I snatched up a copy of this one way back in 2016 and am resurrecting (and lightly editing) that review here for those of you who didn't read it ages ago, in hopes you'll run out and buy a copy of this new edition!
But as it turns out, there's an even more secret lake beyond that. One that James and Amelia have all to themselves. And in that lake, lying just below the placid surface, is a roof. A roof topping a house that's impeccably preserved under the water. A house James and Amelia have decided to explore...
I love, love, loved Josh Malerman's debut, Bird Box. I've bought it as gifts and recommended the ever living hell out of it. It's that good. And, like everyone else who fell in love with it, I've been reading anything and everything Malerman might write next. So much so that even the Cover-pocalypse wasn't going to prevent me from enjoying Bird Box's sequel, Malorie, earlier this year.
A House at the Bottom of a Lake is an odd one. Stylistically it's got vivid—and incredibly creepy. It's timeless in the sense that there is no real telling detail about when the story might take place. Which actually adds to the eeriness of the story.
It's something of a quiet tale, luring readers into a story of first love and first dates—those early days when everyone is on their best behavior trying to impress one another and overthinking each and every detail. Will he or she like me? Did I say something stupid? Will we have a second date? A third? It's something almost everyone experiences and is, as such, incredibly relatable.
But as we're drifting into this story alongside James and Amelia, Malerman carefully builds an underlying sense of dread. The discovery of the house is as exciting for us as it is for James and Amelia, but we have the foresight of knowing that something is going to happen. As their obsession with the building grows, we're treated to more and more details of the house with each new exploration. But that sense that something might be waiting - lurking - just around the corner is always there.
It makes for a deliciously tense read in my opinion!
That said, as with Bird Box there is no final explanation. Is the house real? Why has no one discovered it before? Or have they? These questions burn beyond the final page, making A House at the Bottom of a Lake the kind of horror that stays with you long after you finish.
It's something of a quiet tale, luring readers into a story of first love and first dates—those early days when everyone is on their best behavior trying to impress one another and overthinking each and every detail. Will he or she like me? Did I say something stupid? Will we have a second date? A third? It's something almost everyone experiences and is, as such, incredibly relatable.
But as we're drifting into this story alongside James and Amelia, Malerman carefully builds an underlying sense of dread. The discovery of the house is as exciting for us as it is for James and Amelia, but we have the foresight of knowing that something is going to happen. As their obsession with the building grows, we're treated to more and more details of the house with each new exploration. But that sense that something might be waiting - lurking - just around the corner is always there.
It makes for a deliciously tense read in my opinion!
That said, as with Bird Box there is no final explanation. Is the house real? Why has no one discovered it before? Or have they? These questions burn beyond the final page, making A House at the Bottom of a Lake the kind of horror that stays with you long after you finish.
Del Rey will also be publishing a new edition of Malerman's Goblin: A Novel in Six Novellas in April of next year. Here's hoping they'll add On This, the Day of the Pig to this string of reissues as well!
Order a copy from your favorite indie via Bookshop!
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