A dazzling debut by an author to watch. It's rare for a debut author to write a solidly written fascinating story but Megan Giddings absolutely accomplished it. With it's strong plot and engaging characters this is one debut book not to be missed. Happy reading!

This book definitely kept me on my toes and was definitely a page turner. It had me questioning how far could a person go for money. What would I compromise and what really constitutes as acceptable all in the name of research? Lakewood is eerie and more of a mystery than a thriller. It was a quick read but very worth the time. Megan Giddings has definitely left a great debut for those looking for a title that appeals to your inner Angela Landsberry!

I'm not going to be surprised when Jordan Peele buys the movie rights for Lakewood by Megan Giddings.

A look at race, class, and how science has abused the most vulnerable over and over and over. Lakewood is scary - but not in a ghosts and goblins way - more in a way that is so familiar, so recognizable.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read and review this book.

Many thanks to NetGalley, Amistad, and Megan Giddings for the opportunity to read and review her debut novel - a disturbing account of race, class and things that have been done to others in the name of medicine, science and government. Definitely similar to the Tuskegee and Nazi human experiments and Henrietta Lacks.

Lena is trying to go to college and still deal with being the caretaker for her mother who has suffered seizures and many issues since an accident years ago. When her beloved grandmother dies, the extent of the family's debt is realized. Lena is offered the opportunity to take part in some memory experiments at a government research facility - she will be paid well, receive health care for herself and her mother. However, she must sign NDAs and must lie to everyone about where she is and what she is doing.

So much to discuss in this book - How much are we willing to do and accept to better our lives and those of our families? Why is one section of society the subject of experimentation by another section?

Amazing debut and certainly much to ponder.

Not a chance I'll participate in one of those medical studies after reading this novel! Lena's beloved grandmother, who was more her mom than her mother was, has just died and Lena's trying to figure out how to stay in school and pay a lot (a lot) of bills. Her mother Deziree has a difficult, not fully diagnosed condition. When an offer to participate in a USG study arrives, she takes it, thinking she'll be able to pay off bills and put some cash away, never expecting that she will see and experience things no one should ever have to face. It is notable that all of the subjects the study are people of color while the workers at the facility are Caucasian. Lena's fever dreams (for want of a better term) are psychedelic and horrible. There are periodic letters to her friend and letters from her grandmother (the transitions on these were rough). While I appreciate that the publisher wants to draw some sort of comparison, Lena's situation is nothing like that of Henrietta Lacks (this is the doctors experimenting on her and causing mental and physical problems , not using her cancer cells for research) nor to the woman of the Handmaid's Tale. This is well done horror with social commentary that won't hit you over the head. Thanks to the publisher for the ARC. It kept me turning the pages.

Lena had to leave college to help her family after the death of her grandmother reveals their desperate financial situation. She takes a job that sounds too good to be true, a free place to live and a lofty salary. She just has to keep her mouth closed about what goes on at Lakewood . It all sounds good, a potential cure for dementia and depression and even drops to change your eye color. But the “cures’ being perfected here are more sinister and disturbing than Lena realizes. This is a terrifying novel about human guinea pigs, a society where some lives are expendable

This was such a unique and captivating read. It centers around a young woman dealing with life circumstances that affect so many in today's world. After the death of her grandmother, Lena is responsible for taking care of her sick mother, while attending college and navigating through the adult world. But when she realizes the extent of the debt left, and how that will impact her mother's ability to receive treatment for her mysterious symptoms, Lena starts considering her employment options.

When an opportunity arrives for her to participate in a research study, with free healthcare for her mother and a generous stipend, Lena doesn't see any other options. As I read through the book, I was more shocked and outraged about a process that has happened numerous times throughout history.

The story is told in down-to-earth prose that made me feel like it could happen to anyone, while mixing in fragments of Lena's experiences during the study. The themes of race and class interwove with the difficult position of people who have (or care for someone) with chronic illness and how the system shortchanges all of these vulnerable groups. Perhaps the most distressing part of the book was the fact that this isn't just a made up concept - that some groups of humans are deemed "less valuable" than others, and fodder for medical or psychiatric experimentation that are far from ethical.

It was a powerful and eye-opening read, even though it wasn't necessarily an easy read. While it wasn't traditionally enjoyable, it made me think about the lengths we go to care for the people we love, and I'm glad I got the opportunity to read it.

I wasn’t sure what to expect going into this book, but what I can say is that several days after finishing it, I still can’t stop thinking about it.

