In this story the reader met Charlotte, who believed her dreams came through when she married Paul Keller. Charlotte, a former gas station attendant, grew up in a trailer park, neglected by her drug addicted mother and forced to raise her brother by herself. Paul an architect came from wealth, so for Charlotte who knew nothing but poverty to marry someone like Paul was indeed a dream come true. However, not all that glitters is gold. Paul’s first wife died under mysterious circumstances and he was a suspect, but the evidence was not enough to implicate him. The gossip mills were hard at work when Paul and Charlotte got married and not everyone approved. Charlotte refused to allow the malice to upset her after all they loved each other and nothing could shake that foundation. Then she found the body of the woman she saw her husband speaking with the day before floating in the same spot where his first wife was found. At first it appeared coincidental, but when the lies began and her husband left her to field questions from the authorities and their colleagues, she begins to question his actions.
I had a hard time warming up to Charlotte in the initial stages, but she grew on me and I ended up rooting for her.
Now the story was far from suspenseful, but the mystery kept me engaged. It had me turning the pages because I needed answers. It was hard deciphering between the lies and the truth and I didn’t know who to trust, be it the main or supporting characters. As the story delved deeper into Paul’s past, suspicions are raised. Suspicions that led to doubts on Charlotte’s part and created holes in the marriage. As we all know, a relationship built on lies has no leg to stand on.
The story was well paced and there was never a dull moment. It provided flashbacks of Paul’s and two of his friends’ past. At first, I wondered at the significance, but as the plot evolved it established the connections, which led to a jaw dropping conclusion.
Stranger in the Lake depicted the extent a person or persons would go to keep their secrets hidden. This was my first-time experiencing Belle’s writing, but it will not be my last.