Review of ‘The Lake House’

Posted on July 11, 2016 Updated on July 6, 2016

Alice Edevane was 16 when her 11-month-old brother, Theo disappeared. Devastated, the Edevane family left their estate in Cornwall for London, never to return. Seventy years later, Alice, now a famous mystery novelist, is pulled back into the past when Detective Constable Sadie Sparrow, on forced leave from the force and spending the time with her grandfather in Cornwall, stumbles across the old Lake House and learns of the case.

The Lake House by Kate Morton swings back and forth in time, from the 1930s to the present as Sadie, wrestling with her own personal and professional demons, determines to find out what happened to little Theo. She peels back the dark past, the Edevane’s and her own, layer by layer in a profound exploration of the human spirit. Morton masterfully takes the reader inside her characters, revealing them bit by bit, while at the same time dangling morsels of information before the reader like carrots before a horse.

The ending, revealed slowly over the last few chapters, will cause you to gasp and slap your forehead. You’ll think you should have seen it coming, but like the deer that leaps from the side of the road on a dark night, you’ll still be surprised. A thoroughly enjoyable read, and completely worth the hours it takes to finish it..

I received this book as a gift. I give this book five stars.