A House at the Bottom of a Lake by Josh Malerman #bookreview #horror #YA #fantasy
Title: A House at the Bottom of a Lake
Author: Josh Malerman
Publisher: Del Rey
Publication Date: January 19, 2021
Page Count: 174
My rating: 2 1/2 stars
About the book:
From the New York Times bestselling author of Bird Box and Malorie comes a haunting tale of love and mystery, as the date of a lifetime becomes a maddening exploration of the depths of the heart.
The story begins: young lovers, anxious to connect, agree to a first date, thinking outside of the box.
At seventeen years old, James and Amelia can feel the rest of their lives beginning. They have got this summer and this summer alone to experience the extraordinary.
But they didn’t expect to find it in a house at the bottom of a lake.
The house is cold and dark, but it’s also their own.
Caution be damned, until being carefree becomes dangerous. For the teens must decide: swim deeper into the house—all the while falling deeper in love?
Whatever they do, they will never be able to turn their backs on what they discovered together. And what they learned:
Just because a house is empty, doesn’t mean nobody’s home.
A House at the Bottom of a Lake by Josh Malerman is a young adult horror/suspense novella length read. Most readers probably know Josh Malerman from his hit, Bird Box, which I’ve not yet read and am starting to wonder now if I should. This is my second attempt reading something from this author and I have yet to be overjoyed.
This story follows two seventeen year olds who have gone out in a canoe on the lake for their date. They take the canoe exploring and find a path which leads to yet another big lake. Once paddling out in the new territory they peer down into the depths and see a house under the water so of course they decide to explore.
Quite honestly this was the type of read I didn’t know what I was feeling and it was fairly short to have so many ups and downs. There were moments I would think of this is getting creepy and compelling but those were few and far between. To me the story just seemed to be trying to build into something but even when done I wasn’t sure what that would have been as quite honestly I just didn’t get it and that’s for someone who has read a lot of horror. This one slid over into the didn’t quite like it range when done leaving my rating at two and a half stars.
I received an advance copy from the publisher via NetGalley.
Find this book online:
Goodreads / Amazon **
About the author:
Carries Book Reviews 
Yep. This wasn’t for me either Carrie.
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I can tell it wasn’t just me with the other reviews but sorry it didn’t work for you either.😕
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Sorry this one didn’t work out for you. I’ve been wanting to read Bird Box too. Hopefully, it’s better!
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Thanks Cheryl, I’m honestly a little scared of picking it up now wondering if it’s just his style that I don’t mesh with. I probably will try someday though as I’m always curious about those much talked about books.
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