Josh Malerman once again proves his mastery of prose and incredible story telling expertise. His books frequently straddle the lines across different genres, and in this one he presents a tale that is parts mystery, adventure and modern day fairy tale with a touch of horror. The success of this story is because of a steady build of anticipation as the two teens plan a first date, with which we can feel the nerves and excitement the characters feel at this prospect, and it only manifests itself stronger as they discover the house under the water, a mystery that should not be, yet is. The deeper they explore, the more thrilling it is, but it also begins building towards a incredible sense of dread as the house holds deeper secrets that may be more than they bargained for.
I wish I were smarter to be able to fully interpret the metaphors that I'm sure the house and the actions of the teens stand for. But for now I will just say that Malerman has once again presented an unorthodox and highly imaginative original story that makes for a wonderful read.

OMG loved loved loved this book. I was really surprised by the storyline but in a good way. The characters really jumped out at me and I thought they tied the whole story in together. Go read this one!

I received a copy of this book as an ARC.

I really liked this book! I thought that the author did a good job of bringing the characters to life and making them jump off the page. I thought the whole idea of this book- an underwater house- was very original. The book does make you feel a little claustrophobic at times but not overly so. It was a little scary at times but not too scary. It reminded me of the first time I was in love as a teenager. It was a beautiful love story and I enjoyed its magic.

I finished this novella a many hours ago. I have been waiting to write this review as I currently don’t know how I feel about this book.

I agree with many other reviewers that this isn’t a horror story. Especially since the author knows how to write a great horror story, Bird Box, I don’t think horror is what he was going for here. The story seems to be about first love and obsessions. It is definitely an interesting and fast read, but I can’t see how I really feel about it. This is a story that may stay with me. For now this was an average read, with potential to keep me up at night thinking about the story.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing a copy of A House at the Bottom of a Lake.

This book grabbed my attention from the moment I started it, and never let up! I was eager to find out what would happen! The characters were very intriguing as well.

Josh Malerman was practicing suspense here. With the pulse pumping drama inside a dark house at the bottom of a lake I felt like I was exploring with James and Amelia. My problem was that these two didn’t seem to care about their well-being and continued to put themselves in danger. I talked myself through that like obviously they are or there wouldn’t be a book lol and then I was pretty entertained. The writing was exactly like two 17 year olds’ minds and I was preparing myself for something really big happening. It did...but not in the murdery creepy way I’ve come to expect from JM after Bird Box and Malorie. Please don’t take that to mean this wasn’t interesting bc at about 250 pages I was fast paced and VERY interesting but the ending was just so strange that my brain hasn’t been able to quite wrap itself around what did (or didn’t) happen. My rating May change the more I reflect on this but it had an ending a little too abstract for my taste. Or, open. Like interpret as you will. I guess I need to be told what happens always? Still...if you like weird and strange and adventure and suspense and scuba diving and mysteries then this is for you.

When 17-year-old James finds the courage to ask Amelia out on a date, he thinks the perfect first-date activity is to go canoeing. Although neither of them have canoed before, they end up having a great time and even discover a house that sits at the bottom of a lake. They become obsessed with exploring it, but something isn't right with the house. . .

This book both confused and intrigued me in the best possible way. It was short, fast-paced, and intense, and I love it when a story is able to keep me on the edge of my seat the entire time! Did I understand the ending of the book? Absolutely not, but I loved it anyway. I wasn't scared necessarily, but the atmosphere that Malerman creates throughout this book is phenomenal. I loved every second of it and would highly recommend!

A huge thank you to NetGalley and Del Rey for providing an ARC of A House at the Bottom of a Lake!

While I didn't hate this book, I didn't love it either. I had been wanting to read this book for awhile and saw it would be re-released. I went into think thinking it was horror or horror-light. I also thought this was Adult but it was very YA....the main characters ARE 17 after all. I usually liked weird books but this one was very VERY weird so if that's your thing, then you'll love this book. The scene was very creepy and atmospheric. Several times I was sensing tension build feeling something scary coming.......and it was a fish....until it wasn't!

I do appreciate the opportunity to read this in exchange for an honest review and I'll be sharing on my Instagram for those who like this type of story.

