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What Happened at the Lake
They went on vacation. Not everyone made it back.
The Palmers went to the lake for a week of fun in the sun. But Alex Palmer had an agenda. He wanted his brother to reconcile with their hypercompetitive father. He wanted his daughter to break up with her shady boyfriend. Most of all, Alex wanted them to be a family one more time before he faced his predicament at home.
Evil incarnate and a brutal double murder shifted Alex’s focus from wants to needs. He needed to keep his family safe. He needed to find her. He needed to know what happened at the lake.
His pastor often said, “God won’t give you more than you can bear.”
This had nothing to do with God.
NOTE TO THE READER: This is a dark psychological thriller that delves into depraved acts of humanity. For adult readers only who can handle these subject matters. Adult language and explicit sexual violence.
The Palmers went to the lake for a week of fun in the sun. But Alex Palmer had an agenda. He wanted his brother to reconcile with their hypercompetitive father. He wanted his daughter to break up with her shady boyfriend. Most of all, Alex wanted them to be a family one more time before he faced his predicament at home.
Evil incarnate and a brutal double murder shifted Alex’s focus from wants to needs. He needed to keep his family safe. He needed to find her. He needed to know what happened at the lake.
His pastor often said, “God won’t give you more than you can bear.”
This had nothing to do with God.
NOTE TO THE READER: This is a dark psychological thriller that delves into depraved acts of humanity. For adult readers only who can handle these subject matters. Adult language and explicit sexual violence.
290 pages, Kindle Edition
First published March 15, 2018
5372 people are currently reading
3101 people want to read
About the author
Phil M. Williams
41 books360 followersPhil M. Williams is the author of twenty-five books primarily in the thriller genre. His thrillers span many subgenres, such as: murder mysteries, political, domestic, dystopian, legal, psychological, and technothrillers. His stories often feature regular Joes and Janes in extraordinary situations that are ripped from today’s headlines.
Williams lives in central Pennsylvania with his wife, Denise. When not writing, he can be found tending their permaculture farm.
If you’d like to read two of his thriller novels for free. Go to http://PhilWBooks.com.
Williams lives in central Pennsylvania with his wife, Denise. When not writing, he can be found tending their permaculture farm.
If you’d like to read two of his thriller novels for free. Go to http://PhilWBooks.com.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 703 reviews
September 10, 2018
This story is heavy on tell, and to quote the narrator, something I don't agree with and it pissed me off, yet was fitting in this instance...
Self-publishers are ruining the book business. The amount of drivel dumped on Amazon every day is criminal. Free books all over the place, ninety-nine cent books. It used to be that agents and publishers served as gatekeepers and kept the garbage in desk drawers...Dear author, perhaps your characters were trying to tell you something?
June 11, 2019
This read like the script for a decent low budget horror flick, but was a terrible book. How does this have 4+ stars?
August 12, 2018
What Happened at the Lake by Phil M. Williams is remarkable first for the number of characters introduced throughout the story. Second is either the complete lack of character development (see Kate and Whitney or Ed the septic tank man) or characters that contradict themselves (Kristin for only one example). At the thirty percent mark, I still had to stop and consider how a mentioned character related to others, even those in the central “crew.” This group is a large dysfunctional family which for some reason consented to go on vacation together. We can blame Alex, not the family patriarch, for deciding to call each of the eleven family members and invite them to a rented house near a lake where, perhaps, long-standing family issues can be worked out. I was busily highlighting family names and trying to figure out family relationships and family problems when I came across this passage in chapter ten at the 17% point in the novel. Maybe Williams was taking pity on the reader and was offering a helpful summary of characters. It didn’t help.
“Nearly everyone was present for the maiden voyage. Alex and Matt loaded gear onto the pontoon boat. Emma and Rachel sat near the front, talking under their sun hats. Harvey, Cathy, and Seth sat in the rear, under the canopy. Brett and Kristin sat in the sun, talking in hushed whispers. Buster the Boston terrier trotted from person to person, wagging his tail in search of treats.” (Kindle locations 651-652).
