Huh. I can honestly say this is the first time I've been completely flabbergasted by a book. It starts off great, even though the dialogue is a little off. Then I'm not sure what the heck happened, but I felt like I was thrust into a campy horror movie from the 80's. It's creepy but at the same time so outlandish that you would laugh if it wasn't about gory, horrible murder. You know how you watch a horror film and you are yelling at the characters not to be so stupid, "don't go into the dark abandoned house" kinda yelling? That's this book in a nutshell. And despite all that I have to admit I was entertained for a couple hours.

I like Vincent Zandri's pulpy Chase Baker adventure stories for their pure escapism. As expected this novel was nothing like them, but I just found it too dark for my tastes.

At first, I was enjoying this novel but the characters were so irredeemably stupid, that at some point I stopped rooting for them. Rose rents a house for the summer and shortly finds out that it used to be the home of a teenage girl who was raped and murdered. Her teenage daughter looks just like the dead girl. Rose hears noises and sees shadows. That would have been enough to send me running for the hills but somehow she decides to stay. Things get even weirder and still Rose stays. OK, fine. When she leaves her daughter alone in the creepy house, I started getting aggravated and their actions kept getting dumber and dumber until it seemed to turn into the commercial where, instead of getting in the running car to escape a maniac with a chainsaw they go to hide in the cemetery. The plot was predictable, the baddie was a caricature and the ending was just a mess. I hate giving a book a bad review because I imagine it must be so hard to write, but I didn’t like it.
I chose to read this book and all opinions in this review are my own and completely unbiased. Thank you, NetGalley/ Oceanview Publishing!

This book was very disturbing because of the graphic violence carried out by a delusional villain.
I continued to read Paradox Lake, because of the strong mother-daughter relationship of Rose and Maddie, trying to change their lives for the better in the isolated town of Paradox Lake.
An unexpected twist ending, helped add stars to this book review.

Sculptor and single mom, Rose Conley, is haunted by her tragic past and anxious about her uncertain future. She needs to get away from it all. On sabbatical from the college where she teaches art, she and her daughter rent a house for three months in the Adirondack lakeside community of Paradox.

But idyllic Paradox Lake transforms into a nightmare when a monster from the past invades Rose’s retreat—and targets her daughter for his special brand of horror.

I was so intrigued by the description, and it lived up to that interest. I thought it was such a great , slightly scary read without being too terrifying. I loved the strong character that was Rose and how she still was able to pick herself up after such a terrible time. There was the right amount of gore for me, and I loved how part of the mystery was so obvious from the start but the other part didn't come until later in the book. The twist was obvious but didn't hit until so late in the book that I was really starting to doubt myself. I also love a book that wraps up tidily with all avenues covered off, this book. I only wish I could have known what came of the dog!

If I must find some areas to comment on - I found some of the dialogue a bit cheesy, there were some really interesting choices of words during the sex scenes that I found a bit out of place, and the 12 year old daughter seemed way too mature , both in her ability to stay home alone in the woods without being afraid and in her vocabulary.

The element of a new age little red riding hood was both delightful and extremely creepy. I enjoyed the fast paced-ness of the book and would love to read more by this author.

Some of the crimes were a bit too much for me. I just wasn't the right audience for this fast paced book.

did not dislike this book, but--it was too predictable, and too commonly used plot in so many books today. Also, the characters just did not seem to be developed as well as could have been.

All though I found the book to be fast paced and suspenseful and I enjoyed the relationship between Mom Rosie, and daughter Anna I found some of the plot unbelievable. Rosie seemed to be very naive for a 40 something mom who immediately falls into a intimate relationship with a stranger when she has a loving boyfriend at home..
Also there was rape, murder, and abuse of young girls and women and a horrific murder of another character which was too graphic and bloody for me.

This book was one that was so unexpected by the emotions it stirred up in me. It was hauntingly beautiful in the storytelling. I loved the characters and was invested almost immediately. Felt so many emotions throughout the book. Very intriguing, heartbreaking, sweet, loving, and haunting... Loved it

Rose and her daughter Anne are taking a summer sabbatical to Paradox Lake. They will rent an older home and just enjoy the summer and swimming on their small private beach. Rose is a sculptor. The summer will help her concentrate on her work.
Neither Rose nor Anne know the history of the house they are staying in. Nor do they know if the tragic events that transpired in Paradox Lake.
A scary thriller. Creepiness at it's best!!

