The Lake

by Ruby Jean Jensen

The lake of placid water was framed in the forested hills of Arkansas. It was a beautiful place for a midnight swim.
Ilene dived forward and began to swim. Jerry's long body slipped beside her, his arms breaking the surface of the Moon-touched darkness.
Then Jerry disappeared, suddenly and silently. Ilene moved back, her eyes searching for Jerry. Where had he gone? Could he be diving into the dark depths?
Why didn't he surface?
In a sudden spasm of terror, she whirled and swam for shore.
She didn't make it.
Jerry was the first, and Ilene was the second.
How many more would there be before the lake's new owner discovered that there was something in the lake?
Something incredibly ancient.
Something ravenous.

Genres: Horror, Fiction

320 pages, Paperback

First published May 1, 1983

About the author

Ruby Jean Jensen

Born McDonald County, Missouri, USA, March 1, 1927

Died November 16, 2010

Website http://www.rubyjeanjensen.com

Twitter RubyJeanJensen1

Facebook www.facebook.com/Rjjhorror

Ruby Jean Jensen authored 30 published and 4 not yet published novels, and over 200 short stories. Her passion for writing developed at an early age, and she worked for many years to develop her writing skills. After having many short stories published, in 1974 the novel The House that Samael Built was accepted for publication. She then quickly established herself as a professional author, with representation by a Literary Agent from New York. She subsequently sold 29 more novels to several New York publishing houses. After four Gothic Romance, three Occult and then three Horror novels, MaMa was published by Zebra books in 1983. With Zebra, Ruby Jean completed nineteen more novels in the Horror genre.

Ruby was involved with creative writing groups for many years, and she often took the time to encourage young authors and to reply to fan mail.

Ruby Jean, a supreme story-teller, quickly captures and holds your attention. Her books, written for adults, are also suitable for adolescents and young adults. She continues to have an enthusiastic following in the Horror genre.

Reviews

[Phil · Rating 3 out of 5]

Definite B grade pulp horror here, with the requisite cool cover art from an early 80s horror novel. The story centers on of course a lake with a monster somewhere in Arkansas. The main protagonist, Dirk, is estranged from his wife and wants a new direction in life. A serious workaholic, Dirk decides he wants to open a lake side resort and finds the ideal property, originally developed in the 1920s, a small resort with five cabins on a 10 acre lake fed by a deep spring. And the going price is almost too good to be true!

From the prologue, we know there is a monster in the lake that comes out at night, but of course Dirk does not know that. He manages to open the resort and his kids come for the summer. Much of the story is basically a rather ham handed family drama concerning the kids and Dirt's wife, with and old local man and his dog thrown in to boot. Yet, Jensen keeps the story going by having the odd person and such get eaten by the lake thing while building up to the denouement.

This was a fun, albeit very light read, with shades of Jaws toward the end. A decent, but rather wooden cast of characters and some good action scenes. Probably would have made a great 80s horror flick! Dated and rather sexist, the latter coming something of a surprise given that it was written by a women. Oh well. 2.5 stars, rounding up for nostalgia value.

[Warren Fournier · Rating 3 out of 5]

In my review of Guy N. Smith's "Killer Crabs", I mentioned that I was glad I hadn't read it before I vacationed at a lake fed by an underwater cave. Well, this book is exactly about such a thing! Dirk buys an abandoned campground resort around a Arkansas cold spring, but the lake keeps mysteriously rising at night, and all the fish are disappearing. When people start also going missing, Dirk and his hired lifeguard/diver must uncover the mystery hidden in the dark blue hole.

Famed Matron of Horror, Ruby Jean Jensen, strays from her usual subjects of killer dolls and satanic children to pen this chilling creature feature, and she's actually very good in this subgenre. There are still the classic traits of Jensen's style, namely family drama and bickering kids, but being a traditional mom herself, she knows how to write children and parents in a believable and sympathetic way. The oldest son idolizes his dad and wants very badly to help him and do all the dangerous and crazy things adults do. The father, estranged from his wife, feels lost without his partner to share some of the load of parenting that he typically left to his wife while he worked at the office. Thus, he doesn't know how to cook eggs for breakfast, and he is uncomfortable talking to his daughter about her burgeoning interest in sex.

There's actually quite a large and likeable cast, making the novel a little long for being such a simple story, but then again, the breathing space helps us settle in with the characters and atmosphere. These kinds of novels only work when we enjoy the characters and their relationships, and thus are invested in their safety. If the book had been any shorter, it would have been at the expense of giving a shit. The problem is that, in order to maintain the horror reader's interest, the author has to occasionally introduce the monster into the story amidst all the cutesy Hallmark Channel stuff. This may mean killing off random canon fodder, or putting a main character in ridiculously contrived danger, and it doesn't make for an integrated and well-paced experience.