By this point I felt comfortable with the character of Buster, the one most clearly defined. We know about Alex. He organized the outing. Emma is his wife. Matt is either Alex’s brother or stepbrother, a PTSD sufferer, and a combat veteran with a dishonorable discharge due to failure to follow orders while in combat. This brings disgrace to the entire family according to Harvey, father of Alex and the family patriarch. Harvey is a successful author of war novels although it is not clear whether he has seen combat. Rachel is Harvey’s daughter and Seth’s wife. It is clear that Harvey wants to sleep with Rachel and that Rachel is up for sleeping with anyone. Cathy is Harvey’s wife. Although she is considerably younger than Harvey and once was considered a trophy wife, she is beyond her expiration date which seems to give Harvey license to perv on Rachel. Brett is an older “bad boy” and boyfriend to the sixteen-year-old Kristen. Alex, the father of Kristen, thinks Brett sinister but invites him on the trip anyway so Kristen won’t sulk. Brett’s goal in life is to get Kristen to go “all the way” but she is a good Christian girl only good for hand jobs and describing bodily functions to one and all in the fashion of TMI. Seth is a wimp, husband to Rachel but pretty much an unneeded appendage as Rachel is doing everyone in sight.
And these are not the only the characters in the family. I lost Alex’s brother, Jeff and his wife Gwen. And only at the 20% point of the novel. We still have to deal with Kate and Whitney (above), Dorothy and George (landlords of the rental property), Ed (above), a neighboring peeping Tom, weird cops, and the evil Danny. These additions bring us to 30%. At this point, I am fascinated by the story and want to know how many more characters can possibly be added. There are 59 chapters and I am only at chapter 19. Can the characters possibly come together in a story with any semblance of a coherent tale?
And the answer is … Yes. After all the characters above plus a few more, we get down to the story. There are killings so the story turns into a murder mystery but with lots of victims. Some are not even human. Unfortunately, with this many characters, we have this many suspect. As each suspect’s possible motivation and background situation is examined, I referred frequently to my “organization of characters” chart. There is an unpredictable almost ending which is interesting. It is followed by a further ending for different characters that is syrupy sweet and cloying. I would have been happier if the additional part had been left out but it was necessary to explain yet another late-arriving character.
While there is a good story here, I could only give it three stars due to crowded pages which made me work too much. My progress through this work of fiction was as slow as with an academic text. This is not a page-turner; a reader would get lost in the weeds. The writing interested me enough to try one more of the author’s novels, Against the Grain. I read a sample and it seems there are far fewer characters.
This novel is listed on Amazon for USD 4.99. Amazon notes I purchased the novel. I would have been very disappointed had I paid this price. I would have tried to return it. I got it for USD 0.00. After completing this review, I checked my order details and also looked at other reviews. There are 112 five-star reviews. What did they read?
“Nearly everyone was present for the maiden voyage. Alex and Matt loaded gear onto the pontoon boat. Emma and Rachel sat near the front, talking under their sun hats. Harvey, Cathy, and Seth sat in the rear, under the canopy. Brett and Kristin sat in the sun, talking in hushed whispers. Buster the Boston terrier trotted from person to person, wagging his tail in search of treats.” (Kindle locations 651-652).
By this point I felt comfortable with the character of Buster, the one most clearly defined. We know about Alex. He organized the outing. Emma is his wife. Matt is either Alex’s brother or stepbrother, a PTSD sufferer, and a combat veteran with a dishonorable discharge due to failure to follow orders while in combat. This brings disgrace to the entire family according to Harvey, father of Alex and the family patriarch. Harvey is a successful author of war novels although it is not clear whether he has seen combat. Rachel is Harvey’s daughter and Seth’s wife. It is clear that Harvey wants to sleep with Rachel and that Rachel is up for sleeping with anyone. Cathy is Harvey’s wife. Although she is considerably younger than Harvey and once was considered a trophy wife, she is beyond her expiration date which seems to give Harvey license to perv on Rachel. Brett is an older “bad boy” and boyfriend to the sixteen-year-old Kristen. Alex, the father of Kristen, thinks Brett sinister but invites him on the trip anyway so Kristen won’t sulk. Brett’s goal in life is to get Kristen to go “all the way” but she is a good Christian girl only good for hand jobs and describing bodily functions to one and all in the fashion of TMI. Seth is a wimp, husband to Rachel but pretty much an unneeded appendage as Rachel is doing everyone in sight.
And these are not the only the characters in the family. I lost Alex’s brother, Jeff and his wife Gwen. And only at the 20% point of the novel. We still have to deal with Kate and Whitney (above), Dorothy and George (landlords of the rental property), Ed (above), a neighboring peeping Tom, weird cops, and the evil Danny. These additions bring us to 30%. At this point, I am fascinated by the story and want to know how many more characters can possibly be added. There are 59 chapters and I am only at chapter 19. Can the characters possibly come together in a story with any semblance of a coherent tale?
