Starvation Lake: A Mystery

by Bryan Gruley

Book Overview

Finalist for the Edgar Award for Best First Novel, Harlan Coben meets early Dennis Lehane in this "smashing debut thriller" (Chicago Tribune), set in a small northern Michigan town by a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist.

In the dead of a Michigan winter, pieces of a snowmobile wash up near the crumbling, small town of Starvation Lake--the same snowmobile that went down with Starvation's legendary hockey coach years earlier. But...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1416563628
• ISBN13: 9781416563624
• Release Date: March 2009
• Publisher: Gallery Books
• Length: 384 Pages
• Weight: 0.83 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 5.5" x 8.5"

Customer Reviews

I tried to like it

Great book if you are a hockey fan but as an old, uninterested person this book has far too much talk of ice hockey. Sorry I bought several of his books before I knew that. They'll all go to GoodWill unread.

Will Keep You on the Edge of Your Seat

Skimming, a dangerous sport you only participate in when you're drunk. The object, speed across a wet spot in a frozen lake. You gotta be going very fast and that spot's gotta not be two soft or else you're toast. Frozen toast, because the ice breaks and you go under. One night Coach Blackburn, the man who'd taken the local hockey team almost to the top and would have had not goalie Gus Carpenter blown it, supposedly blew it himself, skimming on Lake Starvation. He never came back and everybody assumed he'd gone under the ice. Gus, who left town after his poor performance in that hockey game, went onto Detroit, got a job with a major newspaper, got a big story, had visions of a Pulitzer, but the powers that be wanted him to give up his source to prove his story. Ever the good reporter, Gus did not and now hes back in hometown Starvation Lake. And then an interesting thing happens, Coach Blackburn's snowmobile surfaces in Walleye Lake. Whoops wrong Lake. How'd that happen. And it's got a bullet hole in it. Looks a bit like murder now and now Gus has a story he can sink his teeth into. But he doesn't know the half of it, because there is so much more that went on and is going on in this small town than murder. Shameful things that have bred shameful secrets. This is a tightly written mystery that will keep you on the edge of your seat as Gus investigates the coaches mysterious demise and what he finds out will shock the good citizens of this town, will shock you as well. These characters are well written human beings, some with flaws, some move evil that you could ever imagine, some perverted, some pretty good. I can't recommend this book highly enough.

Wonderful Debut Novel by Bryan Gruley

When Starvation Lake's legendary hockey coach, Jack Blackburn, disappeared into the lake while riding his snowmobile, the town mourned their hero. Ten years later pieces of his snowmobile washed up on shore in another lake five miles away. Gus Carpenter was a star goalie on the coach's junior hockey team, but left town in shame after blowing the final play during the state championship game. Years later, now an investigative reporter, Gus returns to Starvation Lake after a scandal at a Detroit newspaper. As the town reels from the recent findings, Gus uses his investigative skills to uncover the truth about the recently revealed murder of his former coach. Stepping on an increasing number of toes, Gus finds himself battling known and unknown enemies who are out to stop the truth about the disappearance of the coach. Bryan Gruley has written a fascinating story of a small insignificant town that rose to prominence on the coattails of their beloved coach, only to fall again upon his death. Starvation Lake is a violent story of betrayal, loss of innocence, and death. Gruley uses his skills as a journalist to bring his vivid characters to life in this atmospheric novel. His frequent use of flashbacks to former hockey games may irk some people, but the scenes provide important information into the motives and behavior of the townspeople and players. Starvation Lake is a must read for anyone who enjoys a good mystery. One can only hope Gruley will continue to provide readers with more of his compelling stories.

Terrific mystery debut

Bryan Gruly has written an outstanding first mystery. Set in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan in a Lake resort town, it is atmospheric with a great set of small town characters who are not all as they appear. Gus is a hockey playing journalist who got away to Detroit but who comes home after some trouble there.When a snowmobile is recovered from from the lake, it is discovered that it is the one that his hockey coach drowned in some years before.The mystery is how did he drown in one lake and is recovered in another.As Gus digs deeper into the mystery more and more people warn him off. The ending is really a surprise after many twists and turns. The writing is so good you can almost taste the "egg pie" from Audry's diner.I hope this will not be his last book.

I LOVED this book!!!!!!

This book is a terrific mystery. It's hard to believe that with all the mystery writers out there, someone could come up with twists that would make a book stand out. This one does. I was stunned at how much I enjoyed this book. Besides the story being great, this guy can clearly write. There is a lot of depth and color to the characters; I laughed at several of the dialogues. My highest reccomendation to mystery fans.

Cleverly plotted rural mystery.....

This book was a seriously enjoyable read. Cleverly plotted and told in stunning hockey flashback with well rounded and entertaining characters, Gruley sets the stage for what I hope is a very long series. Gus is a small town journalist back from the big city. His hockey coach died in a skimming (riding snowmobiles over not quite frozen lake) accident ten years before on one lake and his snowmobile turns up on a different lake with a bullet hole in the hood. Is it the lake tunnels? Was coach's death not an accident? Gus sets out to find out and uncovers far more in a little town where everyone knows something and few people are saying anything. I found the tone of this first novel from an award winning journalist to be very relaxed - I hate to compare to other authors but almost Crais-like in the narrative. The small town is alive - anyone could picture it - and the characters are well drawn and fleshed out so if this series does continue as seems to be the plan from an interview with Gruley, we're off to a good start. The plotlines are unpredictable but logical and I found, while reading, myself pulled into this book further and further to the point where it was just really hard not to wonder while doing other things what would happen next. The ending was clever and just wonderfully laid out. If you buy one book from a new author this year, this one is well worth the cost of admission.