LAKEWOOD by Megan Giddings follows Lena, a young black college student with an ill mother to take care of, and whose beloved grandmother has recently passed away. Lena decides to take part in a secret medical experiment to pay off her family’s debts, and so that she can afford better healthcare for her mother. But what Lena thinks will be a harmless sacrifice on her part turns out to be her worst nightmare: she is treated as a human guinea pig, and her body is abused in the process.

Although a work of fiction, LAKEWOOD recalls certain real-life medical research studies that were performed on marginalized groups, such as the Tuskegee Syphilis Study and the case of Henrietta Lacks. I had to remind myself at times that I was reading a work of fiction, because that’s how immersive and realistic this book is in depicting the torture and racism that Lena endures. Ultimately, LAKEWOOD questions how much it takes to completely disregard basic human rights, and that we’re perhaps not as progressive a society as we like to think. This book is a brutal look at the racism and classicism embedded in US history, and it’s unlike any medical thriller out there.

This review will be posted to my main platform, http://instagram.com/inquisitivebookworm, by March 30th, 2020.

Part Get Out, part The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, this book attempts to take on race and class in the form of horror story. While the premise is solid, it unfortunately feels a little bit stale at this point with other stories in the media in recent.

Lena is a struggling student. Her grandmother has recently passed away, and her mom who has always had issues is a problem for her. Lena is responsible for unpaid medical bills now and is really feeling the stress of her situation. One day she receives a letter asking if she is interested in joining a research study. She will have housing and a good salary. She is so desperate ,she leaves school and moved to Michigan to take this opportunity.

What happens next is quite a horror show. The testing they do to Lena and others in the study are just ridiculous. Changing eye colors, teeth falling out and so much other. This drives Lena and other to realize what they are really willing to give up for money.

This is an interesting book that I think would be wonderful for book clubs as there is a lot to discuss outside of this horrible medical testing. The author gives us lots of insight through diary snip-its and conversations with family and friends. I definitely think this is worth reading.

Thank you NetGalley and Amistad for an Advanced Reader’s Copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

A strange and unsettling story that will have you caught between thoughts that this could really happen, and No, it could never happen. There is just enough reality in both Lena and her life situation to keep the reader on the edge of imagining a new reality where this kind of medical experimentation could happen. And though Lena seems very naive at times, the reader can identify with her desperation. This would be a good read for a book club.

Oh I wanted to give this book more stars so bad. The premise feels so much like the Tuskegee Project, experiments giving black men syphillis, not providing the penicillin cure, and recording what happened. What unfolds is less of a mystery, way more confusing, more sinister but with less of a true villain. Truthfully, I was confused 80% of the time and feel that many of the threads of the story either don’t add up or aren’t answered.

After Lena’s grandmother passes away, Lena signs up for a research study in order to make money to pay her moms medical bills and keep her in health insurance. What proceeds in a mind-mess of confusion where the reader doesn’t know what is real and what isn’t. Lena is subjected to horrifying experiments, loses big chunks of time, and struggles to fully understand what is happening to her. As a sinister story of how the government takes advantage of its most vulnerable, Lakewood doesn’t full measure up. I wanted more: a chapter told from a different point of view, background as to what is actually happening, some more resolution. Overall, I did not enjoy this at all and I am so bummed.

*ARC received from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I will definitely need to reread this book because I flew through it. The story is compelling, albeit horrifying, and so well-written that the dread almost sneaks up on you. I've already recommended it to several people and I will definitely be buying a copy when it comes out!

One of the strangest books I’ve ever read, and I loved it. I was surprised I didn’t have nightmares! This book is unique, but if I had to describe it, I’d say it’s a mash-up of Get Out and Never Let Me Go, plus a dose of terrifying actual history (and current events) in the U.S.

What would you do for money and health insurance? It’s the kind of question that makes terrible sense in contemporary America. So many of us work hard for low wages to keep ourselves in shelter, food, and health care. It’s also the question that, in part, fuels Lakewood, by Megan Giddings. This novel is disturbing and infuriating, in the way that only really good satire can be.

At the beginning of Lakewood, Lena Johnson is in a tough position. Her grandmother has just died. Her mother is unable to work due to an undiagnosable condition. Lena is trying to work and go to college, but there’s just not enough money to make that possible. When she gets word of a lucrative research study that also offers health insurance for participants and their families, Lena can’t pass up the opportunity. The red flags about the Lakewood project—scary NDAs, no informed consent document, no declaration of who is in charge, barely any information about what the study actually entails, the elaborate cover story Lena is supposed to use if anyones asks—would have scared off anyone who wasn’t as desperate as Lena.