And the answer is … Yes. After all the characters above plus a few more, we get down to the story. There are killings so the story turns into a murder mystery but with lots of victims. Some are not even human. Unfortunately, with this many characters, we have this many suspect. As each suspect’s possible motivation and background situation is examined, I referred frequently to my “organization of characters” chart. There is an unpredictable almost ending which is interesting. It is followed by a further ending for different characters that is syrupy sweet and cloying. I would have been happier if the additional part had been left out but it was necessary to explain yet another late-arriving character.
While there is a good story here, I could only give it three stars due to crowded pages which made me work too much. My progress through this work of fiction was as slow as with an academic text. This is not a page-turner; a reader would get lost in the weeds. The writing interested me enough to try one more of the author’s novels, Against the Grain. I read a sample and it seems there are far fewer characters.
This novel is listed on Amazon for USD 4.99. Amazon notes I purchased the novel. I would have been very disappointed had I paid this price. I would have tried to return it. I got it for USD 0.00. After completing this review, I checked my order details and also looked at other reviews. There are 112 five-star reviews. What did they read?
December 30, 2018
Awful. Couldn't finish it. Graphic, weird, nasty ... Don't bother trying.
April 30, 2023
What happened at the lake? A better question would have been. what didn't happen at the lake? It started as a family get together to try and heal relationships. A n outing for the family to have some fun time together. For them to catch up with each other. Oh yes...we also had stopped-up toilets....no water...a power outage...a storm...a murder.... and last but certainly not least, a rape. Sounds like a fun time to be had by all. I really liked the sheriff and his reasonable way he went about to solve this fiasco. You can't help but feel the frustrations of Alex, the guy that put this outing together and had such high hopes for all to work out. The biggest challenge I had with this story was even though the plot was interesting and well-presented...there were SOOO many characters! I honestly lost track of them and had to search back to see who some of them were and what they had to do with anything...and the answer was often "absolutely nothing". Just hanging out and watching the show, I guess. I really did like the story. There were lots of twists, especially close to the end that were a complete surprise. Fans of physiological mysteries and suspense stories will probably really like it.
June 26, 2019
The grammar is terrible. I had a hard time getting all the way through it. I can't believe the amount of times that this author used the word "gonna". I am not even sure if he knows that the actual term is "going to" as he did not use it once in this book. I would never read another book by this author.
January 8, 2020
Poorly written, too many characters, and an unbelievable plot line that went on forever
Want to read
August 6, 2018💝FREE on Amazon today (8/6/2018)!💝
Blurb:
They went on vacation. Not everyone made it back.
The Palmers went to the lake for a week of fun in the sun. But Alex Palmer had an agenda. He wanted his brother to reconcile with their hypercompetitive father. He wanted his daughter to break up with her shady boyfriend. Most of all, Alex wanted them to be a family one more time before he faced his predicament at home.
Evil incarnate and a brutal double murder shifted Alex’s focus from wants to needs. He needed to keep his family safe. He needed to find her. He needed to know what happened at the lake.
His pastor often said, “God won’t give you more than you can bear.”
This had nothing to do with God.
Blurb:
They went on vacation. Not everyone made it back.
The Palmers went to the lake for a week of fun in the sun. But Alex Palmer had an agenda. He wanted his brother to reconcile with their hypercompetitive father. He wanted his daughter to break up with her shady boyfriend. Most of all, Alex wanted them to be a family one more time before he faced his predicament at home.
Evil incarnate and a brutal double murder shifted Alex’s focus from wants to needs. He needed to keep his family safe. He needed to find her. He needed to know what happened at the lake.
His pastor often said, “God won’t give you more than you can bear.”
This had nothing to do with God.
August 9, 2021
What the heck did I just read? Couldn't make it to the end, felt like I was reading something written by a 12 year old trying to be edgy - especially with all the references to 28 year olds looking good "for their age" or people in their 30s being "past their prime". Don't get me started on the detailed pages on the blocked toilets too - why did we need to know who shat in the woods or peed in the lake? I don't even understand what this book was trying to accomplish. Don't bother.
