The Dark Lake (The Oshkosh Trilogy) by Carson Anthea

I have mixed views about this novel, so I will start from the beginning.

This novel follows Jane, a troubled adult stuck in the past. She is in recovery, goes to therapy, anger management, AA meetings and tries to find a job. Pretty depressing stuff. The author is brilliant at describing the scenes and portraying the emotions of the character. So, unfortunately, this makes the novel very depressing. It was well written, but a very heavy read and I couldn’t handle more than an hour at a time.

I didn’t like Jane. I understand that she is mentally unstable, however without knowing what happened to her I can’t sympathise with her. There is a mystery accident that happened in her past that explains her behaviour and the author hints at it throughout the novel, which does keep you intrigued, however I think it needs to be revealed sooner.

I kept waiting for this information to be revealed and got a bit bored when it never did. Jane continued being immature and stuck in a depressing state. There are flashbacks scattered throughout the book, which I liked better than the actual storyline as they are more positive.

Towards the end of the novel I began to enjoy it more, because I felt like a climax was being reached. From my reading experience, I would have recommended that the middle of this story is shortened or removed, with the current ending being in the middle and the story continued. I was left confused and disappointed from the current ending, as nothing was resolved. Knowing that this is the first of the trilogy, I think the author tried to space it out so a sequel is needed. However, this resulted in it being too long and boring.

I did enjoy parts of the novel; however I personally felt that it was stretched out too much. It is realistic, although the ending is puzzling. I have heard positive reviews of this novel, so this is completely my opinion and for just over one pound, you can make up your own mind. I do want to know what happened to Jane in the past; however I feel that this information should have been revealed in this novel, not left for the sequel.

I really want to know what happened on the lake!