Customer Reviews

Lost Lake

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(25)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(8)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

When packing for a long road trip I always like to take authors like Philip Margolin along for the ride. His books on CD keep you alert and engaged and Lost Lake is no exception.

While there is a crime committed in Lost Lake (several in fact) there is no mystery to solve because you already know who-dunnit. The underlying question is why was the crime committed, and are the stories being told by the chief protagonists (Carl Rice and Vanessa Kohler) the real deal or just the delusions of a couple of paranoiac personalities.

It's up to their lawyer Ami Vergano to try to separate fact from fiction and determine the truth behind the story that began 20 years earlier with the brutal torture murder of a Congressman.

Deborah Hazlett is a talented reader and she deftly breathes life into Margolin's characters and keeps the story moving along at a lively pace. You find yourself pulling for Carl and Vanessa while still wondering if perhaps they really are crazy and you've been sucked into their deluded world.

If you enjoy a story that delves into the arenas of political and military cover-ups and is laced with tension and a touch of uncertainty you'll relish your journey to LOST LAKE.

Like a James Bond movie that begins with a huge stunt before the opening credits even scroll by, this book jumps right into the action with a vicious murder of a U.S. Congressman. The gruesome event actually happens nearly 20 years before the rest of the book takes place, but is central to the predicament the story's characters now find themselves.

The main players are: General Wingate the retired hard-charging Army General now running for President and someone who will do anything to keep secret the illegal murderous unit he ran while on active duty. His daughter Vanessa who witnessed the murder of the congressman and hates her father because she believes he was responsible for the death of her mother and much more. Carl Rice, was once Vanessa's high school boyfriend and is now a former army captain who served in General Wingate's secret unit, and Ami Vergano the young single mom and small time lawyer who will get swept up in the action and forced into defending Carl after he becomes involved in a scuffle that turns deadly at Little League game where Ami's son was playing. Little known to Ami though, is who Carl actually is, that Carl has murdered time and time again for General Wingate and has been on the run and in hiding from Wingate for the past twenty years. The incident at the ball field and the subsequent press coverage start in motion a series of events which make this book the thriller that it is.

What makes a good thriller? Well it has a have a great plot, creative subterfuge, devious betrayal, larger-than-life characters and almost always, murderous violence. This book by Margolin has all that and is a captivatingly good story. I recommend it as an easy, exciting read.

If you really enjoy thrillers, one of the all time best is, Eye of the Needle by Ken Follett.

During Vietnam, a powerful general ran a secret, elite unit of spies and assassins to carry out his private agendas--which included the murder of a United States senator. At least, that's what his daughter, Vanessa Kohler, has maintained for many years. But no one believes Vanessa, who has a history of serious mental illness. She's written off as paranoid, a crank--and the fact she works as a tabloid reporter doesn't elevate her reputation any.

Now Vanessa catches a glimpse of a man on the TV news, a man she thought long dead. He is one of her father's assassins. And if he is still alive, he is the one person who could prove the Unit existed. But the man, Carl Rice, now living under an assumed name, has his own problems--namely that he's been charged with attempted murder for intervening in a Little League game when a parent physically threatened the coach. He stuck a ballpoint pen in the guy's throat.

Caught in the middle of all this is single-mom lawyer Ami Vergano, who is Carl's landlord. The man has been nothing but gentle and friendly until this incident. So when Vanessa comes to her with her wild claims, demanding that Ami represent Carl, she tries to get out of it. But the more she hears, the more intrigued she becomes. There is a thread of truth to what Vanessa's story. And Ami, though she is not a criminal attorney, gets sucked in to the drama, all the while trying to protect herself and her young son.

This is a first-rate thriller reminiscent of the movie Conspiracy Theory. Sometimes paranoids have enemies, and sometimes they're not imagining things. It's easy to sympathize with Vanessa even as she makes one poor choice after another in her quest to prove her father, now a presidential candidate, is a cold-blooded murderer. Even Carl, a trained killer, is made sympathetic. I really could not put this book down.

Single mom, a lawyer, also a painter, Ami Vergano meets Daniel Morelli at the Portland Spring Arts Fair. Ami strikes up a conversation with Daniel and as a result offers to rent him the extra apartment she has over her garage. Ami sees how good Daniel is with her baseball-loving son Ryan, and how talented he is at making furniture. Ami and Daniel attend one of Ryan's baseball games. A confrontation quickly escalates into unforeseen violence resulting in Daniel's hospitalization and criminal charges. Vanessa Kohler's troubled story does cause interruptions in the smooth flow of Daniel Morelli's, aka Carl Rice's story. Vanessa flies to Oregon to rescue Carl from the hospital before her father, General Morris Wingate realizes he is alive. Vanessa hires Ami as Carl's lawyer, despite her objections that she has no criminal legal experience. Carl and Vanessa's history unfolds back to when it first began in high school back in 1969. Carl and Vanessa seemingly convince Ami that her father was in charge of a secret military unit thirty years ago. General Wingate, currently running for president, claims his daughter is a sick woman and Carl Rice is an insane killer. Is it a conspiracy that the only people who could help Carl Rice's case are killed? Fake documents attesting to Carl's diminished mental state appear as the only evidence. Not everything is smoothly written and the action sometimes is uneven but stay with it to the last page to find out who is telling the truth.

I am a huge fan of Margolin. Had been expecting this book with great anticipation.

Our two main characters - Morelli and Vanessa, both have deep, dark secrets that will eventually link them together. But first, we have to do through endless pages of boring interactions (the relationship with Morelli and the kid was so sugary) that it makes you want to skip to the end of the book.

Margolin's usual flow in the storyline practically does not exist in this book. His transition from main characters (who are not even in the same geographical area for the longest time) is ackward and extremely drawn out.

