Reviewed by: Kris

Written by: James Patterson

Titled: Lake House, The

Max, Oz, Matthew, Icarus, Peter, and Wendy are back in this chilling tale of injustice, murder, love, and fear. Kit and Frannie are trying to attain custody of the children, but lose to the biological parents. One evening the children are forced to leave their homes, out of fear for their lives. They meet up with Kit and Frannie, in an attempt to save them all. Max knows things that she shouldn’t know, and if she tells anyone she will die. What does she know that could get them all killed? Who is Dr. Ethan Kane? And what is going on at the Hospital?

First of all, this is a sequel. You will want to read When The Wind Blows by James Patterson. This will introduce you to the characters and all of the background information needed for this novel. I actually did not know this was a sequel when I decided to read it. So, I did not re-read When The Wind Blows before reading this one, but I remembered the major points in it, so I was all right in reading the sequel.

I like this book a great deal. It has all of the elements I look for in a J.P. novel: action, suspense, sex, love, fear, and some sort of twist. We never really know what Max knows until we are well into the action, so we are kept in the dark, just like Frannie and Kit are, for a long while. There aren’t too many twists in this novel, but they aren’t really needed, either. There are a few, however, but they will not make your head spin. The only real problem I have with this book is the parts where two of the bird children are having sex. Now, while they are supposedly more mature than human children their own age, it is wrong to have two kids that age having sex. It wasn’t really called for all that much, but I suppose it does add more drama to the action, and…well, I won’t tell you anymore than that.

The bad guy is like all other J.P. bad guys. Handsome, rich, smart, has a beautiful wife. But I think the bad guy in this novel is worse than all other J.P. bad guys; yes, even worse than Gary Soneji. He’s worse because of what he is trying to do. I won’t tell you what he is trying to do because that would spoil the fun for you; trust me he is bad news.

This is a must read for any J.P. fan, especially if you enjoyed When The Wind Blows. This is a very well written, well thought out, and well-researched novel. If you have ever wanted to fly, this novel and its predecessor are the novels for you.