The Lake
Author: R. Karl Largent
Published: 1993
On Goodreads
My Rating: 
Rated R for a rigid and radical fish tale that’s anything but fishy.
A watery grave none can escape.
Out of the darkness, a technological disaster births a terrifying, amphibious mutant monster with only a single thought that’s not even a thought but an instinct. Destroy all of humankind.
Soooo…Nope. I just couldn’t get into this on any level. Not even on the cliché level. This read so much like a peer review journal. The main character just kept the reader at arm’s length and remained vague. That writing style though it had a cowboy’s edge of voice—yes, I meant edge—was just too much for me.
I originally plucked this one up from a book sale because it gave me some serious SyFy Original Movie corniness vibes. The story just didn’t reach out to me and left me feeling incredibly bored with the way it would stray. The gore certainly made it interesting but it just wasn’t enough.
The setting came off fantastical, so if there was anything that I did like it would be that. Slimy and grungy and straight up swampy. A total Lake Placid vibe. Granted, there’s no awesome cameo of Betty White or a gigantic crocodile but it’s similar in fashion though it lacks the golden comedy.
Overall
This one shall return to whence it came. The donation pile. It didn’t hit the right buttons for me. It happens from time to time. I do hope somebody out there finds enjoyment in this sci-fi expedition to save humankind.
Quotables:
“There is an irony to all of this. After all, I am a writer—not a reporter, mind you, but a storyteller, a novelist—and what was happening had all the elements of a good plot.” (p. 11)
More to come soon…
-K.
P.S. Song today? Here Tomorrow Gone Today by Lifehouse.
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Thoughts? Let’s chat in the comments below!
The Scarlet Reader 
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