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calturner's review against another edition
4.0
Full review added on 14/12/15
I've read several books by Louise Douglas now and have enjoyed them all, so wasn't surprised to find 'The Secret by the Lake' to be every bit as good as her previous work. I have to admit it took a little while to get going, but once it did it had me gripped.
'The Secret by the Lake' is a ghost story full of atmosphere, intrigue and romance, with lots of twists and turns and an ending I did not see coming. It had a very old fashioned feel to it, which I loved, that felt very reminiscent of classic novels such as 'Rebecca' by Daphne Du Maurier.
The haunting secrets held within the walls of Reservoir Cottage and the lake that surrounds it are slowly uncovered, with the tension building more and more until the ghostly and tragic Caroline finally reveals the grim secrets of her past. This is where the novel takes a much darker turn as the full horror of what happened 30 years before becomes disturbingly clear.
I loved 'The Secret by the Lake' and would recommend it to anyone who enjoys a good old fashioned ghost story. The perfect book to curl up with on a cold winter night.
An atmospheric 4.5 star read. Highly recommended. I look forward to reading more Louise Douglas novels in the future.
I've read several books by Louise Douglas now and have enjoyed them all, so wasn't surprised to find 'The Secret by the Lake' to be every bit as good as her previous work. I have to admit it took a little while to get going, but once it did it had me gripped.
'The Secret by the Lake' is a ghost story full of atmosphere, intrigue and romance, with lots of twists and turns and an ending I did not see coming. It had a very old fashioned feel to it, which I loved, that felt very reminiscent of classic novels such as 'Rebecca' by Daphne Du Maurier.
The haunting secrets held within the walls of Reservoir Cottage and the lake that surrounds it are slowly uncovered, with the tension building more and more until the ghostly and tragic Caroline finally reveals the grim secrets of her past. This is where the novel takes a much darker turn as the full horror of what happened 30 years before becomes disturbingly clear.
I loved 'The Secret by the Lake' and would recommend it to anyone who enjoys a good old fashioned ghost story. The perfect book to curl up with on a cold winter night.
An atmospheric 4.5 star read. Highly recommended. I look forward to reading more Louise Douglas novels in the future.
chelsiijb's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.75
jacki_f's review against another edition
3.0
This is an atmospheric story which is reminiscent of Kate Morton's books. It's set in the early 1960s in a small village in Somerset and it's quite spooky. If you like period gothic novels this will be right up your street.
Amy has worked for many years as nanny to a family in Paris. When the father dies suddenly, the mother (Julia) and daughter (Viviane) move back to the small English village where Julia grew up. Amy goes with them to help. Julia is crippled with grief and Viviane becomes obsessed with Julia's long dead sister Caroline. The house where they are living is creepy and there are mysterious things happening: apparitions, strange noises, objects moving. It seems that Caroline is trying to reach out from beyond the grave and Amy becomes determined to uncover her secrets.
I was caught up in this book and I really enjoyed the atmosphere of it. The story unravels slowly but it holds your interest because you don't know i) what happened in the past and ii) what's happening now. Having said that, I also felt that it relied on too many unlikely plot contrivances - for example, a character who writes things on walls which get discovered at opportune moments. Plus I get irritated with the well used device in books when people have held secrets for 30+ years and then as soon as one woman comes along asking questions, out it all comes.
I read this quickly and found it intriguing. It's highly atmospheric and downright spooky in parts.
I received an advance copy for review from Net Galley.
Amy has worked for many years as nanny to a family in Paris. When the father dies suddenly, the mother (Julia) and daughter (Viviane) move back to the small English village where Julia grew up. Amy goes with them to help. Julia is crippled with grief and Viviane becomes obsessed with Julia's long dead sister Caroline. The house where they are living is creepy and there are mysterious things happening: apparitions, strange noises, objects moving. It seems that Caroline is trying to reach out from beyond the grave and Amy becomes determined to uncover her secrets.
I was caught up in this book and I really enjoyed the atmosphere of it. The story unravels slowly but it holds your interest because you don't know i) what happened in the past and ii) what's happening now. Having said that, I also felt that it relied on too many unlikely plot contrivances - for example, a character who writes things on walls which get discovered at opportune moments. Plus I get irritated with the well used device in books when people have held secrets for 30+ years and then as soon as one woman comes along asking questions, out it all comes.
I read this quickly and found it intriguing. It's highly atmospheric and downright spooky in parts.
I received an advance copy for review from Net Galley.
rlbridges's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
ordinarypickle's review against another edition
mysterious
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.0
Incredibly predictable. I knew halfway through the gist of who the bad people were and what they were doing, waiting for the author to confirm and fill in the other gaps was just an exercise in sitting with frustration.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Pedophilia, Sexual assault, and Child abuse
Moderate: Kidnapping
heather626's review against another edition
4.0
Louise Douglas transports us to a different time and city like no one else. A small, dark English town with so many secrets. After being spoiled by the Laurent family for years, tragedy turns everyone's world, including the nanny's Amy, upside down. Suddenly no one knows how they are going to make ends meet and keep the only thing the Laurent family has to their name, the cottage in the village safe from the wolves at the door. Amy lost her mother as a child and found herself escaping her own world by accepting a nanny job and helping to raise little miss Vivian. Being dragged back to Julia's hometown and the cottage where she grew up, brings on so many questions. Nothing in the town seems right. Secrets and suspicion are around every corner. Amy can see why Julia chose to escape all those years ago. But something keeps bringing Amy back to the one bedroom that seems to house all the secrets. What happened to Caroline, Julia's sister? Was she really as sinister as everyone seems to believe?