Although I did like the Morelli character, the Vanessa one left me cold.

Margolin fills his novel up with too much detail and fluff and when he actually gets to the nitty-gritty, its boring.

This one is a pass.

The first book I ever read by Phillip Margolin was Gone But Not Forgotten, a very well-written serial killer novel that made me an instant fan. Since then, I have read almost everything else he's written, and while it's typically good stuff, it never has reached the same caliber as that first book. For most of its length, Lost Lake may be the best Margolin book since Gone But Not Forgotten, but it falters towards the end and winds up being merely good.

A brief prologue in 1985 gives us the murder of Congressman Eric Glass at an isolated cabin near the small town of Lost Lake. This is witnessed by Vanessa Kohler, the daughter of General Morris Wingate; Vanessa identifies the killer as Carl Rice, who has disappeared into the night. Twenty years later, Daniel Morelli, a man with a mysterious past, moves into the spare room of Ami Vergano in Portland, Oregon. He is, of course, Carl, as is soon revealed after a fight lands his picture on national TV.

When Vanessa sees Carl's picture, she seeks him out, using Ami (who is a lawyer) as a go-between. A picture starts being painted of Morris Wingate, who is now seeking the Presidency. Wingate - according to Vanessa - is a clever and ruthless killer who murdered her mother and many others using members of a secret government assassination squad. It all sounds outlandish, and by all appearances, Vanessa may just be extremely paranoid; she has even spent time locked away in a mental hospital.

The nice thing about this story is you're never positive exactly who is the villain. The obvious choice is Wingate, but there's always the chance he is perfectly innocent. After a brief appearance in the prologue, he doesn't make an appearance till late in the book; otherwise, we only know of him through the tales of others who may not be entirely reliable. Carl and Vanessa - these potential unreliable witnesses - seem sympathetic enough, but we just can't be positive.

Unfortunately, the resolution doesn't really pay off that well after all the build-up, as it kind of pulls out a bit of information out of a hat to solve the problems. It's not an utter failure, but it's enough to kick this down from five stars to four. Once again, Margolin has shown that he is a good writer but he is once again unable to capture greatness.

We're Margolin fans, having read all ten of his prior novels, and generally find his work entertaining and satisfying. We agree that this one is slow to get going -- only the latter part of the book zings along with exciting action. Perhaps the problem with this thriller's complex plot is that to make any sense of the present we have to wade through lengthy recounts of the past for main characters Dan Morelli (aka Carl Rice) and Vanessa Wingate, the bad-girl general's (and presidential hopeful's) daughter. That both lead characters, not counting the sweet but rather naive lawyer to the rescue, Ami Vergano, have apparent histories of mental trouble makes it hard for us to decide just who is telling the truth and who might be fabricating the most intricate delusions one would ever try to invent.

At any rate, Rice and Vanessa get into more trouble, and leave more bodies in their wake, than a serial killer with a death wish. Yet in the end, will these bad guys convince a judge that their fantastic claims about Gen. Wingate are true? Can there be proof? And does any such truth justify the brutal half dozen or so murders committed along the way?

We know Margolin can craft a good tale and turn a good phrase. Indeed, "Lost Lake" does generate some heat before the final pages. Unfortunately, like an amusement park ride that gets a little long to sustain the thrills, we found ourselves tiring from all the ups and downs, all the trials and tribulations. Perhaps a little better pace, less historical detail, more believable protagonists, and a little more character work with key supporting players might add up to a better book. As suggested by others, it's not a novel so much bad as just disappointing -- and whether that's worth our investment of time, a little problematic.

In LOST LAKE, Philip Margolin tackles government conspiracy at its utmost level. While the book's labyrinthine plot is at times too far fetched to be credible, Margolin does manage to offer some twists and exciting action sequences. The book as a whole, however, is not one of his best. It all revolves around Vanessa Wingate Koehler and her previous lover, Carl Rice aka Dan Morelli, who is jailed after a violent assault at a little league game. Seems Vanessa thinks her father, General Wingate, once headed a really covert force of assassins, one of whom is Rice/Morelli. Wingate is also a frontrunner in the latest presidential election. No one believes Vanessa's wild story and she hires a rising attorney, Ami, to defend Carl.
It's all rather complicated and we know who to believe; Margolin just adds too much and doesn't really keep the reader focused. While not a real loser, LOST LAKE failed to meet my expectations.

I've enjoyed Margolin's work in the past, but this novel is long on verbiage and short on real impact. Also, there is a critical error in the text when Kirkpatrick refers to the recently escaped Morelli character as Rice (the true name of the as-yet-unknown mystery man). This threw me for a loop while I was trying to figure out who knew what about whom. (Has anyone else caught this error?) Sorry, Mr. Margolin, but I think this work was a trite amalgam of plenty of better-paced action thrillers. And, I never really felt sympathetic for the cardboard Ami. In short, "Lost Lake" was just long-winded, overly contrived caca doody. More like "Lost Time" for me. Now, excuse me while I get back to Ellroy, Bruen, McBain, Mankell, Rankin, Reginald Hill, and the others who can really craft a fine tale and fill it with characters who feel alive.

Philip Margolin has made a very nice living out of writing tightly-plotted thrillers featuring well-drawn characters. Unfortunately, he has accomplished neither with this book. The plot is implausible, the characters are almost uniformly irritating, and the pace of the storytelling is confusing--all building to an anticipated crescendo, except that there is no crescendo. The book ends with a whimper without even tying up all of the loose ends.

It's surprising that a book this underwhelming could come from an author as accomplished and respected as Margolin. I suspect he had a publisher's deadline to meet, and the result looks rushed, undeveloped, and sophomoric--especially compared to his earlier work.