Reviewed by Annika

TITLE: Sunset Lake

AUTHOR: John Inman

NARRATOR: Randal Schaffer

PUBLISHER: Dreamspinner Press

RELEASE DATE: February 23, 2016

LENGTH: 11 hours, 51 minutes

BLURB:

Reverend Brian Lucas has a secret his congregation in the Nine Mile Methodist Church knows nothing about, and he’d really like to keep it that way. But even his Earth-shattering secret takes a backseat to what else is happening in his tiny hometown.

Murders usually do that.

Brian’s “close friend”, Sam, is urging a resolution to their little problem, but Brian’s brother, Boyd, the County Sheriff, is more caught up in chasing down a homicidal maniac who is slaughtering little old ladies.

When Brian’s secret and Boyd’s mystery run into each other head on, and Boyd’s 15-year-old son, Jesse, gets involved, all hell breaks loose. Then a fourth death comes to terrify the town, and it is Brian who begins to see what is taking place in their little corner of the Corn Belt. But even for a Methodist minister, it will take more than prayer to set it right.

REVIEW:

Why haven’t more people read this book??

Few books have left me truly and utterly speechless, have taken me that much by surprise or left me that much in need of processing what happened. At the moment only this book comes to mind.

That being said, Sunset Lake was just great, perfection really. I was drawn into this story immediately by Inman’s beautiful writing. There was just something about his words that captured me, and held me captive throughout this story.

Sunset Lake is told solely from Brian’s POV, a minister in Nine Mile. It follows the everyday life of his life how he goes about taking care of everyone in the town, preparing for the youth summer camp at Sunset Lake that he wants to start up. It’s a small town where everyone knows everything about everyone and nothing ever happens.
…until it does. Until old ladies are found horribly murdered and leaves the town searching for answers.

We follow Brian’s struggles hiding his sexuality from everyone, hiding the love of his life and never fully embrace that love. Brian and Sam have been in love and together since their late teens, their love is far from new and neither are their struggles. But it has come to a time where something needs to change; it’s time to live openly together or not at all. But taking that step is far from easy in a town where they’d be shunned and lynched for just holding hands.

Do not go into this book expecting a fast paced thriller novel, nothing could be further from the truth, It’s quiet and unassuming, just like the town is. Until it isn’t. Until that message; “Number 1” is left on the answering machine of a murdered old lady and causes mistrust and upheaval through the community.

I’m always wary picking up books with religious themes; they generally don’t hold much interest to me. And nothing turns me off faster than preaching (no matter what religion or topic). However, this book was done brilliantly. Religion was there in the background, it was a religious small town after all, but it wasn’t the important part of the book, it only provided depth and understanding to who these people were. It was never preachy or sprouted religious lines at you, it just provided the setting for the book.

Sunset Lake was the first book I listened to that was narrated by Randal Schaffer and I couldn’t be happier. He was the perfect choice for this book. His voice and pacing fit the book to a T, a match made in the bookish heavens. He took you into the story and immersed you in the lives of Nine Mile, to share the lives of all the character, young to old.

This was an incredibly well written murder mystery set in a town full of secrets and lies. And I promise you, you will search for the killer along with everyone in town, look suspiciously at everyone and their neighbour and you will still come up blank. There are many possibilities that don’t quite fit. Until they do… Until it all makes so much horrible sense that you might wish you never knew. That you kept your nose out of it and stopped poking around.

And that ending… I have no words for that ending. I never in a million years would’ve seen that coming, and to be honest I’m still reeling from it! It’s not a cliffhanger in any way. Brian and Sam do get their happily ever after in the end, and we get a conclusion to the murders, but it’s also come at a price.

If you are a fan of great murder mysteries with a romantic subplot, you need to pick this book up, I promise that you won’t regret it.

Highly recommended!

RATING:

BUY LINKS: 

Amazon

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