Stranger in the Lake
"Spellbinding. Another outstanding novel by Kimberly Belle, masterfully written to lure you in and never let go." -- Samantha Downing, USA Today bestselling author of My Lovely Wife
When Charlotte married the wealthy widower Paul, it caused a ripple of gossip in their small lakeside town. They have a charmed life together, despite the cruel whispers about her humble past and his first marriage. But everything starts to unravel when she discovers a young woman's body floating in the exact same spot where Paul's first wife tragically drowned.
At first, it seems like a horrific coincidence, but the stranger in the lake is no stranger. Charlotte saw Paul talking to her the day before, even though Paul tells the police he's never met the woman. His lie exposes cracks in their fragile new marriage, cracks Charlotte is determined to keep from breaking them in two.
As Charlotte uncovers dark mysteries about the man she married, she doesn't know what to trust--her heart, which knows Paul to be a good man, or her growing suspicion that there's something he's hiding in the water.
Don't miss bestselling author Kimberly Belle's next deeply addictive thriller, The Personal Assistant--where she explores the dark side of the digital world when a mommy-blogger's assistant goes missing!
Look for these other pulse-pounding thrillers by Kimberly Belle:
When Charlotte married the wealthy widower Paul, it caused a ripple of gossip in their small lakeside town. They have a charmed life together, despite the cruel whispers about her humble past and his first marriage. But everything starts to unravel when she discovers a young woman's body floating in the exact same spot where Paul's first wife tragically drowned.
At first, it seems like a horrific coincidence, but the stranger in the lake is no stranger. Charlotte saw Paul talking to her the day before, even though Paul tells the police he's never met the woman. His lie exposes cracks in their fragile new marriage, cracks Charlotte is determined to keep from breaking them in two.
As Charlotte uncovers dark mysteries about the man she married, she doesn't know what to trust--her heart, which knows Paul to be a good man, or her growing suspicion that there's something he's hiding in the water.
Don't miss bestselling author Kimberly Belle's next deeply addictive thriller, The Personal Assistant--where she explores the dark side of the digital world when a mommy-blogger's assistant goes missing!
Look for these other pulse-pounding thrillers by Kimberly Belle:
- The Marriage Lie
- The Last Breath
- My Darling Husband
- Three Days Missing
- Dear Wife
- The Ones We Trust
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Community Reviews
It’s alright. If this was a movie I would have watched it.
Nothing really stands out as OoOoOooo amazing! But it’s not bad.
Nothing really stands out as OoOoOooo amazing! But it’s not bad.
Stranger in the Lake is an atmospheric mystery set in the picturesque little town of Lake Crosby, North Carolina, part of the Appalachian mountains. Author Kimberly Belle says she set it on a lake because there is "something about a big body of water -- the dark swirling currents, the beautiful but remote setting. . . . It’s the perfect place to set a suspenseful story because you just know something bad is going to happen there." Indeed, a lot of bad things happen in Lake Crosby, where mansions set on the lake stand in contrast to the other part of town in which Belle's protagonist, Charlotte, and her younger brother, Chet, were raised by a neglectful, drug-addicted mother in a rundown trailer park. Belle explores what happens when a woman marries a man whose wealth and social status greatly exceed her own. And when he is suspected of murder, and evidence increasingly points to his guilt, what role does her improved lifestyle and fear of losing it impact her and her willingness to stand by her husband.
As the story opens, Charlotte Keller has just discovered she is pregnant and is contemplating how to tell her husband, Paul, a successful architect eleven years her senior. She is confident Paul's mother and other locals will be convinced that she cleverly planned the pregnancy in order to trap Paul and cement her place in his wealthy and powerful family. Charlotte and Paul have only been married a year or so, after having met when he patronized the convenience store where she worked. Many people in the little town still believe that Paul had something to do with the death of his first wife, Katherine, four years ago. They lived in the showplace home on the lake that Charlotte now shares with him. Katherine, a former competitive swimmer, drowned in the lake during a routine morning swim.
The morning after Charlotte goes to Paul's office to pick him up and finds him chatting with a young woman she has never seen before, Charlotte discovers that woman's body under the boat dock that fronts their lakeside home. The night before, Charlotte and Paul celebrated her pregnancy and when Charlotte work up a little after 6:00 a.m., Paul was already gone, presumably for his morning run. When Paul finally returns, Charlotte has alerted the authorities, including their next door neighbor, Micah, Paul's lifelong friend and son of the police chief. Micah is a well-known diver who specializes in underwater investigations and evidence recovery. Charlotte is shocked when Paul denies ever having seen the deceased woman before. And from there, the mysteries within mysteries that Belle weaves into her tautly-constructed tale are revealed at an unrelenting pace.
