Hemlock Lake [Large Print]

by Carolyn J. Rose

Book Overview

For generations only a few families held title to land in the isolated Catskill Mountain community of Hemlock Lake. But with the turning of the century one man, lured by easy money, sells his... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Large Print: Yes
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1594148848
• ISBN13: 9781594148842
• Release Date: July 2010
• Publisher: Five Star (ME)
• Length: 313 Pages
• Weight: 1.30 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 5.9" x 8.6"

Customer Reviews

Thanks for the lost sleep

Carolyn Rose's "Hemlock Lake" lured me in right away with its swift-moving plot. The characters were sharp, the stakes high, the setting vivid and the suspense solidly there. I lost a lot of sleep the night before finishing this book, because I had to find out whodunit. I look forward to more from this author.

strong regional police procedural

In the Catskill Mountains is isolated Hemlock Lake. The locals keep developers out, but recently a long time resident took the money. Now a developer and the natives are at war with vandalism occurring. Sheriff North sends Police Sergeant Dan Stone to Hemlock Lake to investigate the crimes as he is from the area and has a better chance of obtaining information from the closed-mouth natives. He has doubts as he has been away since the tragedy of his wife Susanna drowning, his brother Nat committing suicide and his father mentally collapsing from the tragedies. As the vandal turns to arson and murder, Stone is pulled between the past and the future as he begins to believe someone he has known for years is behind the deadly felonies. Aptly titled Hemlock Lake is a strong regional police procedural. Because he was away, Stone is considered a traitorous outsider by the locals. He does not disagree as he never wanted to come home but his wife persuaded him that his family needed them; after she died he never wanted to come home, but his boss persuaded him that the department needed him. Duty bound but filled with guilt, Dan increasingly believes he will bring in a friend once he solves the case. Though his flashbacks become intrusive and repetitive with too much detail, Carolyn J. Rose provides an entertaining character driven thriller. Harriet Klausner

Hemlock Lake is a fun read

Hemlock Lake is a fun, thought provoking, page turner of a psychological thriller. I started to read it for technique and got so seduced by the story that I found myself at 2:00 am looking for the power adapter for the Kindle so I could finish it. I was expecting something like the fun cozy mysteries Carolyn J. Rose writes with Mike Nettleton (e.g. The Big Grabowski) but this sole authored story felt more like mainstream mystery fiction with very strong characters, themes of love and loss, and a plot with more twists than an angry rattle snake. This is definitely more serious fare than my usual summer reading, but every bit as entertaining. I think that people are going to be raving about this one for quite a while!

ashokan

Nancy Peterson Farina -- I grew up in the Catskills, so the setting of Hemlock Lake had an instant appeal for me. Shokan is my hometown, right next to the still existing town of Ashokan. Both towns are small in population, but large in geographical size. Originally, the town of Shokan sprawled in a gorgeous valley in the Town of Olive, Ulster County. Lush farms and tall stands of spruce and (yes!) hemlock thrived in this land of the Esopus Creek. In the first half of the Twentieth Century, New York City's ever-growing and always-thirsty population demanded more water. City agents using society's need against the individual's right to own property, mapped out plans to flood this magnificent area to form the Ashokan Reservoir and subsequently pipe the clean mountain water into the parched mouths of millions of city-dwellers. Some residents gladly sold off their piece of Americana, but others futilely resisted the City's agents. Controversy bubbled and erupted, but eminent domain prevailed. Long-time farmers and homeowners were forced to leave their houses, farms, churches, orchards, and cemeteries, making way for the water that would feed the thirst of millions. After the flooding, the current towns of Shokan, Ashokan, and West Shokan stud the shores of the reservoir, fractured from their former self. In Hemlock Lake, the theme of modern development forcing change on an existing community is a replica of the story of the Ashokan Reservoir. Change will happen. "Progress" will be made. Hemlock Lake replicates the story of Shokan. Small wonder that Carolyn Rose chose "Ashokan County" as the setting of her mystery. She brings the area to life, establishing the setting as a primary character in her story. Change will happen to Ashokan County and change will happen to her characters. Working with the change ensures success and happiness, for the geography and for the characters. I moved away from Shokan 45 years ago. While reading Hemlock Lake, I found myself transported back to the land of my childhood. Rose created the land I loved in her words, forever on the pages of this novel. Change happens, yes, but the magic of writing can preserve what we love. Thanks, Carolyn, for taking me down those mountain trails and into the verdant forests of the Catskills.

A serious mystery of love and redemption

There are fiction genres that challenge me as a writer. Romance, YA, and mystery are really troublesome. For the first two, I believe it is indispensable that the author put himself in the mind frame of the reader. The first readers have graduated from fairy tales like "Cinderella" to more adult fantasies about lust and love. While those elements can be found in other genres, they are the quintessential elements of the romance genre. The second readers, often young and impatient in this computer game world of instant gratification, are looking for adventure and some magic (and perhaps lust and love) at a level they can relate to, not too profound and highly entertaining. So far I have written thrillers set in the future--sci-fi or techno-thrillers, if you will. The difference between a thriller and a mystery is easy: In a thriller you know who did it, is doing it, or will do it, and most of the time what "it" is (or you think you know all this--authors are prone to throw in some "twists" in their plots). In the mystery you have no idea who did it, or is doing it, or will do it--the author dribbles out the clues along the way and the reader gets his kicks by sleuthing out the guilty party or parties. The thriller tends to have more action; the mystery tends to be more cerebral. I can't write mysteries. Or maybe I should say I haven't tried yet. It's a very competitive genre (what genre isn't?) and I'm too much in a hurry to get the reader on my bandwagon so he can enjoy the thrills of the ride as the story unfolds. It's also possible that the sci-fi addict in me gets in the way, but Asimov could write mysteries, even sci-fi mysteries (The Naked Sun was probably the best). So I enjoy a good mystery and admire the craftsmanship. Arthur Conan Doyle and Agatha Christie were masters in their time, while P. D. James is the current star (the movie made from her The Children of Men was much better than the novella, though, which shows that others have problems mixing sci-fi and mystery--Asimov may be the exception). Rose's new novel is a mystery novel. It has all the elements. It is written in the first person, which makes it easy for the author to dribble out the clues, since the reader discovers them along with the person doing the story telling (in this case, the main character). Although my first guess at who the culprit is turned out to be correct (and I didn't cheat--I do my New York Times crossword puzzle the day it comes out), there is no dearth of suspects as we read along. The number of suspects is surprising. We are talking about a small community of people living around Hemlock Lake in the Catskill Mountains. We are in Ashokan County. While Rose tells us up front that this is fiction and no such place exists, the theme song of Ken Burns' Civil War series was called "Ashokan Farewell" (it's a beautiful yet simple song in the key of D Major that even I can play on the piano). It turns out that Ashokan was the name of