The House at the Bottom of the Lake
A novel by Josh Malerman

I read The House at the Bottom of the Lake by Josh Malerman courtesy of NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

As he demonstrated in Bird Box, Malerman is accomplished in creating mind-numbing suspense. Bird Box was a novel I couldn't put down. The House at the Bottom of the Lake was a novel l couldn't wait to put down. When I read the last page I was surprised. I actually thought I was missing the rest of the book. I was missing something. Maybe it was my fault.

The book was described by the publisher as “a haunting tale of love and horror.” I felt cheated. Someone cut all the horror and the haunting out of the e-book I read. .Love, yes, most certainly. It was interesting, but not much else. Sad, as the book started with a lot of promise.

Two teens meet-cute at a hardware store and after a bunch of flirting, get together for a canoeing date the next day. They picnic on a mountain lake, then decide to get away to an adjacent quieter lake. Exploring the lake they find a tunnel to yet another lake. Though the tunnel is narrow, they canoe through it to a rather desolate-sounding lake where to their surprise they find a large beautiful house submerged on the bottom of the lake. The house is intact, right down to plates and cups and silverware sitting on the table. They explore it over the next few days. Their relationship develops as friends become lovers (inside the house),

That''s the plot. All of it. Okay. one or two strange things occur and something indescribable (sounds like a giant blob of floating wax) scares them out of the house.

Why is the house there? Why has no one else ever discovered it? Is it haunted? Cursed? Why do all these strange things happen? Why? Why? Why? Yes, the author clearly says that there are things that you shouldn't expect an answer to 'why.' While that may be true in the literary world of the book, it shouldn't be true in the book itself. But it is. All I can say is that you shouldn't expect any answers or even clues.

I felt I wasted my reading time. That is until I woke up and realized that the book was misrepresented. I was lead to expect a novel of horror, mystery, and suspense. It really isn't that at all. At its heart, it is a teen coming of age novel. Given that perspective, the novel almost works. It still feels like a work in progress, however. It is not a book that I would recommend.

This book wasn't what I was expecting but I still liked it very much. The writing and descriptions are wonderful. I could imagine everything the characters were seeing and I found myself holding my breath a lot. The story falls under many genres...young adult, science fiction and even romance. NetgGalley even has it as horror but I didn't find that to be true so for that reason I took a star off and rounded up.

Let's just get it out of the way now - this book will not be for everyone. It is very weird and sort of hard to talk about without going into specific details. But based on the reviews I've read, people either really love it or really don't. I fall on the love it side of the argument. This is a novella following two 17-year olds who, on their first date, discover a house at the bottom of a lake. The rest of the story is mostly them exploring the house and exploring their feelings for each other. I'm not very well read in this sort of weird/speculative/magic realism type of genre so I'm not sure what the best way to describe this book is. I was trying to explain it to my non-reader boyfriend and said it was very similar levels and types of weird to the Pan's Labyrinth movie (which he's seen). After having some more time to think and reflect, I've settled on that comparison as the best I can think of. This house is based in reality - the characters are literally canoeing across a lake and literally get scuba gear to go down and explore - but there's an otherworldly element and feeling once they're inside the house.

My absolute favorite part of this book is the tone and horror elements. I've seen some reviews questioning why anyone would consider this book horror and while there aren't any graphic scenes or much of a direct threat to the characters' well-being but I don't think those are the only things that can count as horror. I would say maybe 'unsettling' or 'eerie' would be a better description for the tone, but I entirely disagree with the people saying this isn't horror in the slightest. There were scenes that made me feel scared, claustrophobic, and even a little panicky. But these scenes were balanced well with much more light scenes of the two characters just relaxing on the lake, soaking up some sun. One of the taglines for this book is "just because a house is empty, doesn’t mean nobody’s home" and I think this really sets the tone for the book. In the same vein, my favorite line of the book is something along the lines of: 'they wouldn't ask how or why, but they never thought about asking who'. In my opinion, this isn't the type of book to really cause nightmares, but it is one that will put you on edge enough to maybe double check that the doors are locked or think twice about hearing that creak in the house.