Charlotte also saw Jax the previous day when she went to meet Paul. Jax, like Micah, is one of Paul's oldest friends. But many years ago, he dropped out of society and began living deep in the woods. He is well-known to Lake Crosby residents, most of whom write him off as mentally disturbed. But he told Charlotte he needed to speak with Paul, who takes off into the woods to find him, leaving Charlotte alone and wondering why she endorsed Paul's lie. Like him, she told the police she did not recognize the dead woman. Charlotte is unnerved by her own dishonesty and contemplates confessing the truth to Sam Kinkaid, the police officer who used to be her good friend. He warned Charlotte not to marry Paul. Charlotte wonders what Paul would do if she recanted. Would he stand by her? Or abandon her and their unborn child?
Charlotte loves Paul, believes that he loves her, and wants her marriage to survive. However, there are so many unanswered questions that she simply cannot ignore. Despite the way in which she grew up -- largely responsible for raising Chet because her mother left them physically and emotionally alone -- Charlotte has a strong sense of right and wrong, and now she has her own baby to consider and provide for. She loathes the idea of being a single mother, forced to support herself and her child working a dead-end job, living back on the other side of Lake Crosby's literal and figurative tracks. But she cannot continue her life with Paul until she knows the truth, in part because she perceives that she might be in danger.
Belle relates Charlotte's internal struggle via a compelling first-person narrative detailing her doubts and the clues she follows in her quest for answers. Paul has not been entirely forthcoming with her about everything. In fact, he has lied to her about several things. Charlotte wonders what else he has lied about and how those lied bode for their future together, as well as their unborn child's future. Could Paul have been lying all the times he insisted that he loved Katherine and did not harm her?
Belle injects a third-person narrative describing events that transpired in June 1999. Jax was mourning his mother, who died from ALS (Lou Gehrig's disease), and trying to stay away from his once-happy home and family. His sister, Pamela, became obsessed with the healing power of prayer but, as predicted, it didn't work and his mother's life was not spared. Paul and Micah convince Jax that if they can't find a party in town that night, they will make their own. But what really happened that evening? In subsequent flashbacks, Belle gradually reveals the whole story and why the three men remain bound to each other. Those revelations enable Belle's readers to journey with Charlotte to the whole, shocking truth.
Along the way, Charlotte proves to be an empathetic and savvy character. Belle ramps up the tension until the secrets that Paul, Jax, and Micah have been keeping for more than two decades are revealed. But then Belle cleverly wrings even more intrigue out of her multi-layered and slyly nuanced thriller.
Stranger in the Lake is replete with characters whose lives are intricately and inextricably connected by secrets that, were it not for one random occurrence, would have remained buried forever. It's a smartly-told, engrossing story featuring a protagonist who rises above the circumstances of her birth and childhood. At the outset, to the residents of Lake Crosby, she appears to have done so by marrying a rich man. But by the end of the story, Belle demonstrates that she has actually done so through her own integrity, ingenuity, resilience, and determination. Charlotte fearlessly seeks the truth, no matter the toll on her marriage.
Stranger in the Lake further cements Belle as a master storyteller who consistently delivers gripping, entertaining thrillers featuring strong female protagonists.
Thanks to NetGalley for an Advance Reader's Copy of the book.
As the story opens, Charlotte Keller has just discovered she is pregnant and is contemplating how to tell her husband, Paul, a successful architect eleven years her senior. She is confident Paul's mother and other locals will be convinced that she cleverly planned the pregnancy in order to trap Paul and cement her place in his wealthy and powerful family. Charlotte and Paul have only been married a year or so, after having met when he patronized the convenience store where she worked. Many people in the little town still believe that Paul had something to do with the death of his first wife, Katherine, four years ago. They lived in the showplace home on the lake that Charlotte now shares with him. Katherine, a former competitive swimmer, drowned in the lake during a routine morning swim.
The morning after Charlotte goes to Paul's office to pick him up and finds him chatting with a young woman she has never seen before, Charlotte discovers that woman's body under the boat dock that fronts their lakeside home. The night before, Charlotte and Paul celebrated her pregnancy and when Charlotte work up a little after 6:00 a.m., Paul was already gone, presumably for his morning run. When Paul finally returns, Charlotte has alerted the authorities, including their next door neighbor, Micah, Paul's lifelong friend and son of the police chief. Micah is a well-known diver who specializes in underwater investigations and evidence recovery. Charlotte is shocked when Paul denies ever having seen the deceased woman before. And from there, the mysteries within mysteries that Belle weaves into her tautly-constructed tale are revealed at an unrelenting pace.
