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Lindas Book Obsession Reviews “The Boy and the Lake” by Adam Pelzman,Oct. 2020. On Tour With Suzy Approved Book Tours
Adam Pelzman, the author of “The Boy and the Lake” has written an intriguing, suspenseful and captivating novel. The genres for this novel are Historical Fiction, Coming of Age, Suspense and Mystery. The timeline for this story is around 1967, when there are Newark riots. Much of the story takes place around a New Jersey lake, which is in a Jewish community. Mostly family and friends live there part of the year, and some are full time residents. The author describes his characters as quirky, dysfunctional, complex and complicated.
Ben Baum is finishing high school and loves his summers at the lake. One summer is very traumatic, when he discovers the body of a surgeon’s lifeless wife in the lake. At the time the death is ruled accidental, although the woman was an excellent athlete. Ben becomes obsessed with theories of foul play, and is determined to find out what happened to his neighbor.
Ben is close to his father, but his mother has vacillating moods, especially since his sister had passed away. Ben does notice that his mother tends to get more volatile and unstable when she drinks.
I appreciate that the author brings up important topics such as prejudice, alcoholism, ecological and environmental issues, and mental health. The author discusses the importance of family, neighbors, friends, love and hope. I would highly recommend this thought-provoking and memorable story.
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