December 27, 2018
Only made it to 17% in this book before giving up. Too many characters to keep track of but they are also under developed and lack depth. I ended up looking into the reviews to see if others were able to make sense of this book and found a lot of readers were in the same boat.
August 12, 2018
Well, what to say about this book. First, I suppose, is that I got it free through a Bookbub email, and I’m grateful that I never actually paid for it otherwise I’d have been more disappointed than I already am. What “sold” me on giving the book a try was this disclaimer found both here on goodreads as well as on amazon....
NOTE TO THE READER: This is a dark psychological thriller that delves into depraved acts of humanity. For adult readers only who can handle these subject matters. Adult language and explicit sexual violence.
Boy was that ever selling a pig in a poke! Dark? Yeah, OK some of the subject matter was dark. Psychological thriller? Not so much, I had pretty much figured out who the killer was by about the 25-26% mark of the book, which left the remaining three quarters more confirming my thoughts as opposed to “psychologically thrilling” or anything approaching it. Depraved acts of humanity? Maybe I’ve just been jaded by reading better books from better authors, but the likes of Stephen King, John Connolly, Jeff Lindsay, Kathy Reichs, and Peter James to name but a few have delved into the depravity of human nature and the sexual violence that can be inflicted far, far better in my opinion.
The sudden “twist for the sake of having a twist” towards the end of the book seemed like it came right outta nowhere to me too. I think it was the lack of any real character development, or backstory, or something to make me care about the predicament they were in, that essentially led me to not really care or feel any connection to the characters.
As for the sheer insanity of expecting us to believe that the police would ever act in the way they did with regards to ending the story, or the amount of religious overtones to the book, don’t get me started.
Quite how so many reviews can give this book a glowing 5 star review baffles me. It’s not the worst book I’ve ever read, not by a long way, but to praise it to the heavens seems either disingenuous or they have led very sheltered lives, both real and literary.
NOTE TO THE READER: This is a dark psychological thriller that delves into depraved acts of humanity. For adult readers only who can handle these subject matters. Adult language and explicit sexual violence.
Boy was that ever selling a pig in a poke! Dark? Yeah, OK some of the subject matter was dark. Psychological thriller? Not so much, I had pretty much figured out who the killer was by about the 25-26% mark of the book, which left the remaining three quarters more confirming my thoughts as opposed to “psychologically thrilling” or anything approaching it. Depraved acts of humanity? Maybe I’ve just been jaded by reading better books from better authors, but the likes of Stephen King, John Connolly, Jeff Lindsay, Kathy Reichs, and Peter James to name but a few have delved into the depravity of human nature and the sexual violence that can be inflicted far, far better in my opinion.
The sudden “twist for the sake of having a twist” towards the end of the book seemed like it came right outta nowhere to me too. I think it was the lack of any real character development, or backstory, or something to make me care about the predicament they were in, that essentially led me to not really care or feel any connection to the characters.
As for the sheer insanity of expecting us to believe that the police would ever act in the way they did with regards to ending the story, or the amount of religious overtones to the book, don’t get me started.
Quite how so many reviews can give this book a glowing 5 star review baffles me. It’s not the worst book I’ve ever read, not by a long way, but to praise it to the heavens seems either disingenuous or they have led very sheltered lives, both real and literary.
June 29, 2019
This quick read is a bit difficult to review. Was it a “bad” book? No. However, it does have a great deal about it that bothered me. I enjoyed parts of it in a mindless “beach read” way, but that will only get you a MAX of 3 stars in my world!! This book is a 2.5 star kinda read for me.
Here are the pros and cons:
Pros:
-Takes place at a lake house with a group of 11 dysfunctional family members. Drama can be fun.
-The story involves a cute Boston Terrier; my favorite character by far!
-Murder mysteries are fun to puzzle out.
Cons:
-WAY too many primary and secondary characters, which means character development is spotty, at best. They were annoying to keep straight in my head because some of them got barely a cursory physical description and a quick explanation of family dynamics (x is married to y).
-Not incredible well written. Lots of telling the reader instead of showing. Choppy at times, ESPECIALLY with dialogue.
-Animal cruelty.
-Pretty graphic and sexually explicit death scenes. This may be triggering for some readers.
-Lots of unnecessary details added to the story, such as an overflowing septic tank and the descriptive details about how each family member chose to relieve themselves (some in the woods, some in a bucket, some in the lake.... why do we care?!?!).