Charlotte also saw Jax the previous day when she went to meet Paul. Jax, like Micah, is one of Paul's oldest friends. But many years ago, he dropped out of society and began living deep in the woods. He is well-known to Lake Crosby residents, most of whom write him off as mentally disturbed. But he told Charlotte he needed to speak with Paul, who takes off into the woods to find him, leaving Charlotte alone and wondering why she endorsed Paul's lie. Like him, she told the police she did not recognize the dead woman. Charlotte is unnerved by her own dishonesty and contemplates confessing the truth to Sam Kinkaid, the police officer who used to be her good friend. He warned Charlotte not to marry Paul. Charlotte wonders what Paul would do if she recanted. Would he stand by her? Or abandon her and their unborn child?
Charlotte loves Paul, believes that he loves her, and wants her marriage to survive. However, there are so many unanswered questions that she simply cannot ignore. Despite the way in which she grew up -- largely responsible for raising Chet because her mother left them physically and emotionally alone -- Charlotte has a strong sense of right and wrong, and now she has her own baby to consider and provide for. She loathes the idea of being a single mother, forced to support herself and her child working a dead-end job, living back on the other side of Lake Crosby's literal and figurative tracks. But she cannot continue her life with Paul until she knows the truth, in part because she perceives that she might be in danger.
Belle relates Charlotte's internal struggle via a compelling first-person narrative detailing her doubts and the clues she follows in her quest for answers. Paul has not been entirely forthcoming with her about everything. In fact, he has lied to her about several things. Charlotte wonders what else he has lied about and how those lied bode for their future together, as well as their unborn child's future. Could Paul have been lying all the times he insisted that he loved Katherine and did not harm her?
Belle injects a third-person narrative describing events that transpired in June 1999. Jax was mourning his mother, who died from ALS (Lou Gehrig's disease), and trying to stay away from his once-happy home and family. His sister, Pamela, became obsessed with the healing power of prayer but, as predicted, it didn't work and his mother's life was not spared. Paul and Micah convince Jax that if they can't find a party in town that night, they will make their own. But what really happened that evening? In subsequent flashbacks, Belle gradually reveals the whole story and why the three men remain bound to each other. Those revelations enable Belle's readers to journey with Charlotte to the whole, shocking truth.
Along the way, Charlotte proves to be an empathetic and savvy character. Belle ramps up the tension until the secrets that Paul, Jax, and Micah have been keeping for more than two decades are revealed. But then Belle cleverly wrings even more intrigue out of her multi-layered and slyly nuanced thriller.
Stranger in the Lake is replete with characters whose lives are intricately and inextricably connected by secrets that, were it not for one random occurrence, would have remained buried forever. It's a smartly-told, engrossing story featuring a protagonist who rises above the circumstances of her birth and childhood. At the outset, to the residents of Lake Crosby, she appears to have done so by marrying a rich man. But by the end of the story, Belle demonstrates that she has actually done so through her own integrity, ingenuity, resilience, and determination. Charlotte fearlessly seeks the truth, no matter the toll on her marriage.
Stranger in the Lake further cements Belle as a master storyteller who consistently delivers gripping, entertaining thrillers featuring strong female protagonists.
Thanks to NetGalley for an Advance Reader's Copy of the book.
i found this story to be very boring. it took me over a month to get through it. it didn’t feel like i was reading a thriller and the characters felt like cliches. the story was interesting enough that i wanted to know how it ended but i would not read it again or recommend it. i didn’t predict the ending but the “twist” didn’t bring any shock value either.
& the pregnancy trope kind of ruined the story for me. i don’t mind pregnancy in general but often times in stories it never feels necessary or even beneficial to the plot. still, months after finishing this book, i don’t see the point in her pregnancy. it didn’t make sense to bring a baby into her mess and it didn’t advance the story in any way. it was just completely unnecessary.
& the pregnancy trope kind of ruined the story for me. i don’t mind pregnancy in general but often times in stories it never feels necessary or even beneficial to the plot. still, months after finishing this book, i don’t see the point in her pregnancy. it didn’t make sense to bring a baby into her mess and it didn’t advance the story in any way. it was just completely unnecessary.
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