Review: “The Lake” by Tananarive Due (2011)

I’ve long been a fan of Due, so when I saw this short story available on Kindle, I decided to check it out. I didn’t know it at the time, but it was included in an anthology called “The Monster’s Corner,” so I now have added that to my TBR pile too. 🙂

Newly divorced Abbie, flying in the face of advice from friends and family, uproots her life on a whim to take her teaching career from Boston, Massachusetts, to Graceville, Florida. She loves that her house is on a beautiful lake that is isolated enough she can skinny dip without anyone seeing her.

At school, she carefully elicits help from some of her male teenage students, using just enough female wiles to convince one to help out around her house in exchange for a few bucks and something cold to drink. He eventually convinces someone else to help, and together they work on the repairs.

Meanwhile, the more she swims in the lake by her house, the more strange things keep happening to her. The locals know you shouldn’t swim in the lake, but apparently the locals, realtor, and everyone else neglected to tell her this. As the story progresses, Abbie’s problems magnify, and the stakes ramp up.

Where will the story go? Will she also involve the students in what’s going on?

Overall, I liked this story. It was a quick read, and it moved at a decent pace. It wasn’t stunningly good, but I did enjoy it. I definitely recommend it for someone who wants to pick up a quick horror short story read.

It also looks like “The Lake” is free on Amazon right now and is possibly a permafree book, so you can always pick it up there.

Rating: Four Stars (Out Of A Possible Five)

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