The Lake Never Tells

Alex Tully

Indie

May 21, 2020

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Blurb: Zoe has lived in Sunny Shores Trailer Park her whole life and she knows what the Memorial Day weekend brings—snobby rich kids who serve as a constant reminder of how pathetic her life really is. So when she meets Ethan, the awkward boy from the exclusive community of Crystal Waters, she can’t help being intrigued. He’s different, but in a good way.

Along with her stand-in little brother Parker, and her best friend Meredith, the four of them form an unlikely friendship. But one morning, their idyllic summer is turned upside down when a dead body washes up on the beach…

From the author of the critically acclaimed Hope for Garbage, comes another story of friendship, hope, and the incredible power of the human spirit.

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Zoe lives in a run-down trailer park while Ethan visits his family’s second home in exclusive Crystal Waters where he spends most of his time on the family’s yacht. Last year, Zoe and Ethan would never have met much less become friends. This year, they become friends with a chance for more.

Alex Tully’s Beautiful Chaos was one of the first books I read after I became a book blogger (read my review of Beautiful Chaos here). I really loved it so I was excited to have the opportunity to read The Lake Never Tells. While The Lake Never Tells strikes me as a very different story from Beautiful Chaos, it immediately grabbed my attention and even made me discard the other book I had been reading first and in conjunction just because I needed to know what was going to happen next.

Tully’s characters are rich and layered and it’s this that makes the novel so good. A traumatic event occurred within the year that changed Ethan. The reader doesn’t know what the event is until near the end of the novel but sees the enormity of the ramifications in Ethan’s character. Throughout the course of The Lake Never Tells, the reader watches his changing awareness, his development as a person.

Likewise, Zoe’s life with her mother, who must be called Debbie because she doesn’t want the title of mother, is chaotic. Her mother behaving more like a teenager than she does. And, Parker, the youngest of the three POV characters, is hiding a trauma of his own.

The dead body and mystery provides an interesting touch with much speculation as to who might have done it.

My only reservation in an otherwise excellent read is to have the last scene replayed in the POV of the three POV characters. I’m not a fan of repetition unless it’s intended for effect. I think rather than reiterating the event, it might have been handled by an omniscient narrator instead. Nevertheless, this didn’t change my overall impression of The Lake Never Tells.

If you like YA novels and have not yet read Indie author, Alex Tully, I highly encourage you to do so.

I received an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

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rating: 

4 out of 5 butterflies

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