Kevin Tipple continues to tell people I’m gallivanting all over Ohio instead of reading and working on my blog. This time, he’s right. I attended the family Christmas party on my Mom’s side of the family. When one of my aunts asked, we decided I haven’t been to one in forty years or so. That’s what happens when you live away. Even today, It was over two hours there and two hours back. Worth it, though. I have aunts in their nineties, and none of the rest of us are getting younger either. It was good to see people, and spend an afternoon with them.

So, no, Kevin. I didn’t have time to read and review a book. Instead, you’re up with Bryan Gruley’s Starvation Lake. I still have the “Starvation Lake” tee shirt Bryan gave me years ago when I hosted him at the Velma Teague Library. Picked him up at his hotel, had a great lunch, hosted him at the library, and then took him back for his appearance at The Poisoned Pen. Ah, you bring back memories, Kevin.

Starvation Lake was a finalist for the Edgar Award for Best First Novel the year it came out.

This book came out in 2009 and was my introduction to the fantastic reads by this
author. Starvation Lake is the first read in a powerfully good three book mystery series.
I think Bryan Gruley is one of those authors that can not write a bad book.

The plan was to leave Starvation Lake, Michigan and never come back. But 1998 finds
Augustus Carpenter, known to all as “Gus” back home after his successful newspaper
career exploded on him in Detroit. Both he and the town are still haunted by the goal he
let in close to the end of the state championship game and both have never been the
same.

Now at thirty-four, Gus is backing home, once again working for the local paper, Pilot.
He lives in a small apartment above the storefront news room and across the street
from the local bar where his teammates frequently congregate. The same issues that
faced them as boys are now part of the power struggles and conflict they have as men.

Simmering disagreements are fueled by the fire of the past when parts of a damaged
snowmobile wash up on the shore at the lake. While the snowmobile seems to be the
same one Coach Blackburn was driving years ago before both disappeared through a
hole in the ice, it can’t possibly have made it here since that accident happened miles
away. No body was ever recovered, but the assumption was that Blackburn was dead.
While he probably is dead, the fact that the recovered snowmobile shows evidence of
foul play ignites a local firestorm that finally explodes in a tale of deceit, treachery, and
unspeakable pain.

A debut novel that packs a punch, Starvation Lake, by Bryan Gruley develops slowly
through a variety of emotionally scarred and complex characters. Billed with the totally
unnecessary subtitle, A Mystery, the book operates on several levels with multiple
mysteries and complex multiple storylines featuring heavily flawed characters. To delve
into any of this at any level would seriously impact reader enjoyment by giving away far
too much information.

Suffice it to say, if you are looking for a thriller or a simplistic mystery full of lightweight
characters and violent action, this is not the novel for you. However, if you are looking
for a meaty novel where the characters are very human and occasionally vile, where
there is plenty of back story and long descriptive scenes leading to powerful dialogue

and emotional impact for the characters and readers, along with multiple mysteries, this
is the book for you.

Material provided by the good folks of the Plano, Texas Public Library System.

Kevin R. Tipple © 2009, 2023