For such a quick read, I have many thoughts and emotions about this book.
Firstly, I thought that the premise of two naive, 17-year-old teens who decided to have their first date be to canoe on a local lake. Knowing the genre this is in, one immediately thinks, as in any horror film, what are you doing? Nothing good can happen with that premise. However, the story takes a quick turn to the mixture of all of the listed genres, horror, mystery and fantasy. What was omitted from the listing was one of the most prominent themes, romance. As these two are feeling their ways, with the anxiety that was well captured by the author, between these two and their attempt at romance, they discover an area of lake that was not well-known. While exploring this, they discover what appears to be a full-size house under the water. They decide or are compelled to explore this and they spend their summer doing this.
I enjoyed the mixture of genres, the pacing of the story and the possibility of romance between the two protagonists.
I kept getting the underlying theme as possibly being Adam and Eve and the Garden of Eden with its forbidden fruit. I will be curious to see if the author was deliberate in that background theme or that is just where the story went.
Extremely compelling story and well paced read. Highly recommend.
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