Lena would’ve been better off, in the long run, if her desperation hadn’t outweighed her sense of self-preservation. The experiments of Lakewood’s “memory” study are bizarre, unsettling, and often dangerous. All questions are deferred and, curiously, Lena notices that almost all of the subject participants are people of color. Later, Lena manages to get around the firewall she discovers on her phone to learn about studies like the Tuskegee Syphilis Experiment and about the laws and codes of ethics that are supposed to keep participants safe. After that, Lena pushes even harder with her questions. What exactly is Lakewood up to?

Lakewood is not a thriller. Lena does not rally a band of quirky allies to take Lakewood down. Rather, Lena and her experiences bring up a series of uncomfortable questions for us to think about. What would we be willing to do for financial security and health care? Why are all the researchers white and almost all the subjects people of color? How far can companies and governments go with human subjects of research studies? Who is enforcing those regulations? Most of all, Lakewood asks, how on earth are we supposed to overturn an unfair, unjust system as entrenched as one that can house something like the Lakewood experiments? Book groups that enjoy satire will have plenty to talk about and readers of science fiction that deals with social justice should have a great time with Lakewood.

Lakewood, Megan Giddings, debut novel is a very different book. I am still trying to digest it. It takes place in Lakewood, Michigan and is about three poor black women, a grandmother, a mother and their daughter/ granddaughter Lena. They are like three peas in a pod connected at the hip. They don’t know how they will survive without each other. Lena’s grandmother is dying and her mother is very sick, there is no money and no one able to pay the bills. Lena is supposed to go to college but receives a letter asking her to join the Lakewood Project. It is classified as a memory study and if you are eligible it pays a tremendous amount of money. This seems to be the answer to Lenas prayers and a way to help her mother and grandmother, two people she loves more than anyone in the world. She leaves home, telling her mother and friends she received a job offer. She keeps what she is really doing a secret. This begins an unforgettable, disturbing journey into the world of government experimentation. While reading I could not imagine that any of this could be true. There were parts that were to horrid to read, yet I wanted to continue. As I continued to read, I questioned myself, asking how far would I go and how much of myself would I destroy to help my loved ones?

After finishing the book I really did not think these things could possibly have happened. I began googling government experimentation. You must do this when you finish. You will be sickened to learn the amount of human experimentation that was done on babies, children, black people, mentally disabled people and even on our own military. These experiments were done without consent or if with consent the individuals really were not led to understand the effects of what the drugs could do to them later in life. Human experimentation by the United States government has been going on for centuries, and as of 2007 there has not been a government researcher charged with human experimentation.

Thank you NetGalley and HarperCollins Publishers for an ARC of Lakewood. This is a book I might have missed. I am glad I didn’t. The cover is what drew me in and I didn’t take a breath until I was done.

I had a lot of trouble finishing this book, I didn't really enjoy the plotline or the characters very much though I did finish it

Do not sleep on this book– or rather, don’t try to sleep after reading it. Make sure to add it to your reading list for the year if you liked the movie GET OUT or are a fan of twisty lit-fic.

Megan Giddings is the features editor of The Rumpus and author of some amazing short stories at places like The Iowa Review and Gulf Coast. After reading some of her shorter work, I was thrilled to receive and advanced copy of her debut novel.

Lena Johnson, fresh from her grandmother’s funeral, comes face to face with the realities of overdue bills and the full weight of care-taking for her mother. Instead of being able to return to college, Lena opts to join a medical study in order to get full health insurance and earn money for her family.

What follows is a mix of literary fiction and horror inspired by real-life medical experimentation on communities of color. Lena’s journey and time at Lakewood is part absurd and part too real. She signs an NDA, agrees to all protocols, and is forced to go to a “cover job” that seems like a normal office environment every day. Meanwhile, the town around the facility is complicit and very white– and both of those realities chill and force the narrative forward. The side effects, the experiments, and the lies start to add up as the plot progresses. The reader is exposed to Lena’s dreams and hallucinations, wants and fears, and I found that I could not put this novel down.

One of the most amazing things about Giddings’ work here is the expert sprinkling of humor that makes the horrific all the more surreal. The nicknames for the “observers” in the lab and the almost The Office-like nature of the cover job only make the dark moments darker. Giddings is an expert craftswoman and an exacting critic here.

