THE HOUSE ON SERPENT LAKE by Brenda Hill is a wonderfully creepy novel that any lover of paranormal fiction would like. I give it 3 stars and recommend it for your autumn/Halloween reading list.
Lindsay Petersen and her husband, Eric, have traveled to Crosby, Minnesota to look over a family property Eric inherited. The house, which is on Serpent Lake, is picturesque, but also a tad creepy. Lindsay gets mixed vibes from it; some parts of the house make her feel safe and warm, and others make her feel as if she is being watched.
As she investigates strange happenings in the house, she becomes convinced that the house is haunted by a man who wants her. The strange happenings threaten Lindsay and Eric's marriage, and in the end, the truth ends up being even more bizarre than originally thought.
THE HOUSE ON SERPENT LAKE was eerie and, at times, heart wrenching. The character development is well done, and so the characters' actions and motives are easily believable. I liked the reference to the Loch Ness Monster, and definitely wanted more of the mysterious lake creature.
The romance in the novel is a bit bizarre, and rates about a 3 out of 5 on the heat scale, appropriate for adults over 18 years of age.
The pace of the novel could have been a little quicker in the beginning and a bit slower in the end. It took me a few tries for the novel to catch me and hold my interest. I also would have liked the twist at the end pertaining to Lindsay herself to have been a bit more surprising. I was able to guess almost from the beginning what was going on, even if I couldn't guess how the book would end.
Overall, THE HOUSE ON SERPENT LAKE was a nice read, and I definitely would recommend it to any paranormal fiction lover and also to anyone for the Halloween season reading list.
*Review originally written for The Romance Reviews.com at http://www.theromancereviews.com/viewbooks.php?bookid=10302.