I am not saying the book is boring at all, but in this age of attention deficit, I think you need a love of the horror genre, especially of vintage horror paperbacks, to appreciate this book. It's not a gorefest, but does succeed in generating claustrophobic tension and suspense, like a drawn-out version of Stephen King's short story "The Raft". And I must say that the final act surprised me, making some narrative decisions I didn't expect at all!

A serviceable thriller meant for anyone who's ever been for a lake swim in the summer and wondered just what kind of stinging, toothy, slimy, prehistoric thing may be bumping against your toes.

SCORE: 3 blue holes out of 5

[Kimberly · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ruby Jean Jensen always gets a 5 star rating from me! I love her horror, Best 80s horror around.
This book has excellent character development. Leads up to the encore graciously, then boom, scares the pants right off of you.
The Lake was very spooky, the woods surrounding this man- made lake, the cabins set back within the shadows of the trees. Strange things and strange sounds occur every night around the crystal clear 90 foot deep lake. Whats in the water? What's hiding within its depths, within its cave system set deep within the middle?

Im staying away from lakes for a while after reading this one!

[Thomas · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was all set to give this book four stars (well, 3.5, rounded up) because Jensen does such a good job of building suspense and actually creating a good sense of fear in the story. The story has some "product of its time" problems, like some homophobia and sexism, characters coming in only long enough to serve as victims, and exposition that has as much subtlety as a hammer to an egg (when new characters enter the story, they'll tell you their life stories in a couple of paragraphs), but that story zings.

The problem is the ending. We get 319 pages of build-up, 319 pages of wondering how the characters are going to defeat the creature, 319 pages of superb tension, but then less than one page of conclusion. It happens so quickly (and, honestly, so easy) that it's hard not to want to write your own ending to the book. At the very least, you'll want an epilogue, where the author tells us how these events affected everyone touched by the story. Unless I got a copy that's missing the last section, it's not there.

Still, this is a book that shows why Jensen is still considered to be a master of horror. Interestingly, she's known as an author who used the cursed-baby trope for almost all of her works, but it's absent here. I'm not sure if that makes it a novelty in her catalog.

[absolutely _ grim · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the best lake monster book I've ever read.

[Peter Wilson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun read!

[Terry · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow!

What a edge of your seat book. Highly recommend you read this. With a surprising ending and it was spooky. Don't know if I will go back in the water.

[❤ArtfullySinful❤ · Rating 5 out of 5]

The truth is, I want out. You’ve got your business and your contacts there. I’ve got the house, and suddenly it’s not enough for me. I’m not happy, Dirk. In fact, I’m unhappy as hell!” At last she looked up, but even the expression on her face pushed him away.

A once peaceful summer retreat over looking a beautiful man made lake would turn into the most horrifying places on Earth when the beast is released from it's hiding. Hidden deep within a cave around 90 feet denlow, lies a creature that goes against all logic thoughts. Grown massive while unsupervised, it consumed not only fish and wildlife but turned to a consumption of human flesh when swimmers entered the water after dark. With long tentacle.like appendages with suckers and mouths, it was something of a nightmare to the few people to ever see it. When Dirk Inglesol needed a change of scenery following his wife of eighteen years; Patricia, walking away from the family they created, he found himself on the mark for a new property transform and occupy. Moving from Texas to Arkansas, he settled on a run down resort called Lake Dawngere (meaning Lake Danger), where he began the renovations to make it a thriving location for families looking for a peaceful vacation. Coming along for the summer included his three children; Kelly (14), Jones Lee (9) and Brad (16) who are overjoyed at the beauty of the lake as well as a chance to escape the apartment they currently lived with their mother at.

Where water flowed, sometimes in torrents, forming the stream that found outlet into the world above where someone had created a small lake, something lived. Its form, having been created of the underworld abyss eons past, had assumed total flexibility. Where it had to, it could pass through an eight-inch opening, putting out mouthing appendages, feeling their way into dead-end pockets that sometimes held food. It eased along the lightless paths of its world slowly, or swiftly, its huge boneless body elongating into snake-like form, and slipping soundlessly, sightlessly, through the eternal dark, avoiding the light it could not tolerate, responding only to cold and heat, and hunger.And satiety.Gorged with fish and man, it now maneuvered its soft bloated body into the dark tunnels where the water rushed its iciest, cutting down the outward flow, so that scarcely a ripple disturbed the lake above. It would return to its feeding ground when that hot, bright light that shone upon the lake was gone once more, and resume the search, the search that was slowly growing more clever, for prey.

