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A House at the Bottom of a Lake
Click for more information  Eaudiobook
2021
First Chapter or Excerpt
1 It's the best first date I've ever heard of. Amelia smiled big and nodded. "Yes?" James said, not sure he'd read her right. How can I say no? "How can I say no? Canoeing with a stranger? Yes. I'd love to." Both seventeen. Both afraid. But both saying yes. James ran sweaty hands through his brown hair then wiped them again on his apron. This wasn't the first time he'd seen her in his father's store. It was the fourth. "My name is Amelia," she said, wondering if he already knew that, if he'd found her online. "James," he said and smiled, too. "And wow was I nervous to ask you out." "Really?" She asked it earnestly but knew he was. The fidgeting revealed that. She was anxious, too. "Why?" James snorted a single awkward chuckle. "You know . . . boy girl . . . people meet . . . I don't know! It's scary!" Amelia laughed. It felt good to have a boy ask her out. God, it felt great. How long had it been since she'd gone on a date? And here, at the very onset of summer, it felt . . . natural. A new day. A new season. And a yes to a stranger who'd asked her to go canoeing for a first date. "So here's the idea," James said, checking over his shoulder for his dad. "My uncle has a place on a lake--­" "You said so, yep." "Yeah, but there's a second lake, off the first one, that nobody uses. I mean . . . some people do, but there won't be, like, a ton of speedboats. We can actually paddle right up to the shoreline, to the base of the mountains. And we'll pretty much have them all to ourselves. The mountains." "Sounds great," Amelia said, hooking her thumbs into the belt loops of her jean shorts. She arched her back beneath her yellow tank top. She worried she was augmenting her breasts too much. So she slumped. Then she worried that she was slumping. James was even more self-­conscious than she was. This being his father's hardware store, he was sure Amelia would have second thoughts if she hung around too long. Is this his future? she might think. A girl said that to him once. Asked if this was his future. James didn't want Amelia asking that. Didn't want her walking away. If she was thinking anything like he was, she was already seeing a future together, a life rolling out ruglike from their first date. He saw them laughing on the first lake, kissing on the second, getting married in a canoe, Amelia giving birth in a canoe . . . "Saturday then," she said, and for a crazy second he thought she was saying they should get married on Saturday. His cheeks flushed. He became very aware of that. His cheeks. Then his whole body. He worried suddenly that he didn't work out enough. Worried that she was going to leave here thinking about the paunch beneath his apron and not the mountains he'd tried to distract her with. And yet he managed a smile. Even found some confidence in his voice. "Yes, Saturday. Nine a.m. Wanna meet here?" "Here?" She looked up and down the aisle of rubber hoses, hose clamps, and bolts. Maybe this was the moment, then, when she realized the scope of the situation, the job he had, his future. "Unless you wanna meet somewhere else? I don't care." "No no," Amelia said, attempting to appear casual while worrying that she was being suddenly indecisive in front of him. "Here is fine. Here is great. Saturday. Nine." James stuck his hand out for her to shake, then realized how awkward that was. Here is great. He brought his hand back just as she reached hers out to shake it. Then she lowered hers, too. "Great." "Great." They stared at each other, neither certain how to end their first conversation. A Muzak version of a love song from the 1980s played through the hardware store's equally archaic speakers. Both felt the cheese. "Bye," James said, then scurried back down the aisle. He nearly knocked a box of garden floodlights from the shelf. He didn't look back at Amelia as he fixed it. Instead, he set out to find a customer, anybody who looked like they might need help. But when he was far enough away from her, he wished he had looked back. He just wanted to see her face once more. Saturday, he thought. You'll see her again. Outside, walking quick to her car, Amelia replayed James's offer. She loved it. It's the best first date I've ever heard of. And it didn't hurt that James had kind eyes. A kind face and kind voice, too. It wasn't until she got behind the wheel of her used yellow Omni that she realized she hadn't bought what she'd gone into the store to buy. A new hose. She thought of going back in. No, she decided. Maybe a date was what you came here for. She started the car. Excerpted from A House at the Bottom of a Lake by Josh Malerman All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.
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Library Journal Review
In a stand-alone novella previously issued by a small press, Bird Box phenom Malerman envisions a first date by a shimmering lake, with 17-year-olds Jim and Amelia captivated by a house they spot at the lake's bottom. What's more unsettling, a voice from within the house is beckoning them to come home. Gurgle.
Publishers Weekly Review
