Lowlake

Point Horror Unleashed

by Roger Davenport, Tim Edmunds (Illustrator)

Genres: Horror, Young Adult

190 pages, Paperback

First published June 16, 2000

About the author

I started my working life as an actor after training at LAMDA, and became an established writer only after further careers in advertising and theatre management. My first radio play, 'Eddie and Miss Simpson', was broadcast by BBC Radio 4 as a Saturday Night Theatre presentation in 1984. Thereafter, I've written other dramas for radio, and have dramatised stories by Saki and P.G. Wodehouse for radio series. As a TV scriptwriter, I have created scripts for such British series as 'All Creatures Great and Small', 'Bergerac', 'The Bill' and 'Growing Pains'. I've also written various television documentaries - including 'The Double Life of Saki' (BBC) in which I played the title role.

My first book for young adults, 'Onlooker', was published by the Bodley Head in 1989, and the YA author Anthony Masters wrote of it in the Birmingham Post, “Every so often, and it is not that often, I come across a new writer who moves me so much that I feel as if I have entirely entered his or her world. This is the case with the haunting new talent of Roger Davenport, whose ONLOOKER (Bodley Head) is riveting reading … A wonderfully evocative book.”

My father was the critic and writer John Davenport, and I am married to the actress Joanna McCallum.

Reviews

[ItzSmashley · Rating 3 out of 5]

The unleashed spin off series tends to be for a slightly older audience and therefore more intense with it scares. This is not one of those books, but I did mostly enjoy the ride. The strength lies in its characters, I connected to our protagonists and was invested in what would happen to them. Its the payoff that I was disappointed in, the final 50 pages don't ramp up the thrills like I would expect and I ended the story a little disappointed. Not sure if I'd recommend this even if I did enjoy certain parts.

Mandy and dan are collected from boarding school by their estranged father who is desperate to reconnect with them. He buys a quaint house in the countryside and begins showering them with gifts. But the kids discover the house used to be an insane asylum, and something seems to be calling out to their father affecting his behavior. Who is trying to get in touch? And are their intentions sinister?

[Sarah Elizabeth · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars This wasn't bad.

* Amanda and Dan are to live with their father who they basically haven't met. He'd been working in Australia, and Amanda and Dan had been living with their grandmother for the 10 years since their mother died.
* Their father buys a big old house, and A+D hear strange noises. They find out the house used to be an asylum and figure it's haunted.
* Their father begins acting strangely, and they confront the ghosts. Turns out it's not to do with the asylum though, its the previous occupants who drowned in the lake while waiting for their father to return home.
* Amanda and Dan have a plan and think it's worked, but Amanda knows it hasn't really, and that the ghosts have tricked them.
* A+D and their father then leave the house, and Amanda sees the two ghost children standing at the door as they go.

[Paula Brandon · Rating 2 out of 5]

Amanda and her younger brother Dan grew up with their grandmother, their mother having died and their father gone to Australia to make a living. But with Gran going into a home, their father, John, is finally returning, practically a stranger to them. He takes them on various adventures, such as camping, and during one of these excursions, they discover a dilapidated home called Lowlake.

A little while later, Amanda and Dan are dismayed to learn that John has purchased Lowlake and is taking them to live there. Although he's doing the place up, it soon becomes clear to the kids that something isn't right. They're hearing footsteps running about on the supposedly empty top floor. There is mysterious giggling. John is beginning to act strangely. It would seem there is a presence in the house. Amanda and Dan set out to discover more about Lowlake's history.

This was a very "meh" haunted house story, much like the last one I read, Music From The Dead. This one has a couple of spooky moments that are more effective than anything in the other book, but it's not enough to save it from the air of tedium that hangs over the proceedings. Despite being part of the Point Horror Unleashed line, this felt aimed at middle school readers more than young adults. It had a very juvenile feel. Basically, it came across as a longer, more boring Goosebumps book.

I'm not sure who will get anything out of this. It's too leisurely paced for younger readers, and too tame and naff for young adults. The climax "Let's go talk to the ghost kids and reason with them!" is particularly unexciting and unmemorable. Try going into Lowlake with low expectations and you may get a mild thrill, but don't count on it.

[Louise · Rating 3 out of 5]

We have peak Point Horror parenting here, with a father who promptly leaves for Australia when his wife dies, leaving his two children in the care of their grandmother. Once the grandmother can no longer look after them, he reluctantly returns to children that he hasn't bothered to get to know, and drags them to a house in the middle of nowhere on a whim. The house, naturally is haunted and wackiness ensues.

There's a general air of creepiness over the entire book and there are a few quite chilling scenes. However, it certainly feels more middle-grade than YA due to the age of the protagonists. The writing is decent, although Dan and Amanda could have been more fleshed out. I was expecting a bigger event at the end, but I think Davenport struggled to find a good ending for this one.

Overall, it very nearly works and it's worth a read with low expectations.