After wandering through multiple locations under forged
identities Gina Royal and her two children settle in a new home by the side of Stillhouse
Lake. Since The Event they have been
hounded by trolls both inside and outside the internet. Living like a fugitive
is draining. It turns Gina jumpy and paranoid. They want to live, like normal
people. Here Connor and Lanny do something they once thought was too dangerous
to do. They make friends. So does their mother Gina. Taking root is risky, she
knows. But one has to settle some time. With strong allies like Sam, Javi and
Absalom on her side she now has a sense of security. Maybe it’s time to reach
closure. She needs it. Connor and Lanny need it even more. Suddenly something happens.
The mutilated body of a young woman is found floating in Stillhouse Lake. She
realizes, no matter how hard she tries, she can’t outrun the dark, ominous
shadow of Mel Royal.
The Event took
place long ago, a long time before they made Stillhouse Lake their home. Mel, back
then, was not an ex-husband yet. He was a good husband, a great father and a hard-working,
amiable human being. Gina used to be a dutiful housewife, mostly busy with
their children among other things. One day there was an accident. A SUV crashed
into their garage, exposing the entire place Mel called ‘his workshop’. Inside,
was dangling the mutilated corpse of a woman. The place they once called home
suddenly turned into a crime scene. Later they found out, the dead woman in the
garage wasn’t the only one Mel killed. This was followed by his arrest, trial
and a death sentence. Gina was also arrested on the charge of being an
accomplice, but was later acquitted. The
Event – a name she’d used to refer to those gruesome memories – had wrecked
their lives and turned them into fugitives. People weren’t happy with the acquittal
of Mel’s Little Helpers. The
punishment isn’t complete, as some of them had suggested, as long as Mel’s
family is still alive. To protect herself and the children from this all-consuming
hatred, she had no other option but to go into hiding.
It doesn’t matter if Mel’s in prison. He’s got people watching them, he tells Gina. His
letters aren’t meaningless blabbers of an unhinged mind. They are filled with
threats, deliberate and detailed. Back in Stillhouse Lake, among the familiar
faces, there must be someone who’s working secretly to destroy Gina, leaking
information on her whereabouts. She doesn’t know whom to trust. If Mel wants to
reach her, he’s probably going to do it through her children. Mel’s
psychopathic manipulations turn Stillhouse Lake into a cord that starts
tightening around her neck. Mel Royal’s very own Modus Operandi.
Rachel Caine’s gripping tale is about a serial killer, yet
it has nothing similar to anything I’ve read – fiction or non-fiction – on the
subject. The story of Stillhouse Lake starts after the arrest. The public opinion, the mob mentality, the
displaced anger, the revenge-mongering – they take control over human reasons.
It shows, how some of us, innocent as we’d like to think ourselves to be, could
very well turn into killers without the restraint of law. It was clear that Mel
Royal controlled several individuals who worked for him, killed for him. But
why and when exactly did they decide to help him? How could he wield such power
over them, sitting in a small prison cell? What did he have to offer in return?
He surely had no money and not everyone who helped him, worshiped him as a
hero. These questions were not clearly dealt with. But this is the first book in
Rachel Caine’s Stillhouse Lake series. I hope more explanations will follow in the
next book. It took me less five hours to finish. Treat yourself with a big-Mac
before you start. Once you get past The
Event, you may not want to take a break.
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