Bird Box author Malerman leaves readers with more questions than answers with this eerie, atmospheric horror novel. Teenagers James and Amelia spend their first date getting acquainted while winding their way through two idyllic lakes in a canoe. They discover a secret passage through a rocky tunnel to an uncharted third lake that seems to be untouched by humanity--save for the fully intact house they spot at the bottom of its depths. Intrigued, they make plans to return with scuba gear to explore. Diving deep into the building's depths, James and Amelia learn more about both the house and themselves while embarking on a whirlwind romance. Malerman masterfully builds tension, balancing the exuberance of first love with the foreboding mystery of the house. The uncanny elements and strange, evocative setting will keep readers flipping pages, but the atmosphere never gives way to more visceral scares and the underwhelming resolution leaves the mystery dangling. Readers shouldn't expect any concrete thrills, but fans of Malerman's precise prose will be pleased to explore this new and unsettling world. (Jan.)
Booklist Review
Horror master Malerman (Malorie, 2020) scales back both page count and chills in this enchanting, dark fantasy. Amelia and James, 17, are on their very first date, a canoe trip to a hidden lake. But while taking in its beauty, they notice a graffiti-covered tunnel, force their canoe through its tight squeeze and up onto another hidden, although much less aesthetically appealing, lake. While less beautiful, this lake holds a secret: an entire house, submerged just under its surface. The teens spend their summer making the trek over and over, diving to explore every inch of this creepy structure and each other. Written with a third-person omniscient narration that mimics classic fairy tales, this is a thought-provoking, fast-paced novella that readers can dive into and fully inhabit for a few hours. The love story itself is believable and sweet, while the addition of the sunken house, the exhilaration of discovery, the young couple's obsessive curiosity and deep anxiety, and some very real dangers add depth to the story, one that mirrors the complexity of love itself. Suggest to fans of the Wayward Children series by Seanan McGuire, The Ocean at the End of the Lane (2013) by Neil Gaiman, or The Merry Spinster (2018) by Daniel M. Lavery (Mallory Ortberg).
Kirkus Review
In the throes of first love, two teens have their romance tested after discovering a mysterious house in an abandoned lake. James and Amelia, both 17, are good kids. After becoming instantly attracted to each other in his father's hardware store, they go on a canoe outing on a lake where James' uncle has a place. With kids shrieking in speedboats, James decides to paddle to a second, quieter lake--and then, on a whim, through a graffitied tunnel to a smaller third lake he never knew existed. The water is murky, smells funny, and "felt inhabited." But after getting over the shock of discovering a house below the surface, the adventuresome couple works up the courage to dive down and explore it--first without breathing equipment and then, when they return, with diving gear. Though dresses float through space as if self-animated and there's an indoor pool "with water all its own," there's nothing superscary about the house. But after the couple gets physically intimate in the pool and hears footsteps from the second floor, their lives are forever changed. Originally published in the U.K. in 2016, this short novel was Malerman's first following Bird Box (2014), which was adapted by Netflix in 2018. A spare, unrushed effort, the book has a tingly appeal. But while it succeeds as an endearing study of young love and a dark exploration of the fear of sex, the house never lives up to its promise as a scare vehicle. Malerman, usually a big risk taker, plays things too close to the vest. An enjoyably tenderhearted novel but one that fails to make the most of its spooky premise. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Summary
From the New York Times bestselling author of Bird Box and Malorie comes a haunting tale of love and mystery, as the date of a lifetime becomes a maddening exploration of the depths of the heart.

"Malerman expertly conjures a fairy tale nostalgia of first love, and we follow along, all too willingly, ignoring the warning signs even as the fear takes hold."-- Lit Reactor

The story begins: young lovers, anxious to connect, agree to a first date, thinking outside of the box.

At seventeen years old, James and Amelia can feel the rest of their lives beginning. They have got this summer and this summer alone to experience the extraordinary.

But they didn't expect to find it in a house at the bottom of a lake.

The house is cold and dark, but it's also their own.

Caution be damned, until being carefree becomes dangerous. For the teens must decide: swim deeper into the house--all the while falling deeper in love?

Whatever they do, they will never be able to turn their backs on what they discovered together. And what they learned:

Just because a house is empty, doesn't mean nobody's home.
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