Book Review: A View From the Lake – Author Greg F. Gifune

A VIEW FROM THE LAKE

by Greg F. Gifune
(Bad Moon Books)

Hell freezes over…

The modest lakeside resort in the small town of Blissful Point, Massachusetts once offered an alternative to the crowded beaches of Cape Cod. Tourists rented cabins, swam, relaxed, and enjoyed the miles of surrounding forest in a peaceful and safe environment. Katherine lived there for years with her husband James, a poet, and their cat Barney. They ran the small resort during the hectic spring and summer months, then hunkered down and endured the often brutal and desolate winters in relative isolation. Their lives were uncomplicated, happy and quiet – or so Katherine thought – until one summer morning when the dead body of a young boy is found floating in the lake. From the moment the child accidentally drowns, Katherine watches as her husband slowly begins to lose his grip on reality, spiraling down helplessly into insanity. And then he’s gone, vanished from their home without a trace. The authorities drag the lake and search parties comb the woods, but to no avail. James is gone.

Months later, as a blizzard descends over Blissful Point, Katherine, alone at the resort, faces her final winter on the lake. But things are no longer what they seem. Perhaps they never were. Are there others out there, in the woods, in the snow, in the lake, waiting and watching and luring her toward the same madness that claimed James? Is there a lingering and primordial evil haunting the lake, bringing with it the truth behind its existence, the answer to the mystery surrounding her husband’s disappearance, and the life she thought she knew, or is her own grip on reality beginning to loosen?

(Introduction by T.M. Wright)

Greg F. Gifune’s “A View From The Lake” is an unrelenting journey into the depths of madness and terror that will forever change the way you look at a snowstorm or your favorite lake again.

There are not too many authors that can actually scare me, Mr. Gifune is one of them.

“A View From The Lake” is one of the best ghost stories I have ever read. Though calling it a simple ghost story might be an injustice, it is so much more than that. I found it very hard to turn the lights out after I finished, it had that much of an impact. This book will stay with you long after you finish the last page.

From the very first page Mr. Gifune draws you into a world of madness, where things aren’t always what they appear to be. His prose is dark and disturbing, the atmosphere haunting and unsettling. Mr. Gifune leads you on a horrific journey that ends….you, my friend will have to read the book to find that out, but it is safe to say the ending will leave you breathless and shaken.

Mr. Gifune continues to push the boundaries of what dark fiction can be, and in my opinion one of the best authors in the dark fiction. If you have not yet read anything by Mr. Gifune what are you waiting for, use the link above to order “A View From The Lake”, I guarantee you will not be disappointed and I give it my highest recommendation.