Skip to content

Littoral Librarian:

Book Reviews from the Left Coast

  • About

The Lake House by Kate Morton

lakehouse

I admit it: I’m a sucker for a good book cover. And the image of the cover of Kate Morton’s The Lake House leapt off the page so, ignoring any memory of having read other titles by this author or (more importantly perhaps) what genre this title belonged to, I dove in.

First off, I love reading mysteries, and this book opens in 2003 with the protagonist, Detective Sadie Sparrow, on forced leave from the job she loves in London, due to a huge mistake she made working a case involving a mother who disappeared, leaving her young daughter alone. Sadie zips off to Cornwall to stay with her beloved grandfather Bertie, who has relocated there following his wife’s death. As Sadie is exploring the neighborhood, she stumbles upon both an abandoned estate (Loeanneth, or “Lake House”) and another mystery involving a child – in this case, Theo, who is an 11-month old boy, the 4th child and 1st son of the Edevane family. Following Theo’s disappearance in the early 1930s during a large party at Loeanneth, the family moves to London, never to return. So, voila! More than one mystery! Looks promising.

The story shifts to 2003 London and the author Alice Edevane, who is the middle daughter who was 16 at the time her baby brother Theo disappeared from the family home at Loeanneth. Sadie contacts Alice, wanting permission to investigate the cold case (and the house itself, which is a significant presence in the story). As things unfold, we learn the backstory of the family and follow a number of what seem like loose ends, but somehow we know it will all be pulled together at the end (part of which I guessed at about 40% of the way through the book, and I am TERRIBLE at solving mysteries).

The Lake House has much in common with The Secret Keeper, Morton’s earlier book, which I read awhile ago: both include a country house, a teenage girl, family secrets and a narrative split between past and present. There are some cliffhangers, tons of description and artfully drawn settings. There are also strong female characters, particularly Alice and Sadie, both of whom are haunted by secrets.

Alice is amazing: in her 80s, she is sharp and feisty. “She had found that there were few genuinely dull people; the trick was to ask them the right questions.” And I loved the line: “To age was contemptible, but the single silver lining was the cloak of invisibility gifted by the years. Nobody noticed the little old lady…”

Sadie is struggling in more than one area and I was never clear on her self-perception, as she states”…would never have guessed in a million years that a person could gain this sort of satisfaction from a visit to the library, certainly not a person like her” (emphasis mine). What does that mean? She is, like Alice, inquisitive and determined. As someone who has for years felt answers would be found in books, what better place to hang out than a library? (OK, my librarian background and bias are showing) I did love her comment that …it was a berry brave thing to do, to write one’s feelings down on paper and give them to another person.”

So, as I look at the complex plotting, setting, etc. I see it was well done…so why, then, did I have such trouble with it? Two reasons, I think. One is that things were just way too neatly wrapped up. The other is that my own bias regarding genre must be stronger than I realized (or I am just older and crankier than I realized). Morton “has degrees in dramatic art and English literature specializing in 19th century tragedy and contemporary gothic novels (again, emphasis mine). This kept feeling like it was about to slide into a sloppy romance wrapped in a tinge of mystery. Seriously, when I read this line I nearly threw my Kindle across the room” He kissed her, and she sand into his embrace.”

To be fair, this is decidedly NOT my genre, and I know that people who enjoy the family-secret-romantic-mystery thing are going to ADORE this book. If I were still working in a public library, I would love to have this to recommend to the large number of people who fit that category. I will definitely recommend this title to some women I know, and while I doubt I will leap at the next book by Kate Morton, I do appreciate the opportunity to provide an honest review of this title in return for a copy from NetGalley.

Net Galley Top Reviewer

Reviews Published
200 Book Reviews
Frequently Auto-Approved

Who Is the Littoral Librarian?

I am a librarian who is fortunate enough to live on the beautiful Central Coast of California. I have worked in public and academic libraries,  I teach Information Competency and Literacy online part-time, and spend huge amounts of time reading and enjoying the amazing place I live.

 

Contact me by email:   LL@littorallibrarian.org

Recent Reviews

  • What Happened to Ellen? by Nancy Grace April 18, 2025
  • A Clean Mess by Tiffany Jenkins April 10, 2025
  • The White Crow by Michael Robotham April 7, 2025
  • The Missing Half by Ashley Flowers April 7, 2025
  • Hidden In Smoke by Lee Goldberg April 4, 2025
  • Unshrunk by Laura Delano March 27, 2025
  • Murder The Truth by David Enrich March 27, 2025
  • Lethal Prey by John Sandford March 14, 2025
  • Nobody’s Fool by Harlan Coben March 14, 2025
  • Human Scale by Lawrence Wright March 8, 2025

Archives

  • April 2025
  • March 2025
  • February 2025
  • January 2025
  • December 2024
  • November 2024
  • September 2024
  • August 2024
  • June 2024
  • May 2024
  • April 2024
  • March 2024
  • February 2024
  • January 2024
  • December 2023
  • November 2023
  • September 2023
  • August 2023
  • July 2023
  • May 2023
  • April 2023
  • March 2023
  • February 2023
  • January 2023
  • December 2022
  • November 2022
  • September 2022
  • July 2022
  • June 2022
  • May 2022
  • April 2022
  • March 2022
  • February 2022
  • January 2022
  • December 2021
  • November 2021
  • October 2021
  • September 2021
  • August 2021
  • July 2021
  • June 2021
  • May 2021
  • April 2021
  • March 2021
  • February 2021
  • January 2021
  • December 2020
  • November 2020
  • October 2020
  • September 2020
  • August 2020
  • July 2020
  • June 2020
  • May 2020
  • April 2020
  • March 2020
  • February 2020
  • January 2020
  • December 2019
  • November 2019
  • September 2019
  • August 2019
  • July 2019
  • June 2019
  • May 2019
  • April 2019
  • March 2019
  • February 2019
  • January 2019
  • December 2018
  • November 2018
  • October 2018
  • September 2018
  • August 2018
  • July 2018
  • June 2018
  • May 2018
  • April 2018
  • March 2018
  • February 2018
  • January 2018
  • December 2017
  • November 2017
  • October 2017
  • September 2017
  • August 2017
  • July 2017
  • June 2017
  • May 2017
  • April 2017
  • March 2017
  • February 2017
  • January 2017
  • December 2016
  • November 2016
  • October 2016
  • September 2016
  • August 2016
  • July 2016
  • June 2016
  • May 2016
  • April 2016
  • March 2016
  • February 2016
  • January 2016
  • December 2015
  • November 2015
  • October 2015
  • September 2015
  • August 2015

Tags

1960s addiction Adoption Aging alcoholism alternating POV Australia British child abuse childhood abduction childhood secrets CIA cold case Corruption Depression Domestic terrorism Espionage family secrets FBI female detective female protagonist Kidnapping legal thriller Los Angeles Lucas Davenport multiple POVs mysterious disappearance mystery NetGalley Non Fiction Nutrition Plucky Heroine politics psychological thriller PTSD racism Self-help serial killer Suicide thriller Tracy Crosswhite True Crime unreliable narrator woman in danger wrongful conviction

Recent Comments

  • Allen Eskens on The Quiet Librarian by Allen Eskens

Categories

  • Book Reviews 2017
  • Health
  • Reviews
  • Social Issues
  • Uncategorized

Meta

  • Log in
  • Entries feed
  • Comments feed
  • WordPress.org
  • About
  • Sample Page
  • The Wife You Know by Chad Zunker
  • What Happened to Ellen? by Nancy Grace
Copyright © 2025. Littoral Librarian:
Powered By WordPress and Ecclesiastical