I was a little icked out by the fact that we get some fairly explicit intimacy scenes between the two characters who are only 17. They weren't long or drawn out, but they were explicit enough that I was a little uncomfortable. And this is coming from someone who reads a ton of romance books with a ton of explicit sex scenes. It didn't bother me enough to knock it down in rating or tarnish my overall feelings about the book, but I do know some people feel differently about this than I do so I just wanted to throw it out there.

I really enjoyed how many scenes we got of these two characters exploring the house. I was a bit afraid going into the book that they might only go in the house a handful of times and then spend the rest of the book just talking about the house. But I'd say the majority of the middle of the book was spent underwater which was by far my favorite part of the book. I think the descriptions were really well done and I could clearly picture where the characters were going while they were in the house. It was really helpful that, when they were taking turns exploring, one character would start where the other left off so we didn't get an overload of repetition of the first initial rooms which I think would have made the narrative drag on. Instead, every time they were exploring the house, they found a new area to explore and the reader was exploring right along side of them.

The final note I want to mention about this book is something that might just be a 'me-thing' and I'm not sure if it is a necessarily a pro or con, but this book feels like something that I would have read in an English Lit class. It has that literary fiction feeling but with enough of those 'other' elements (magical realism or whatever you want to call it) that it feels like it would lead to some really interesting class discussions. The ending is also pretty open to interpretation which, again, would be open to some interesting discussions. I'll fully admit that I'm not really a fan of contemporary or literary books. I'm much more of a genre-heavy reader (romance, thrillers, occasional sci-fi, etc) and while this book did have those genre elements, I felt it had a much more literary/contemporary lean than what the synopsis led me to believe. I'm also not sure if I think that all contemporary/literary sounding books would come across like books to be read in school, but I definitely thought that about this one. I really only got this feeling in the beginning and ending 15%s of the book, the middle was much more heavy into those genre elements and I was very invested in the exploration of the house.

Overall, a really weird/speculative/magic realism type of story with some nice unsettling and eerie moments sprinkled in. Feels like the kind of book you need to have a discussion with other people about and maybe read a few times to get everything out of it. It isn't for everyone, but I really liked it in the end.

A House at the Bottom of a Lake is an intimate story with no expository introduction revolving around two 17-year olds who decide to have their first date in a canoe on a lake. They borrow their watercraft from the boy's uncle, who bids them farewell with a wistful memory of his youth. Pushing through a naturally obscured boundary between two bodies of water, the couple discovers an unknown lake which holds a mysterious secret.

The story's tone is one that would be familiar in Castle Rock or Derry; the children's innocence and relatable anxiety so endearing that it's impossible not to love them. As usual, Malerman incorporates subtle humor which works well for dialogue between the teens. Their fast-paced plunge into aquatic romance, along with the surreal quality of the events, makes the story something like a fairy tale. Being so short, the story's transitions are necessarily brief, which makes some of the plot developments harder to believe. The details the author includes are vivid and well-drawn, but so many are omitted that it distracts from the fantasy.

In A House at the Bottom of a Lake, the author takes a minimalist approach in invoking the mixed memories of teenage lust and danger, so potent as to seem undeniably real and irrevocably distant at the same time. In its elegance, A House at the Bottom of a Lake is a love story out of place and time, lapping the shores of conventional narratives from a boundless sea of possibility. Fans of Malerman's work will be pleased as usual, but this fairy tale-adventure story should appeal to new readers as well.. Thanks to Del Rey and NetGalley for the ARC!

When I requested this from NetGalley, I didn’t realize it was originally released in 2016. Reading reviews from that time, it looks like this novella was categorized as horror – which is absolutely isn’t. On Amazon, it’s now listed as coming of age and magical realism, which are much more appropriate descriptions.

Can I just say how cool this cover is? The eerie colors and perspective of the boat above the house just draw you in, and it helped me visualize the house as James and Amelia explored it underwater.

I’ve read three other books by this author and enjoyed them all, especially Bird Box. While I liked both of these teen characters and was riveted by their growing obsession with the house and their discoveries, I had to shove my disbelief out of the way several times to continue on with the story. Their first exploration of the house is done by holding their breath, but they quickly realize that’s not possible if they want to get through all of it. Then they bring an old diving suit which requires an air compressor. With only one suit, each of them takes a turn and also helps the other change in and out of it. Keep in mind all of this happens in a canoe – which is apparently large enough to hold hundreds of feet of hose and a heavy air compressor and is miraculously stable enough to never capsize. James and Amelia then decide to become certified divers, something I’ve never done, but I’d think requires more than a handful of days.

