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A review by ashleybwells
Echo Lake by Letitia Trent
5.0
Full disclosure: Letitia is a friend of mine and I'm already a huge fan of her poetry and of the horror movie podcast she cohosts, so there was no way I WASN'T going to like Echo Lake. But I still feel comfortable saying this is a fantastically entertaining first novel, and I wouldn't hesitate to recommend it to anyone who's into horror, suspense, noir, or just good literature. The main character, Emily, inherits her murdered great-aunt's house in rural Oklahoma, and after she uproots her life and moves there, she ends up investigating her family's dark past and how it fits into the dark past (and present) of the town itself. I've always loved the "seemingly wholesome small town hides dark secrets" plot device, so it was especially fascinating and eerie for me to watch that plot unfold in an environment very much like the one I grew up in.
One of my favorite things about this novel is the structure and the way it allows the suspense to unfold at a satisfying pace. The book is divided into three roughly equal sections, and in the first, Emily discovers that something happened to her now-dead mother when she (the mother) was thirteen that resulted in their entire family, with the exception of Emily's great-aunt, moving away immediately afterward. The middle section alternates between Emily's conversation with an elderly woman who claims to know what happened to Emily's mother, and flashbacks to what actually happened during those three days in 1965. I really appreciated the way this structure allows the suspense to build and holds the reader's interest without ever feeling manipulative.
Fair warning: this book is pretty dark and creepy, and it doesn't shy away from showing the worst of small-town life. But nor does it wallow in seediness or corruption. Emily has her fair share of issues, as she'd be the first to admit. But she's completely believable and likable as a protagonist, quick to find the good in her new hometown even though she knows something terrible happened to her family here. I'd like to be able to claim I knew what a treat Echo Lake would be, but Letitia really outdid herself. Highly recommended.
One of my favorite things about this novel is the structure and the way it allows the suspense to unfold at a satisfying pace. The book is divided into three roughly equal sections, and in the first, Emily discovers that something happened to her now-dead mother when she (the mother) was thirteen that resulted in their entire family, with the exception of Emily's great-aunt, moving away immediately afterward. The middle section alternates between Emily's conversation with an elderly woman who claims to know what happened to Emily's mother, and flashbacks to what actually happened during those three days in 1965. I really appreciated the way this structure allows the suspense to build and holds the reader's interest without ever feeling manipulative.
Fair warning: this book is pretty dark and creepy, and it doesn't shy away from showing the worst of small-town life. But nor does it wallow in seediness or corruption. Emily has her fair share of issues, as she'd be the first to admit. But she's completely believable and likable as a protagonist, quick to find the good in her new hometown even though she knows something terrible happened to her family here. I'd like to be able to claim I knew what a treat Echo Lake would be, but Letitia really outdid herself. Highly recommended.