Hole in the Water

by Robert Kearney

Book Overview

In a novel pulsating with the breathtaking suspense of a thriller and the psychological intensity of our worst nightmares, a woman must decide how far she will go to protect the man she loves in the... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Mass Market Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 044900175X
• ISBN13: 9780449001752
• Release Date: June 1998
• Publisher: Fawcett Books
• Length: 259 Pages
• Weight: 0.34 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 4.2" x 6.9"

Customer Reviews

"SIMPLE PLAN" FOR DUMMIES

Back in the early nineties, Scott Smith wrote the definitive "what one act can lead to" novel, "A Simple Plan." That was a brilliant book and few have been able to come anywhere near it's domino effect crime. However, Kearney tries mightily hard in this thriller, which all occurs in one long day. Chuck Hausmann and his new wife, Gretchen, and step-daughter, Kara, return to an isolated island in the middle of Lake Superior, to attend the reading of his father's will. We soon learn Chuck is hated by pretty much everyone in the little village. We also learn Chuck had been married before and his first wife died under mysterious circumstances; Chuck feigned insanity to keep out of the draft. From the get-go, we know Gretchen and Kara are in for some dark, disturbing moments. The island is populated with stereotypical characters, but still they're interesting antagonists. We do wonder "Is Chuck really the insane killer" the town makes him out to be; was Mary's death really an accident; did the old man really extort money from his church-going parishioners; and is Chuck telling the truth about anything?The novel spins towards it's unusual climax, and many people suffer because of one lie, one betrayal. Sharp and enthralling, this is no "Simple Plan" but is a fine psychological thriller, with an unexpected ending.RECOMMENDED.

Terrific Vacation Reading!

This is a suspense novel with little whiffs of Hitchcock and Anatomy of a Murder. It kept me up all night last summer, while the loons by the lake outside outside a-hoo-ha'ed. Good stuff!

Danger and death awaits a woman on an isolated island

Gretchen did not think she had to know about the details from Chuck's past when she dated him or even when they married, since it is the man he is today that matters. She appreciates and likes his concern and protectiveness for her and her sixteen year old daughter Kara and is not all concerned he was a hell raiser in his youth. When the three of them go to Madeline Island off Lake Superior for the reading of the will of Chuck's estranged father, Gretchen wanders if a little foreknowledge might have given her some warning about what awaited them on that isolated area. It is a shock to learn that Chuck escaped the draft by going to Vietnam on a mental disability, that he, in fact, was institutionalized for some months. It is even more unnerving to learn that he was once married and that wife died in a mysterious drowning accident, one that the townsfolk still believe Chuck caused. The more time they spend on the island, the more Chuck changes and though Gretchen tries to believe Chuck's explanation for his odd behavior and illegal activities, there comes a point where she becomes afraid for her and Kara's lives. She makes the decision to cut and run when one final revelation makes her believe that Chuck is capable of anything including murder. This decision throws them into a life and death situation with no place to hide. The inhabitants of the island will remind readers of "The Children of the Corn" all grown up and unfathomable. However it is the anti-hero Chuck, who will mesmerize the audience as he constantly makes the world doubt him and themselves. Robert Kearney has written a spine tingling work of psychological suspense and terror, made all the more frightening because the story line is locked into an all too real world not a make believe imaginary scenario that could never possibly happen. HOLE IN THE WATER makes our worst nightmares feel like children's dreams. For that reason alone, this is one book worth buying at any price. Harriet Klausner -