Once I pushed all that aside, I enjoyed this tale, which at times is eerie, claustrophobic, and even heartwarming, but it’s not my favorite by Malerman. For me, the ending is a thing of beauty and not what I’d expected.

I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher through NetGalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

Fun, quick read. I felt insanely weird reading such explicit details involving 17 year olds, but maybe it was necessary to portray the full love story. A little creepy, a little sad. Just a nice little love story.

Strange book. I didn’t dislike it. But it wasn’t my favorite. I’ve read quite a bit of Malerman’s work and this is my least favorite so far. Still it had moments of good! Still happy I read it

Keeps the action pulsing with enough intrigue to make it hard to turn the virtual pages fast enough. Thoroughly fleshed-out characters you tend to either like or dislike with enthusiasm. A great bedtime read that'll keep you engaged till the very end. Highly recommended!

*This book was provided free of charge in exchange for my honest review. My thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley for allowing me to participate in this program.*

I received an e-copy ARC of A House At The Bottom Of A Lake, authored by Josh Malerman, from NetGalley and the publisher, Del Rey, an imprint of Random House, in return for my honest review, which follows below. I thank both for this opportunity. From what I understand this will be a new printing of the novella, so there are people who have read this previously, but for me this was the first time.

I rated this novella 4 stars.

The idea that there are houses, churches, even whole towns, buried within bodies of water by human design or forces of nature always astounds me. The first time I remember being made aware of this phenomenon: the 1999 film In Dreams, starring RDJ and Annette Bening. I have seen this coupled with the horror and dark fiction mediums other times to great success as well: Dan Chaon’s Await Your Reply had the ruins of a sunken town in Nebraska and Melanie Golding’s Little Darlings featured a still sunken town as just two examples that were recent reads for me. I received an e-copy ARC of A House At The Bottom Of A Lake, authored by Josh Malerman, from NetGalley and the publisher, Del Rey, an imprint of Random House, in return for my honest review, which follows below. I thank both for this opportunity. From what I understand this will be a new printing of the novella, so there are people who have read this previously, but for me this was the first time.

I rated this novella 4 stars.

The idea that there are houses, churches, even whole towns, buried within bodies of water by human design or forces of nature always astounds me. The first time I remember being made aware of this phenomenon: the 1999 film In Dreams, starring RDJ and Annette Bening. I have seen this coupled with the horror and dark fiction mediums other times to great success as well: Dan Chaon’s Await Your Reply had the ruins of a sunken town in Nebraska and Melanie Golding’s Little Darlings featured a still sunken town as just two examples that were recent reads for me.

Characterizing this novella as horror may put too much expectation on it to deliver heavily on that end of the genre, setting the reader up for disappointment. I do think the author intended for this to be more than just a metaphorical tale of first love and how strange and unknown it can be; there are what I consider obviously supernatural/dark elements added, their purpose unfortunately not fully realized, at least for me. But even with what I felt were missed opportunities, and an ambiguous ending ( which can be polarizing ), reading this was a treat; I wanted to keep turning the page to find out the next wonder.

I know there are questions that will never be answered about the house at the bottom of a lake, but visiting the rooms and hallways perched invisibly on the shoulders of two adventurers, while falling in love over a magical summer, I think I can let it slide.

Characterizing this novella as horror may put too much expectation on it to deliver heavily on that end of the genre, setting the reader up for disappointment. I do think the author intended for this to be more than just a metaphorical tale of first love and how strange and unknown it can be; there are what I consider obviously supernatural/dark elements added, their purpose unfortunately not fully realized, at least for me. But even with what I felt were missed opportunities, and an ambiguous ending ( which can be polarizing ), reading this was a treat; I wanted to keep turning the page to find out the next wonder.

I know there are questions that will never be answered about the house at the bottom of a lake, but visiting the rooms and hallways perched invisibly on the shoulders of two adventurers, while falling in love over a magical summer, I think I can let it slide.

