Book Club!!! February 2020 Book Pick: Stillhouse Lake by Rachel Caine

Hello Dear Readers!

Sorry, for the delay with book club updates! COVID-19 seems to defenestrate our daily schedules! To catch up- Book Club read Stillhouse Lake by Rachel Caine for our February 2020 read. It is a first in series novel (although after reading it, I don’t know if I have the guts to jump into book two!) Anyways, Wowzers! I have read Ms. Caines YA series and this was definitely not anything like those. She went deep and dark. The pace in the beginning, maybe about a quarter or so of the book, is a bit slow setting up the plot, daily lives of the family, flashes into how AWFUL the ex-husband/dad is with his serial killer history (or is it just history?!) and the characters. Then, BAM!, the book explodes into action and I cannot imagine living with the constant adrenaline ups and downs, emotional baggage and precautions the Proctor family live with and through.

One thing I appreciated about the story is that it really made me think and expand my understanding on victims of crimes, especially prolific murderers, and that there are more than “the usual” types of victims out there. Beyond the victims and their families, it is the family of the criminals left behind that are (or can be) victims, innocent to what is/was going on around them. Stillhouse Lake uses that as the impetus for us to follow Gwen and her teenage kids, surviving day to day after they find out their husband/father was a horrific serial killer. With him in jail, they are blamed and stalked for crimes they had nothing to do with or knowledge of. The support system for the family of the murderers is definitely not set up for help, safety and mental health.  However, for us dear readers, it makes for a thrilling tale of suspense.