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Tuesday, October 22, 2013

Review: Lake Thirteen by Greg Herren

Author: Greg Herren
Publisher: Bold Strokes Books
Date of publication: August 2013

It seemed like a good idea at the time…

Every summer three families take a trip together—this year it’s to a remote resort in the mountains of upstate New York. Scotty, a teenager who’s just come out, is nervous about how his friends will react to him. A late night visit to an old nearby cemetery seems like a great idea to the bored teens, but the old cemetery holds dark secrets hidden for almost a century—secrets that might have been better left undisturbed.

 Scotty has been going on a family vacation with two other families since he was born.  This year, they end up at a mysterious resort that is better suited to wintertime.  Scotty is pretty nervous about having come out to his friends over e-mail before heading on vacation.  When he gets there, the place seems so familiar to him.  After a visit to the local cemetery, he starts to see visions about events that happened years before to someone else.  The kids quickly realize that there is more to the place than meets the eye and work together to solve the mystery.

Lake Thirteen was a very quick and enjoyable read.   I did like the characters.  I really felt for Scotty in his anxiety about coming out to his friends.  I thought the subject was handled very well.  I think the way the other kids took the news really reflects the changing attitudes of today's youth. That was nice to see. I enjoyed the mystery and the reincarnation possibility in the story line. The only thing about the book that I wish was included was an epilogue that wrapped up Scotty's boyfriend's story.  I would have liked to see how the issue was resolved.  I would say this was OK for the over 14 crowd.  There really wasn't anything in it that I thought was inappropriate.  


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