I saw various reviews claiming that this is falsely marketed as horror, but as someone who is terrified of “underwater,” I felt extremely uncomfortable for a large portion of this story!

I felt that this was perfectly suited to a novella length, and while I wish there had been a bit more dialogue, the pacing was effective.

Will definitely be thinking about this one for a bit, because I found that elements of the house were symbolic with the beginnings of a new relationship and I need to explore those theme more deeply in my head!

James and Amelia spend their first date out on a lake, and make a terrifyingly amazing discovery. A house at the bottom of the lake. Agreeing not to question it, these two spend their days exploring "their home," only to realize that they weren't alone to begin with.

This story was creepy in its own way, with no actual scare factors happening. The ending left me wanting so much more, and I wish that this had been a longer, more developed story. If so, it could have made an awesome movie.

Hi friends! I received this book from Random House and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. This book has already been published, so you can read it now if you’re interested! Although I received this book for free, all thoughts and feedback are my own.

Synopsis & Quick Thoughts
A House at the Bottom of a Lake is a novella written by Josh Malerman, author of the fantastic horror novel Bird Box (among other works). In this novel, teenagers Amelia and James are a new couple. Their first date? Canoeing on a tranquil lake. The outcome? Finding a two-story house underneath said lake, front door unlocked. Curiosity turns into obsession,

I finished this novella in two hours and was left going “wait, what the fuck?”. I re-read the last chapter a couple of times and then just sat on my bed defeated and confused and hoping that Josh Malerman would break into my apartment and explain the whole thing to me. But also…in a good kind of way? This story definitely isn’t for everyone, but for the most part I really enjoyed it! This is also the first experience I’ve had with reading a novella for fun, and while I’ve decided I enjoy full-length novels more, it was an overall positive experience.

Positives
Oooooh this lil book is CREEPY. I really enjoyed the juxtaposition of the outdoor summer vibes and fun recreational activities with the dark and ominous descriptions of the house. The last twenty or so pages had me on the edge of my seat and incredibly captivated. In fact, the whole book was fast-paced and never lulled in the action, which was well-executed because it would be easy for this plot to get slow and repetitious. It absolutely did not. All of the suspense and tension that I loved in Malerman’s Bird Box is present here full-force and isn’t abridged or compromised by the shorter length.

As I’ve stated in a number of my past reviews, I love ambiguous endings, and while this one is bound to be polarizing, I really enjoyed it. While I keep all of my reviews spoiler-free, I try to give examples of media that have similar elements to what I’m reviewing to help give a better indication of whether this book is for you. In this case, I’d say this ending has a similar vibe to Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining (the film adaptation, not King’s novel). Just a moment at the end of the plot where you’re told/shown something that makes you go “wait, what the fuck does that mean?” that throws a wrench in the whole plot you’ve just read and you just have to accept that you’ll absolutely never know what the point of the ending was. I loved it, many won’t. What I wouldn’t give to ask Malerman what his thoughts were in having the novella end the way it did.

Negatives
Negatives for this novella are difficult because the things I would like to be changed would then possibly take away some of the positives I’ve mentioned above. I wish the relationship between Amelia and James was more developed (though I did appreciate the awkward teenager thoughts and emotions), but I worry that doing so would lengthen the novel in a way that would slow down the pace that I greatly enjoyed.

I also wish that there were more horror elements interspersed throughout the plot, as most of the action takes place at the end of the book. However, the length of the novella is short enough that it didn’t feel like I was starved for horror, and adding more elements would involve a longer length to properly build up tension for each event, which could get repetitive. Thus, I feel stuck in my criticism and have to say that while I don’t think A House at the Bottom of a Lake is perfect, trying ot make it more so may have an opposite effect on its enjoyability.

Rating & Final Thoughts
A House at the bottom of a Lake is a total 4 out of 5 star book for me. I finished this book two days ago and my rating kept going up the more I thought about it. I think this novella is a great quick read for those in-between longer novels, and for those who don’t mind being confused and left with more questions than they started with while reading. I can see how people would dislike this book, but it was a blast for me. If you notice, like me, that you tend to enjoy horror that has low ratings on Goodreads (see: I’m Thinking of Ending Things), give this a go. I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised.