Granger our heroine, returns to her childhood home on Lake Superior after discovering that her husband has been cheating on her. When Kate’s father is walking their dog he finds the body of a woman holding a baby’s corpse on the shore of the lake, Kate is distraught as she realises she has been dreaming about this woman she doesn’t know for some time. ‘It was finally time for the lake to give her up. And so, one morning in late summer, her body washed gently into the shallows, as though it, she, had simply been floating in a peaceful, watery slumber.’ … ‘Her appearance was all the more remarkable since she had died nearly a century earlier.’ Hence the story begins, moving Between Kate’s investigation in present time and Great Bay in 1889 and the early life of Addie Cassatt and her friend Jess Stewart. Little snippets are revealed and the reader feels as desperate as Kate to find the truth… With the support of friends Kate tries to learn from her dreams and believe the impossible, even if it means connecting the body to a centuries-old mystery entangled with Kate’s own family history… “This is a police matter, Kate. It’s not up to you to solve this crime.” “I don’t agree!” she said, louder than she intended. She pushed herself to her feet and walked over to the fireplace. “I’m the one who’s dreaming about her. She washed up on the beach in front of my parents’ home. This feels really personal to me. And, forgive me, but there’s no way you are going to find a living, breathing person who is responsible for her death. If her murder is going to be solved, it is up to me.” “But why, Kate? Just for the sake of argument, say everything we’ve been talking about today is true. Say the woman lying in the morgue right now is the very same woman in this photograph. She died more than a century ago! As you said, there is no living, breathing person to bring to justice, to pay for this crime.” ‘Daughters of the Lake’ has everything from buried family secrets, scandal, Murder, super natural saga, love – lost and found and more… all at the bottom of an eerie lake. Coupled with a deep melancholy, plus a final twist that was so unexpected that I had to just stop… this is a very clever mystery that I did not put down. Highly recommended. I am a verified purchaser in AUSTRALIA

I have been on the waters of both Lake Michigan and Lake Superior many times. And while on those Great Lakes, sometimes I could almost believe that there was some sort of powerful spirit inhabiting the waters–because the waves felt so very alive and angry. I think the myths and stories surrounding that locale made it a great setting for this Gothic Mystery. I wouldn\’t consider this solely a romance, although there was (clean) romance. I wouldn\’t consider this solely a Ghost story, although there were some ghosts. I wouldn\’t consider this solely a murder mystery, although there was a murder. And yes, there was a Haunted House. But this story (although it had all of the above ingredients) spanned decades, told of love and betrayal, and uncovered surprising family secrets along the way. I am not a fan of jumping from past to present to tell a story, but in this case it worked reasonably well. I liked the characters, I enjoyed the plot, and I admit that I\’m guilty of putting everything aside today in order to finish it. And… what an unexpected surprise to have more than one suspenseful \”finish\” to the story. I am also grateful that this was a complete story and not simply the first book in a series. That\’s getting increasingly rare these days; and I, for one, would appreciate more standalones.

As someone who has read and liked all of Wendy Webb\’s previous books, I have had my eye on this one for months, waiting for the November release date with great anticipation. When I discovered that it was a First Reads selection, I didn\’t even need to look at the other titles to know that this would be my choice. Sadly, it did not live up to the standard of her previous books and was, for me, a fine free read–but not worthy of my hard-earned cash. The story was predictable–like an early Lifetime scary movie. The characters acted pretty much as they were expected to from the very beginning. The ending tied a nice little bow around everything, but it was way too neat. Much of the writing was repetitive. For instance, one of the characters is \”undulated\” by the water over and over and over. Without saying too much, I will say that the use of a dream sequence feels like a cop-out. I can deal with one or two strategically-placed dreams in this kind of story where one expects to suspend a certain amount of belief, but using a dream for almost the entire exposition of one of the two major plots seems like cheating. The characters were not fleshed-out, and, really, it felt like there wasn\’t much need for any of the present-day people to be in the story except for Kate and Simon who just sat around and talked to each other all the time. Speaking of Simon, that poor guy must spend a lot of time in the bathroom because he never seems to do anything but make drinks, an activity he has plenty of time to do because there conveniently are never any guests at his inn. I am normally a Wendy Webb fan so I don\’t want to be overly-critical. However, this book reads more like the one she had to write to meet her obligation to her publishers rather than something she had any true inspiration to create. Neither she nor her editors seemed to have much time to tweak it, either. If you are new to Wendy Webb, don\’t do this one first. Anybody who has seen a couple of horror flicks will not find anything new here.

Hurt and betrayed by her husband\’s recent affair, Kate finds the bodies of a woman and child washed up by the lakeside at her parents\’ house. Haunted by strange dreams involving the woman she saw, Kate flees to her cousin who lives in the house built by her great grandparents. There, Kate and her cousin Simon try to unravel the story of the dead woman who is more to them than they know. This was a reasonably easy read but not particularly thought provoking or well written with an extremely predictable \”twist in the tale\” and some not very pleasant characters involved. It was quite difficult to work out what people were actually supposed to be like as most of the characters changed personality with the turn of a page and Kate and Simon could have solved all of the mysteries a lot more quickly if they didn\’t spend so much time moping around and taking hot baths. I do like a supernatural story, but this one was very superficial and not very imaginative. Generally an OK read but it isn\’t one I would want to recommend.

This was my Kindle First read for October. It is a pleasant enough read although there a couple of places where edits have been made which resulted in minor errors in detail. They were only small things which didn\’t affect the storyline which itself is quite enjoyable. I liked the interactions between the characters and the descriptions of the landscape and lake, although the policemen seemed unnecessary (and useless) apart from the one providing the romantic interest. Towards the end I did find my attention wandering somewhat, so not sure that I would read it again.

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