I was very pleasantly surprised by Louise Douglas's The Secret of the Lake. It was a excellent mix of fiction, suspense, with a little bit of mystery and thriller thrown in. I will definitely recommend this to others and will continue to look for other works by Douglas. Special Thanks to NetGalley, Louise Douglas, and Boldwood Books for the advanced digital copy in exchange for my honest opinion. 4 stars for me.
#TheSecretbytheLake #NetGalley
I was very pleasantly surprised by Louise Douglas's The Secret of the Lake. It was a excellent mix of fiction, suspense, with a little bit of mystery and thriller thrown in. I will definitely recommend this to others and will continue to look for other works by Douglas. Special Thanks to NetGalley, Louise Douglas, and Boldwood Books for the advanced digital copy in exchange for my honest opinion. 4 stars for me.
#TheSecretbytheLake #NetGalley
portybelle's review against another edition
5.0
Louise Douglas is the author of five previous novels, all of which I have read and enjoyed. The Love of My Life, her first novel, is a particular favourite of mine. I feel that she really helps her readers get inside the heads of her characters and have a real understanding of their emotions. This book had quite a different feel to it, putting me in mind of the unsettling feeling I had when I first read du Maurier's Rebecca. Amy was nanny in France to Viviane Laurent, leaving the family to return to England to care for an ill family member. When a tragedy affects the Laurent family and they return to Julia's childhood home in England, she immediately moves in with Julia and Vivi to help them through a difficult time.
This is when the creepiness begins. The cottage itself is dark and damp, and seems like a cold, unwelcoming character. Vivi begins to talk to an imaginary friend, Caroline, and it soon emerges that Caroline was Julia's sister who died when a young woman, in mysterious circumstances. Julia believes that Caroline was evil though doesn't quite explain all that she has done. Louise Douglas has very cleverly made this part of the story really atmospheric and makes her reader feel really uneasy. The occupants of the house believe they see glimpses of a mysterious person. There are strange noise in the night from the empty room which was hers. There are strange voices on the phoneline and messages seem to be coming through the static of the radio. Although the story is set in the 1960s I did think it had the feel of a Victorian ghost story.
There is a long-standing feud between Julia’s family, the Cummings and a local farming family the Aldridges. Julia is reluctant to talk about this but it is clear that it centres on Caroline and the lake. Louise Douglas’ descriptions of the lake and the surrounding countryside are brilliant. The lake is ever-present – a dark, brooding, looming, menacing presence. I could almost imagine walking in the hill around Blackwater, they were described so clearly. Amy becomes close to Daniel, Mr Aldridge’s son, and the feud makes this gentle blossoming relationship very difficult for them. Gradually, events of the past are revealed and I began to suspect at what might have happened all those years ago.
Louise Douglas has written another really compelling novel. I had to keep reading as I was so keen to know what had happened to Caroline, what had caused the feud and just what was causing the ghostly happenings in the cottage. There is an unsettling mystery at the heart of this story and there are plenty of twists and surprises to keep the reader enthralled. Louise Douglas has created a really tense atmosphere in this book and keeps up the suspense and sense of unease right to the end. A haunting story that kept me enthralled right to the last page.
(Thanks to the publishers for providing a review copy via Netgalley)
This is when the creepiness begins. The cottage itself is dark and damp, and seems like a cold, unwelcoming character. Vivi begins to talk to an imaginary friend, Caroline, and it soon emerges that Caroline was Julia's sister who died when a young woman, in mysterious circumstances. Julia believes that Caroline was evil though doesn't quite explain all that she has done. Louise Douglas has very cleverly made this part of the story really atmospheric and makes her reader feel really uneasy. The occupants of the house believe they see glimpses of a mysterious person. There are strange noise in the night from the empty room which was hers. There are strange voices on the phoneline and messages seem to be coming through the static of the radio. Although the story is set in the 1960s I did think it had the feel of a Victorian ghost story.
There is a long-standing feud between Julia’s family, the Cummings and a local farming family the Aldridges. Julia is reluctant to talk about this but it is clear that it centres on Caroline and the lake. Louise Douglas’ descriptions of the lake and the surrounding countryside are brilliant. The lake is ever-present – a dark, brooding, looming, menacing presence. I could almost imagine walking in the hill around Blackwater, they were described so clearly. Amy becomes close to Daniel, Mr Aldridge’s son, and the feud makes this gentle blossoming relationship very difficult for them. Gradually, events of the past are revealed and I began to suspect at what might have happened all those years ago.
Louise Douglas has written another really compelling novel. I had to keep reading as I was so keen to know what had happened to Caroline, what had caused the feud and just what was causing the ghostly happenings in the cottage. There is an unsettling mystery at the heart of this story and there are plenty of twists and surprises to keep the reader enthralled. Louise Douglas has created a really tense atmosphere in this book and keeps up the suspense and sense of unease right to the end. A haunting story that kept me enthralled right to the last page.
(Thanks to the publishers for providing a review copy via Netgalley)