Lakeview House – ARC Book Review

Icy water laps against the wooden jetty. But the girl doesn’t notice the cold as she slips slowly under the freezing surface…

Running from a devastating relationship that almost cost her everything, Maddy Hart impulsively accepts a job as a live-in caretaker at imposing Lakeview House. She has no memories of having visited the crumbling mansion on the banks of Lake Thirlmere before, but when she arrives, something about the house feels familiar…

The more time Maddy spends in the house, the more unsettled she feels. Why does the local story about the last woman who lived here, who drowned on her wedding day, chill Maddy to the bone? By day, she clears out the dusty rooms, but in the dead of night it’s hard to explain away the eerie noises or crackly radio she hears hours after she turned it off. Slowly, Maddy begins to fear that her worst nightmare is coming true, has her past caught up with her…?

When a soaking wet wedding dress is left on Maddy’s doorstep she feels completely trapped. It is her exact measurements. Is her ex trying to send her a message? Or has Maddy’s digging uncovered an even deadlier secret? Will this perfect escape become the perfect trap?

Ever since I got fascinated with Detective Morgan Brooks, Helen Phifer has become one of my favorite authors. So I requested Lakeview House written by Helen Phifer and Lakeview House is actually a standalone novel.

Maddy moves to a dilapidated-looking house overlooking the lake, leaving behind bustling London and her abusive boyfriend,. She then meets Seth who lives around the area. While Maddy gets used to living inside the lakeview house, there is a serial killer out there, who has hidded a body close to the house. Meanwhile, Maddy’s ex- boyfriend Connor is determined to get back at Maddy…

There are good points and bad points in the books. Let’s start with good points

• The writing was really great–Phifer’s writing is engaging.
• The plot of the story is really great that was the main reason why I was drawn into the book.

Now the bad points.

• OK, the characters in the story are messed up–I mean Stella, who is Maddy’s friend literally end up flirting with Maddy’s ex-boyfriend Connor. Characters are all bland.
  *If this is a thriller, this wasn’t a fast paced thriller like I would have expected normally from her books. The story was direct, not much of twists and turns that you would expect in a thriller, I was bored in the first part of the book.
  *The ending was predictable and I felt like I was watching some sort of lame crime show on the TV.
  *Dreams that Maddy is seeing seemed to be unnecessary in my opinion but maybe that was just me.

Overall, this is a slow burner, not really a page turner in my opinion. I hate to say, this wasn’t really her best book.

Worth 2.5 stars

Many thanks to Netgalley and Bookouture for the ARC. The review is based on my honest opinion only.