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The second book I have read from this author, each of which I have loved.
“Needle Lake” is surprisingly tender, intensely atmospheric, and utterly compelling — with a main protagonist as heart-tuggingly authentic as an imagined character can possibly be.
Based in a small town north of Seattle, Washington, this story is told in the first-person voice of Ida Robinson, a “gaunt and scrawny” fourteen-year-old girl, born with a hole in her heart, and a psychological makeup that suggests to this reader that she may be on the spectrum. Never quite sure how to function socially, Ida is a wonderful character — deeply vulnerable, quirkily and encyclopedically gifted, and of course, emotionally isolated, she is the brunt of her schoolmates’ malice, as she works desperately to analyze what exactly is expected of her and how on earth to provide it.
“It felt like every thought in my brain was too big to manage.”
All of this adds to the angst and worry of her struggling mother, Anne, who has her hands full keeping them financially afloat as she manages a small general store, supplementing their income by taking in rough-and-tumble loggers as temporary boarders.
When Ida’s cousin, the gorgeous and self-possessed sixteen-year-old Elna comes to stay for a month or so, Ida’s world turns upside down. In awe and intrigued by the confident Elna, who “knew how to get things out of the world”, it’s not long before a flame is lit and a series of explosive events unfurls, the likes of which will have to be read about directly (no spoilers here). Suffice it to say, desperation, terror, and even panic ensue as Ida and Elna must each face up to some horrible truths, with outcomes this reader, for one, never saw coming.
A wonderful read, highly recommended for readers of character-based psychological drama, beautifully rendered, subsumed with both poignancy and the ticking pulse of what will quickly become madly unravelling suspense.
A great big thank you to Netgalley, the author and the publisher for an ARC of this book. All thoughts presented are my own.