-Lots of religious references and preachiness.
-Law enforcement that acted in a very unlawful manner at the end. I found this VERY unrealistic.
-An out-of-nowhere twist at the end that seemed to be thrown in for shock value. This also feeds into the unrealistic ending that bothered me because it’s very far-fetched. The logistics of how they dealt with the character Grace is baffling to me. Alex and Emma were sort of just like, “meh.... no worries. We’ll figure something out”. WHAT?!
-Lack of emotion on the part of certain characters at the end when a gruesome incident resulted in 2 deaths that seemed to not phase the killer AT ALL.
I got this book for free so I can’t complain too much. However, had I paid for it, I’d be pretty disappointed.
Here are the pros and cons:
Pros:
-Takes place at a lake house with a group of 11 dysfunctional family members. Drama can be fun.
-The story involves a cute Boston Terrier; my favorite character by far!
-Murder mysteries are fun to puzzle out.
Cons:
-WAY too many primary and secondary characters, which means character development is spotty, at best. They were annoying to keep straight in my head because some of them got barely a cursory physical description and a quick explanation of family dynamics (x is married to y).
-Not incredible well written. Lots of telling the reader instead of showing. Choppy at times, ESPECIALLY with dialogue.
-Animal cruelty.
-Pretty graphic and sexually explicit death scenes. This may be triggering for some readers.
-Lots of unnecessary details added to the story, such as an overflowing septic tank and the descriptive details about how each family member chose to relieve themselves (some in the woods, some in a bucket, some in the lake.... why do we care?!?!).
-Lots of religious references and preachiness.
-Law enforcement that acted in a very unlawful manner at the end. I found this VERY unrealistic.
-An out-of-nowhere twist at the end that seemed to be thrown in for shock value. This also feeds into the unrealistic ending that bothered me because it’s very far-fetched. The logistics of how they dealt with the character Grace is baffling to me. Alex and Emma were sort of just like, “meh.... no worries. We’ll figure something out”. WHAT?!
-Lack of emotion on the part of certain characters at the end when a gruesome incident resulted in 2 deaths that seemed to not phase the killer AT ALL.
I got this book for free so I can’t complain too much. However, had I paid for it, I’d be pretty disappointed.
March 22, 2025
You all know how ordinary, dime a dozen mysteries work. A crime is committed. There are several suspects. The criminal is never the obvious choice.
Welcome to What Happened At The Lake.
Alex, his wife, daughter, her boyfriend and extended family are vacationing for a week in a lake house they rented with septic tank issues. Perhaps they should have chosen a better location, because during that week girls are murdered, raped and decapitated. All clues point to either his daughter’s boyfriend or a neighborhood handyman, so you know it can’t be them. Who then are the culprits?
The culprits are the book’s only known conservative Republican and a former Special Forces soldier who served in Afghanistan raping local girls.
To many of us, our servicemen are heroes who don’t deserve to be portrayed as criminals. Nor is it fair, relevant or accurate to single out conservative Republicans as sexual predators, just because author Phil M. Williams doesn’t happen to like them.
But if you are looking for a book where three whole chapters are grossly and gratuitously devoted to the contents of a septic tank, and if you share Phil M. Williams’ contempt for American servicemen and people whose only real crime is to dare to disagree with him politically, then you will like What Happened At The Lake.
Welcome to What Happened At The Lake.
Alex, his wife, daughter, her boyfriend and extended family are vacationing for a week in a lake house they rented with septic tank issues. Perhaps they should have chosen a better location, because during that week girls are murdered, raped and decapitated. All clues point to either his daughter’s boyfriend or a neighborhood handyman, so you know it can’t be them. Who then are the culprits?
The culprits are the book’s only known conservative Republican and a former Special Forces soldier who served in Afghanistan raping local girls.
To many of us, our servicemen are heroes who don’t deserve to be portrayed as criminals. Nor is it fair, relevant or accurate to single out conservative Republicans as sexual predators, just because author Phil M. Williams doesn’t happen to like them.
But if you are looking for a book where three whole chapters are grossly and gratuitously devoted to the contents of a septic tank, and if you share Phil M. Williams’ contempt for American servicemen and people whose only real crime is to dare to disagree with him politically, then you will like What Happened At The Lake.
