Book Review of Rachel Caine’s Stillhouse Lake: A Review of Suspense and Emotional Depth

-By Soul Sword-

Genre- Thriller, suspense, Psychological thriller

Stillhouse Lake by Rachel Caine is a psychological thriller novel with a unique storyline.

Gina Royal is fleeing the aftermath of her husband’s crimes, trying to escape the life he’s left her and their children with. She faces the brunt of his actions when her only mistake is trusting and marrying a man who turns out to be a serial killer.

Summary

The book is narrated from Gina Royal’s point of view. Gina Royal lives a normal life with her husband and two kids until she comes home one day to find an SUV rammed into their garage.

Gina’s life is upended as she finds a female corpse hanging in the centre of the garage. She is horrified when she learns that her husband Melvin Royal is a serial killer. A messy trial follows and convicts her husband and acquits her. Post her release Gina tries to pick up and mend the broken pieces of what is left of her once-happy family.

The novel captures the societal bitterness and hatred directed at the killer’s family, even though Gina was acquitted during her trial. The family lives under constant threat to their lives as they try to rebuild their life.

Gina resorts to fake identities and constantly shifts towns to keep herself and the kids safe from society. Now living under the alias Gwen Proctor, she and her children Lanny and Connor arrive at Stillhouse Lake, hoping for a fresh start. Just then, a gruesome murder in the locality threatens to bring up what they have tried so hard to hide.

The novel showcases online abuse vividly. At one point in the story, we see Gwen (Gina) going through all the threats that she and her kids receive daily. Most of it is graphic and violent. It also shows that many of the senders are doing it as a prank or as a form of bullying.

The author has done a great job portraying Gwen’s relationship with her children. Gwen shields her children from details of their father’s trial and the threats from the public. She tries her best to give them a shot at a normal life. At the same time, she is emotionally hurt every time she finds out that despite all her efforts her kids have been affected in various ways. She notes their personality changes and vexation whenever she refuses something in the name of safety. The parts where the children are disappointed and angry with their mother despite understanding why they keep a low profile are well written.

We find Gwen constantly living in paranoia. She comes across as cold in the new neighbourhood. She is so engrossed in her problems that she doesn’t even notice she is being viewed in a different eye.

As we start the book, Gwen does come across as extremely paranoid and acts out unnecessarily in some places. But as the novel progresses one understands that Gwen is a woman trying to grow a tree in a forest of weeds.

Often she thinks about the life she has left behind. The storyline emphasises the contrast between her personalities when she was an innocent housewife and now a mother who stops at nothing to keep her kids safe.

There are many characters in this book and all of them add to the suspense in their way.

Melvin Royal is Gwen’s husband. Most of his presence in the book is through Gwen’s thoughts. The author has done a great job of portraying his character. The book describes his MO vividly and graphically. He is a vicious and vile serial killer. The more we read about him the more we understand Gwen’s paranoia.

Javier “Javi” Esparza is an instructor at the shooting range. He seems helpful and is a former marine.

Sam Cade is Gwen’s neighbour at Stillhouse Lake. He is an ex-air force pilot with a calm demeanour. Gwen and the kids slowly warm up to him when he helps them renovate the home.

Lancel Graham is a police officer. His son goes to the same school as Gwen’s son Connor.

Kezia Claremont is Lancel’s co-worker. She is a dutiful cop and her father is also Gwen’s neighbour.

Rachel Caine pulls the reader into Gwen’s world, making us feel as if we, too, are at Stillhouse Lake, experiencing what the family is going through. What makes the ending truly satisfying, despite the thrilling climax, is that Gwen is finally treated as innocent after being unfairly labelled a criminal throughout the narrative.

Stillhouse Lake is a gripping novel from the beginning to the very end. I picked up the book expecting it to be a normal thriller novel but it turned out to be an engaging psychological thriller. As the novel ends well, it lays the scene for the next novel Killman Creek in the series.

I would rate the book 4.2 for its emotional depth and effective portrayal of a serial killer’s family’s point of view.

The book can be purchased from here.

-By Soul Sword-

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