Horror Annotation
Author:
Darcy Coates
Title: Dead Lake
Genre: Horror
Publication Date: December 14, 2015
Number of Pages:158
Geographical Setting: Set in a fictional forest on
Harob Lake, the novel Dead Lake takes the reader to a familiar horror setting
in a cabin on the lake.
Time Period: Modern
Plot Summary:
Dead Lake is centered on
a young women, Sam, who has been struggling to come up with art for her art exhibition.
After her uncle offers to let her stay in his cabin, on Harob Lake, she accepts
in hopes the isolation of the cabin from civilization will prove to help with
her creativity block.
Unfortunately
for Sam, she might not be the only one using the lake as a resting place. Sam
learns that her little get-a-way is in the same area that hikers have been disappearing,
Harob Forest. Could it be that this dark-haired stranger and these disappearances
have a connection? If they do Sam is
going to find out.
Characteristics that fit into Horror:
v Emotional
Response: the story takes place in a secluded area where the reader and Sam
encounter unknown elements from beginning to end.
v Mystery:
Who is this man by the lake? Where are all the hikers going? Unknown paintings?...
v Unsettling
tone: All of the book has Sam double guessing and unsure of the next moment to
come.
v Surprise!:
“OMG! What just happened”, will be muttered plenty while reading.
v An
Evil Presence: A little late to the story, but creepy none the less.
v Pacing:
Fast pace that doesn’t let you put it down.
Similar Authors and Works:
v The
Transmission by Ambrose Ibsen: Has a similar “cracking the code element to the
story that Dead Lake has.
v The
Old Cottage by Sani Struthers: Another unknown setting the protagonist has to
encounter.
v The
Haunting of Seafield House by Carolina Clark: the supernatural is a large
element.
3 Relevant Non-Fiction Works and Authors
v In
Cold Blood: A True Account of a Multiple Murder and its Consequences, by Truman
Capote
v Helter
Skelter: The True Story of the Manson Murders, by Vincent Bugliosi and Curt
Gentry
v The
Mrytles Plantation: The True Story of America’s Most Haunted House by Frances
Kermeen.
3 Relevant Fiction Works and Authors
v Sleep
Over: An Oral History of the Apocalypse by H.G. Bells
v The
Lost Village (The Ghost Hunters #2) by Neil Spring
v All
Things Bright and Strange by James Markert
I never read horror stories, but your summary has me wanting to know what happens. I might have to chance a nightmare to find out how the book ends.
ReplyDeleteBased on your annotation, there are a lot of things about this book that make me want to read it! 1)It's short. At 158 pages, I know I don't have to invest a lot of time in it 2) I can't lie. I have loved the "Friday the 13th" movies forever - and this has a lake setting and kids disappearing? Jason's evil cousin may be in this book! 3) The potential to mutter "OMG. What just happened?" multiple times. 4) I really just want to know who and why, and I love the suspense!
ReplyDeleteMasada, I had to laugh at Shawn's comment above where part of the appeal of the book is that it's SHORT! My eye was drawn to the creepy cover image which I thought was really good, but the 158 pages was kind of the icing on the cake. Sometimes a book can be like fast-food, you know? You really just want a quick bite to tide you over and this one sounds like just the ticket. Nice job!
ReplyDeleteExcellent annotation and full points!
ReplyDelete