August 6, 2018
Quick Read But See Warnings Below
This fairly short novel’s storyline is straightforward with a few twists. The protagonist(s) are likable, and most secondary characters were well-developed, except for some cliched characters. The author balances fun, happy times at the sunny lakeside setting with troublesome house problems and the drenching rainstorms.
After the intense prologue with depictions of dehumanizing actions during war, the chapters that followed read like YA due to the choppy and almost simplistic style of writing. There is more religion in this book than I expected, but this may be a matter of personal preference. Here are several examples of chapter names:
Kristin and Ephesians 5: 3.
Kristin and WWJD
Alex and God’s Plan
Alex and Blessed Gratitude
I chose the culprit soon after the 25% mark, and I started skimming after the 60% mark. Nearing the denouement, there was an interesting twist which felt very organic due to family dynamics. That said, the last few chapters were so far fetched (in regards to law enforcement) that I had difficulty suspending disbelief.
In addition to warnings given via the book synopsis, here are more for the faint of heart:
1) Bloody murders take place front and center, as do very descriptive, violent rapes. I’ve read worse, but I’m a police procedural aficionado.
2) A dear pet dies very badly.
3)There’s a lot of adult language & God’s name in vain.
4) If you are religious, there are sections in a Christian eulogy that might set your hair afire. The words cause the pastor of the church to get up and head toward the lectern.
This fairly short novel’s storyline is straightforward with a few twists. The protagonist(s) are likable, and most secondary characters were well-developed, except for some cliched characters. The author balances fun, happy times at the sunny lakeside setting with troublesome house problems and the drenching rainstorms.
After the intense prologue with depictions of dehumanizing actions during war, the chapters that followed read like YA due to the choppy and almost simplistic style of writing. There is more religion in this book than I expected, but this may be a matter of personal preference. Here are several examples of chapter names:
Kristin and Ephesians 5: 3.
Kristin and WWJD
Alex and God’s Plan
Alex and Blessed Gratitude
I chose the culprit soon after the 25% mark, and I started skimming after the 60% mark. Nearing the denouement, there was an interesting twist which felt very organic due to family dynamics. That said, the last few chapters were so far fetched (in regards to law enforcement) that I had difficulty suspending disbelief.
In addition to warnings given via the book synopsis, here are more for the faint of heart:
1) Bloody murders take place front and center, as do very descriptive, violent rapes. I’ve read worse, but I’m a police procedural aficionado.
2) A dear pet dies very badly.
3)There’s a lot of adult language & God’s name in vain.
4) If you are religious, there are sections in a Christian eulogy that might set your hair afire. The words cause the pastor of the church to get up and head toward the lectern.
June 7, 2021
Crude, poorly written, misogynistic and totally unrealistic
I just had to read this to see if it was as bad or good as the reviews. I have never seen a book with such polarized reviews. People either give it 5 stars or want to give it none. It deserves a negative 3. What a piece of shallow, snarky absolutely could or would never work crap. No one bank rolls a trip for 10+ people for a week who just lost their job. The people the protagonist likes are all good looking. Undesirable people are fat and conservative. Police are disrespected and reviled. These characters are shallower than puddles, unlikable liars, fornicaters and universally selfish. God and religion are dragged out whenever a character wants to justify their behavior or opinions. Someone tell this writer that a cross and crucifix are actually different and not to be used interchangeably. No remorse is shown for mistreating and causing the death of an innocent teen, because he might have been a bad person. No one was really sure. Apparently happy ever after happens when you have solar panels, electric motorcycles and cars that run on compressed natural gas. You can just take to raise random children who were witnesses to murders and sexually trafficked. No questions asked. It is good to just fool the authorities, skirt around the rules and do whatever archives your ends. I kept reading because I just wanted to see what screwed up deal would be wrapped around the central plot next. Don't do it people, you don't want this drek in your brain. I wish I could wash it out just like deleting it off this reader.