I received a copy from Netgalley and am voluntarily leaving a review.
I hate to give a negative review to an ARC, but Paradox Lake read like a first draft from a first time author, despite the fact that the author is actually quite prolific, and even award-winning.
The dialogue is awkward, clunky and unrealistic. The protagonist thinks in old-school text speak, OMG and BTW. Literally. You know the unfortunate stereotype about men writing female characters? This is a prime example. We learn that the protagonist is a "cool mom" type, a hot MILF in her late 40s who likes to swear, swim nude and uses the term "undies" but we don't learn much about her as a person, beyond a few passing mentions of her career. Likewise, her 12 year old daughter's character is limited to having a crush on a short guy and giving her mom relationship advice. The villain/s are even less developed, with motive being completely unexplored. They're just generically evil.
We get some gruesome elements, sure, a few thrilling moments, but more of the book deals with romantic relationships (with at 3 sex scenes, each more uncomfortablethan the last). Based on the copy, I was kind of expecting a spooky serial killer thriller. What I got was... not that.
I will say, however, that I appreciated the tidy ending, and the twist actually did surprise me, so at least there's that.

The premise and plot of the story were good (a "modern day" version of Little Red Riding hood) , however I just could not engage as I would have liked to in this book. I found myself re-reading sentences, trying to piece together paragraphs to figure out what was happening. I also couldn't understand some of the main character's actions at times (but perhaps, that was what the author was wanting to elicit form the reader?). Overall, 3 stars.

A mother and daughter go to stay in a house on a lake for the summer so the mon can work on her art. The daughter calls the mom by the first name. Weird. The mom starts dating the general store guy even tho she has a boyfriend at home. This is all pretty confusing. And then a mystery of a girl disappearing on a path that leads to the house they are staying at comes up. And the mom starts seeing things that look like a man or a creature. Wasn’t really my cup of tea but well written. I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

Paradox Lake is a modern day story based on Little Red Riding Hood. At the beginning it had my interest and I was really enjoying it but then it became very predictable and I was expecting a twist at the end but there wasn't one, it ended exactly as I thought it would.
I really wanted to love this book but unfortunately I didn't.

Thank you to NetGalley and Oceanview Publishing for my ARC.

This wasn’t as gripping a read as I thought it might be. Thirty years ago, a psychopath went to jail for killing a young girl in Paradox. Now he is out and and back in Paradox, working in the local general store, Imagine his surprise and delight after seeing a young girl walk into the store with her mother. The young girl looks so much like his previous kill, and the mother looks a lot like the other girls mum as well. His heart is set on her as his next victim and he cannot wait to play his game. He has a sick fascination with Little Red Riding Hood, and believes he is the Big Bad Wolf, so begins the Wolf’s stalking and prowling.
Easy to read, flows well, but not what I was expecting from the blurb.

Rose and her 12-year-old daughter Anna are getting away for a few months to Paradox Lake. But it is not a pleasant holiday, it is a nightmare. How come every single time it is so hard to stop the bad guy?
Thanks to Netgalley, the Publisher and the author for this twisted story.
There are a few things that I did not buy: from what is Rose made of?!? Going through so many and still have a sound mind? After this last nightmare she lived, she is thinking to save some paper clips (can't you find another paper?) And then she is thinking of her car, is it important to have it back, at that moment? And then, the bad guy: stabbed here-there, hit, choked and finally blown up.
Even with these flaws, I enjoyed this fast pacing thriller and I will read more from the author.

Great book! I was hooked from the start, thank you so much for providing me a copy of this book to read. This is something I would love to purchase.

I have been tricked again by a synopsis.

"Perfect for fans of Gillian Flynn and Stephen King" - This could not be further from the truth. If I didn't know any better I would have thought that this book was a debut, a less than stellar one at that, but it turns out he has written over 40 books and novellas and has won awards for his work. Color me surprised by this.

This "horror" book was just far too silly for my particular liking. Not to mention how obvious it was that the author is a male trying to write a female and it didn't work for me.

But my BIGGEST issue I had with this book was the dialogue. Cheesy, cheesy, cheesy. I also have never heard people speak like this. For example:

"Sure you got this, Anna?"

"Let's try our luck, Rosie."

"Looks like my instincts were right on, Anna."

"Can't agree more, Tim."

When I have a conversation with someone I don't use their name in every sentence but in this book it happens multiple times on every single page and it became annoying.

Speaking of cheesy. Who in the love of all that is holy calls macaroni and cheese, cheese and macaroni???? No one. That's who. 1 star!

Thank you to NetGalley and Oceanview Publishing for my ARC.

I didn't like it. The plot is so simple. Te typical family (mother and teenager daughter) that go to the Adirondacks in order to get closer. They get a house by Airbnb, and there was years ago a terrible murder...
The final is really predictable, with the "hero" really expected arriving just in time for saving them...

The writing style was so hard to get into and the ARC formatting did nothing help. I wasn’t able to focus on the story or finish it.