What began as a peaceful time to reconnect with his children would quickly turn into a nightmare nobody was equipped to handle. During the renovations of the five cabins, Davie Ocherman (19) took a sunset swim through the lake which resulted in him never returning home to his father Bill and his trusty bloodhound Bo. As they chose to drag the lake searching for the body, it was then decided to hire Rodney Karlin as a lifeguard to watch over the people staying and swimming at the resort. An excellent skilled diver, it was he who would see the beast with his own eyes after an incident lead to it's demise. When daughter Kelly waded through the lake at dusk, she never expected her ankle to be grabbed and nearly pulled into the water. As multiple people rushed to her akd, it was Bill who took the axe to sever the appendage holding her hostage where it promptly devoured it. As the days begin spiraling together, lonely and isolated without his wife's loving touch, It cussed him to turn to Junie Riggs and all the sweet promises she could make. A short two day affair and his wife came to the resort, causing the enraged girl to jump into the lake before begin drug underneath. As the story continues to unfold, it would claim the lives of Rodney as well as Brad as they attempted to dive into the underwater lake discovered by Eddy and Rodney. Sick with worry it was an incredible incident of destroying the dam that trapped the monster in shallow water in direct sunlight. Dissolving into a black goo before vanishing all together it was hoped the monster would be gone forever.

But what was it that was taking fish, animals, humans?What, in God’s name, was it?

[Briar Campbell · Rating 3 out of 5]

An enjoyable creature feature type book. I thought it did a great job of portraying the teen characters (primarily the MC's children): the author balances them well for having some sense of responsibility and regard for other people, but they aren't treated like wisened super soldiers either. The adults are mostly likable. Sometimes a little too unrealistically polite and cooperative. No obstructive bureaucrats in this one, though there are still people making honest, understandable mistakes, and that would make the book even more appealing to some readers who might like the small community feel.
The author also handled the info dump sections admirably. Once the story gets going, the character's dialogue and speculations move well along with the story instead of obstructing it.
It did have one very strange extraneous rant against gay people: something that could get easily cut and nothing essential to the book would get lost. It's less than a paragraph long, and it is not even a teachable moment or anything: it's just random, and its blatancy has aged horribly. There are some other dated things in the book that have a bigger part in depicting the story or the time it takes place in, but it might seem a little preachy by today's standards. That said, nobody that appears "onscreen" is depicted as completely without sympathy.

[Mark · Rating 2 out of 5]

I gave ‘The Lake’ two stars because I finished it, but purely out of morbid curiosity. I wanted to see how the author wrapped up this nonsense.
The story had potential, but the writing is simplistic. The dialogue in particular, is harder to believe than the actual creature itself. Real people don’t relate to each other in the way they are depicted in this tale. If you are going to engage a reader, it is critical you write believable, nuanced characters with flaws, hopes and fears. Then place those characters in a ‘do or die’ scenario and sit back as the five star reviews roll in.
Find a Joe Hill novel instead.

[Jamie Bell · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a weird entry in RJJ's books. It is a fun "creature feature" but also feels like an early draft. Characters seem so one note. New characters seem introduced simply to be victims. Also, some dialogue seems dated. Dated dialogue is normal in her books due to publication times but, for some reason, it seems oddly noticeable in this one. The ending also seemed extremely rushed after so much build-up to the final confrontation.

[Natasha L. Cobos · Rating 4 out of 5]

A little slow but great for an old school thriller. The ending felt short. This would make a great horror movie.

[Ronald Foster · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dirk simply decided that he needed to completely change his life, and was then driven to buy the property with the beautiful spring-fed lake. He only slowly came to the conclusion that something was very wrong in the Lake. If only he had asked more questions about the history of the lake ... Jensen carefully crafts a story that almost becomes believable. Could there really be such a danger, and if so how would a regular person respond?

[Terry and dog · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was horror, a while back in time. There are some quite sexist views by todays standards, but if you let that go, it has a build up and a creepy vibe that makes this a decent creature feature. I love the setting, that's for sure, and a creature that takes who it wants, no one is safe, even a couple of your more well liked characters.

[Blake · Rating 3 out of 5]

Really like a 2.5 rating. This one was ok, is a little dated for sure. Quick and fun little read but absolutely garbage ending and that ruined it for me.