I just had to read this to see if it was as bad or good as the reviews. I have never seen a book with such polarized reviews. People either give it 5 stars or want to give it none. It deserves a negative 3. What a piece of shallow, snarky absolutely could or would never work crap. No one bank rolls a trip for 10+ people for a week who just lost their job. The people the protagonist likes are all good looking. Undesirable people are fat and conservative. Police are disrespected and reviled. These characters are shallower than puddles, unlikable liars, fornicaters and universally selfish. God and religion are dragged out whenever a character wants to justify their behavior or opinions. Someone tell this writer that a cross and crucifix are actually different and not to be used interchangeably. No remorse is shown for mistreating and causing the death of an innocent teen, because he might have been a bad person. No one was really sure. Apparently happy ever after happens when you have solar panels, electric motorcycles and cars that run on compressed natural gas. You can just take to raise random children who were witnesses to murders and sexually trafficked. No questions asked. It is good to just fool the authorities, skirt around the rules and do whatever archives your ends. I kept reading because I just wanted to see what screwed up deal would be wrapped around the central plot next. Don't do it people, you don't want this drek in your brain. I wish I could wash it out just like deleting it off this reader.
August 12, 2018
What Happened at the Lake by Phil M. Williams
Alex Palmer plans a family vacation at the lake. He invites them all, his brothers, father, the entire family. His daughter brings her boyfriend, (Alex) just knows something is "off" with this young man. With the hopes of mending broken relationships this could be a weekend to remember. But things turn bad, when people end up dead and Alex tries to figure out exactly what happened.
A fast paced thriller, that kept me at the edge of my seat. (Bad)things escalate quickly, yet keep you guessing, with twists, turns and surprises up until the end. I highly recommend What Happened at the Lake to those who love a great thrilling/suspense.
Alex Palmer plans a family vacation at the lake. He invites them all, his brothers, father, the entire family. His daughter brings her boyfriend, (Alex) just knows something is "off" with this young man. With the hopes of mending broken relationships this could be a weekend to remember. But things turn bad, when people end up dead and Alex tries to figure out exactly what happened.
A fast paced thriller, that kept me at the edge of my seat. (Bad)things escalate quickly, yet keep you guessing, with twists, turns and surprises up until the end. I highly recommend What Happened at the Lake to those who love a great thrilling/suspense.
February 16, 2019
I am really surprised at the number of five starts this book has received. Perhaps I have a different rating system than most, though. In order to rate a book 5 stars, it really has to be amazing in that it has an intriguing storyline, have well-developed characters and be very well written. Sadly, this book does not have that for me. The writing is rather juvenile, the characters are not well-developed and the storyline, while having potential (in spite of it being a rather disturbing topic), was not executed well and it was pretty easy to figure out who the person was behind the killings.
April 28, 2018
After having read Against the Grain and No Conscience I expected to read a very good book, but I did not expect such an excellent thriller about a serial killer. This is a dark book that keeps you guessing.
Do we really know those who are close to us? What are we capable of when our own child is killed?
Do we really know those who are close to us? What are we capable of when our own child is killed?
August 9, 2018
I did not finish this book. I don’t understand all the stars that were given to this book, I only gave one because there is no way of not giving any and writing a review. A dysfunctional family going on holiday at a lake. Ok. Then they mostly seem preoccupied with the septic tank and their bodily function. It is all mysterious, who is the guy from Afghanistan? And who is the serial killer? I really don’t want to know. Sorry perhaps not in the mood, but a bit too scatological for sure.
July 16, 2021
Thank God It Was Free
It’s funny that one of the characters says that any author can write some crap and get it sold or for free on Amazon- because that’s exactly what happened with this author. The prologue gave a very nice hint to the twist; the author seems perverted by including unnecessary sexual details; also, detailing choking a dog to death won’t woo any readers. It was a sick book.
It’s funny that one of the characters says that any author can write some crap and get it sold or for free on Amazon- because that’s exactly what happened with this author. The prologue gave a very nice hint to the twist; the author seems perverted by including unnecessary sexual details; also, detailing choking a dog to death won’t woo any readers. It was a sick book.
October 13, 2019
Excellent read.
I really enjoyed this book. It held my interest from the very beginning. One heck of a mystery. I think you'll enjoy it as much as I did.
I really enjoyed this book. It held my interest from the very beginning. One heck of a mystery. I think you'll enjoy it as much as I did.
November 5, 2020
captured my attention from the first page. plot twist after plot twist. Amazing.
October 6, 2018
I really didn’t enjoy this book, but I made myself finish it so I could give it a fair review.
