How good it feels to have a book in your hands that you can’t put down!
Stillhouse Lake is a small town near Knoxville, Tennessee (ahem) where Gwen Proctor has come to hide. Her real name is Gina Royal, but after it was discovered that her husband, Mel, was a serial killer and it was presumed that she was his accomplice, living a life on the run was the only way to protect her children. Acquitted of all charges and free to go, Gwen has crawled through the last few years of her life on a string, changing names and identities, moving from one town to the next, training her kids (at 11 and 14) to be constantly vigilant. It is exhausting but necessary. The public, needless to say, has not been kind. Internet trolls are persistent and the threats are real.
Just when Gwen thinks they’ve moved for the last time, that all of the work she’s done to protect herself and her kids has worked, a body shows up in the lake. All signs points to her, because after a little digging, her true identity has come to the surface. The police are on high alert and Gwen realizes that she has missed the window to leave Stillhouse Lake and start again elsewhere. As feared, her horrific past has come back to the present.
This book is delicious. It’s quick and sharp. There is no space to settle. THE PACING IS GLORIOUS. I read it in the span of 36 hours because it’s the sort of book you read in whatever time you find – while you’re waiting for eggs to scramble, while the kids eat lunch, when you’re waiting on a phone call and everything else can hold…
The good news is that Stillhouse Lake is the first in a series of three books, which makes sense because while the story ends in a satisfying way, it’s obvious that Gwen’s journey is not over. It’s not a cliffhanger. Rather, it’s a dramatic pause. It’s a moment to catch your breath.
If you enjoyed Gone Girl, read this one.