Oh, this book! One of those where you want to read it, you know it has important things to say, but is so deeply disturbing it is tempting to put it down, tip toe away and not face the awful side of humanity that is put under a microscope within its pages. Lena was raised in large part by her grandmother, Miss Toni, because her mom, Deziree, suffers from a host of ailments that are incapacitating. Lena is college-age, and the family struggles with debt due in large part to medical bills incurred by her uninsured mother. Lena gets an opportunity to become a "patient" at a medical research facility in Lakewood, MI which will both pay her a wage and provide the much needed medical insurance her family needs. Lena is tasked with the idea that “it’s overwhelming to know truly how much you love someone, how much of yourself you would destroy because of that.” (The cover of the book really represents this beautifully.) At one point in the story, someone is overheard saying “the shit people will do for money.” There lies the rub: when one feels desperate, what will they do, and who is willing to take advantage/benefit from that desperation?
This book will make you feel queasy. It will challenge you to think about many moral dilemmas including: corporations and how they pollute, medical testing on both animal and human subjects, racism, and family secrets.
I am very excited to have the opportunity to meet the author in May at Booktopia at Northshire Bookstore in Manchester, VT.

Thank you to #netgalley and #harpercollins for this early review copy.

#lakewood

Lena Johnson is trying to cope with the recent death of her grandmother and her mother Deziree's debilitating health issues while dealing with the mounting medical debt.

She receives an invitation to take part in The Lakewood Project, a series of research studies.  The offer seems too good to be true:  high pay, family health insurance with no out of pocket expenses, and housing provided.

The catch?  Lena has to participate in a secret program and cannot disclose any details to her family and friends.  Despite the limited details, she applies anyway.  Her mother's health will continue to suffer without medical coverage and the pay would allow her to pay off their debt while also saving so she can return to college.

Lena arrives in the remote town of Lakewood, Michigan and is given a "cover story":  she works for Great Lakes Shipping Company as a dispatch operator. To the small town of Lakewood, it appears to be like any other trucking/warehouse company.
Lena will actually spend her time in research studies but will be given a card with small made-up details about her work day to share with family and friends.

At orientation, Lena discovers the study participants are all black, Indian, or lantix with the exception of one older white woman.  The group is told their research will benefit countless people.  Among the many studies performed, they will be testing pills that could potentially cure dementia and eyedrops that can temporarily change eye color.

What is not discussed are the potential consequences of these studies.  The participants have all signed NDAs and understand they'll be compensated for side effects and injuries but no one will discuss these possibilities at length.

It isn't long before Lena witnesses the horrors of the research trials, first in other participants and eventually in herself.   There are people watching at all times.  In fact, she begins to wonder if the entire town of Lakewood is part of the study.

Lakewood is a provocative medical thriller that raises questions about the very real struggles working-class families face, sacrifices made, and the history of horrific experiments performed on minorities under the guise of scientific advancement.

The atmosphere is intense, I felt a sense of unease the entire time I was reading!  As the events become more horrific and Lena becomes more confused, my sense of paranoia was heightened and I didn't trust a single character or reject a single possibility.

My sole issue is that the story felt disjointed as it switched between third person and first person narration.  We're given brief horror scenes and unsettling interviews Lena endures in third person while reading her confused and anxious thoughts written in a series of letters to her best friend.  It felt like a collection of scenes rather than a full-fleshed novel.  The foundation is absolutely there but the structure wasn't as cohesive as I needed it to be to deliver the full story.

Thanks to Amistad and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC in exchange for my honest review.  Lakewood is scheduled for release on March 24, 2020.

Lena’s grandmother dies—leaving her with much of the financial responsibility of caring for her ailing mother, Deziree.

In order to make ends meet, and provide a more stable life for them both, Lena decides to answer an ad requesting subjects take part in a research study.

Lena has her doubts but the money is too good to pass up and she knows without it, Deziree’s condition will get worse, and Lena doesn’t want to let her mother down.

As Lena’s gets deeper into the study, she begins to question its merit and wonders who it’s meant to benefit.

Furthermore, she wonders why mostly minorities and poor people have been chosen to take part—calling into question the ethics of scientists as it pertains to choosing subjects.


The story takes place in modern times but it could have easily been set in the 50’s, 60’s, or 70’s, as the small town of Lakewood feels like a place stuck in a time warp: the people are oddly disconnected from the outside world and many of the interactions they have with Lena read like something out of the Twilight Zone.

At one point, Lena begins to wonder if the town itself is part of a bigger experiment.

I don’t wish to give away too much, but it’s clear there is a lot going on behind the scenes, and Lena seems to be an important part of everything.

Overall, a very interesting story, but it lagged in places and wrapped up without giving proper closure to certain key aspects of the plot; that left me a bit flustered and wanting.

Furthermore, not knowing the fate of some of the main characters, despite being reminded of their importance, via the impact they had on Lena and other parts of the story, was a bit unnerving.

Aside from that, the story is good and the discussion it invokes, regarding medical ethics, and whether the value of using human specimens trumps the inhumanity those persons could potentially suffer, is one worth having.

Thank you to Netgalley for this Advanced eGalley. Opinion is my own.