Kristin was the unlikable kind of good girl that pushed religion at everyone. Brett was probably the average horny teenager, but wasn’t going to get anywhere with Kristin. Alex, Kristin’s dad, was way too invested in trying to have his family get along when they all seemed to have good reasons for disliking each other. His dad treated his brother, Matt, like crap and constantly pointed out what a failure he was. Matt was trying to write a book and the dad was already a successful author. His only advice was to tell Matt to throw his work out because it was definitely going to be trash. He weirdly had some kind of beef against self-publishers and said that they were ruining the writing industry. Now I want to know if this author self-published this book. The sister, Rachel, couldn’t string a sentence together without throwing “like” in every other word. She was also a slut and her boyfriend, Seth, was creepy. The worst part of the whole book was the author’s obsession with poop and detailed descriptions of septic problems.
I’ll admit that one of the murder victims surprised me, but the way the people being set up to be the murderers was too obvious.
Kristin was the unlikable kind of good girl that pushed religion at everyone. Brett was probably the average horny teenager, but wasn’t going to get anywhere with Kristin. Alex, Kristin’s dad, was way too invested in trying to have his family get along when they all seemed to have good reasons for disliking each other. His dad treated his brother, Matt, like crap and constantly pointed out what a failure he was. Matt was trying to write a book and the dad was already a successful author. His only advice was to tell Matt to throw his work out because it was definitely going to be trash. He weirdly had some kind of beef against self-publishers and said that they were ruining the writing industry. Now I want to know if this author self-published this book. The sister, Rachel, couldn’t string a sentence together without throwing “like” in every other word. She was also a slut and her boyfriend, Seth, was creepy. The worst part of the whole book was the author’s obsession with poop and detailed descriptions of septic problems.
I’ll admit that one of the murder victims surprised me, but the way the people being set up to be the murderers was too obvious.
August 8, 2018
Didn't see the ending coming
This book was sent via an email that recommends books for free or at a lower than normal cost. Being someone that reads a lot new books go through my hands at a fast rate. This one as usual for me was chosen by the brief synopsis and what a good choice it was. The story follows Alex through some rather difficult times. I thought I knew who the killer would be, but I shall not say who as it would spoil the ending. A couple of very unexpected things that are just hinted at during the book. Well done Phil.
This book was sent via an email that recommends books for free or at a lower than normal cost. Being someone that reads a lot new books go through my hands at a fast rate. This one as usual for me was chosen by the brief synopsis and what a good choice it was. The story follows Alex through some rather difficult times. I thought I knew who the killer would be, but I shall not say who as it would spoil the ending. A couple of very unexpected things that are just hinted at during the book. Well done Phil.
August 14, 2018
I an surprised by the positive ratings this one got. On the plus side, it did hold my interest. . .but, the writing seemed so choppy as to be almost juvenile "first, so-and-so did this, then someone did that. .then. . ". The characters did NOT seem to be well-developed, so I didn't really care about them. And. . they were dropping like flies for awhile. It was also hard to keep up with who was who(m) amongst the extended family members.
Then, at the end. . the main character killed the "bad guys" and nothing ever happened to him.
Then, at the end. . the main character killed the "bad guys" and nothing ever happened to him.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
September 2, 2020
WOW, WOW, WOW. This book was insaaaaaaaane! SO MANY plot twists! I couldn’t stop reading it! I can honestly say this is probably one of the best psychological thrillers I’ve read this year. But I will say... it’s not for the faint of heart. There are some very gory parts to it. The original warning on goodreads describes it as “depraved acts of humanity.” Murder. Rape. Explicit detail. Avoid the book if those are triggers for you. However, if you can handle those things— I say check it out. I loved this book! Great job to the author.
September 5, 2018
A super thriller!
This is one of the best books that I've read in some time. The suspense will keep you on the edge of your seat until the very end. I believe anyone who enjoys suspenseful thrillers will like this book. I give it a five star rating only because I can't give it more.
This is one of the best books that I've read in some time. The suspense will keep you on the edge of your seat until the very end. I believe anyone who enjoys suspenseful thrillers will like this book. I give it a five star rating only because I can't give it more.
August 10, 2018
The writing in this book was awful. The story was decent, but the descriptions were over the top and there was a lot included that wasn't relevant to the story. I can't believe this had so many 5 star reviews.
October 22, 2018
This was a good book.
This was a very easy read. It kept me guessing and it took me a while to figure out who the villain was. I will definately be reading more books by this author!
This was a very easy read. It kept me guessing and it took me a while to figure out who the villain was. I will definately be reading more books by this author!
January 4, 2020
This one takes a long time to get going. Too many characters doing too little until the murders occur. One needs hip waders to slog through to the “action”.
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