Gina Royal didn’t know she was married to a monster. Her whole life changed as she pulls up to her home where there’s been an accident. A drunk driver crashes into her husband’s garage turned “workspace” revealing that what Melvin Royal was actually working on in that garage was becoming a prolific serial killer. At first, the police don’t believe that Gina had no knowledge of what her husband had been doing so for two years, she lost her children and was embroiled in a court battle and continually linked to the man she was once married to.
Flash forward (that was the first five pages of the book) and Gina has changed her name to Gwen Proctor, she’s highly capable with a gun, and she and her two children, are constantly on the run. Because while her husband Melvin is the real monster, there are plenty of “innocent monsters” on the Internet that feel like Gwen got away with murder when she was acquitted of his crimes. They would like to see Gwen and her children (newly named Lanny and Connor) suffer and die in the same way that Royal’s victims had. Gwen is determined to give her kids a fresh start and not run anymore. This plan sounds great until bodies start turning up in the lake that her house sits on in the same manner that Melvin Royal killed. The locals have some questions for Gwen, such as why she was hiding her true identity and is she a killer.
There are currently 3 books in this Stillhouse Lake series. I’ve read all three in three days. I found all three to be excellent, the third maybe a little less exciting than the first two but by the end, I can see where the focus of the 4th will be going and I’m very excited about it. The 4th is preordered and October seems like a very long time to wait, but I’ve got plenty of books around her to keep me company. There is some repetition since it’s a series and Gwen always has to explain to us why she can’t really trust anyone (we get it Gwen), but she tries to be a good mom and she reminds me of Linda Hamilton in Terminator 2, which is never a bad thing!
