Doom Lake Holiday

by Tom Henighan

A mysterious white horse, a quirky parrot, a haunted house, an ancient curse, something frightening in the attic... A summer holiday turns into a nightmare when the Mallory family rents a shabby cottage in a remote corner of Ontario's Rideau Lakes. Seventeen-year-old Chip Mallory and his sixteen-year-old sister Lee are persuaded to go along on "one last family vacation" with their parents before they get caught up in their own lives again.

But when a great storm comes up, and the family moves to an island in the lake, all their technology can't save them from an encounter with an ancient curse. Chip and Lee are drawn into a complex web of past and present; they struggle to make sense of these ancient mysteries, aided by a visiting anthropologist, a poor backwoods girl, and a beautiful young woman who lives on an island with her reclusive and powerful grandfather.

Genres: Mystery, Young Adult, Canada

240 pages, Paperback

First published January 19, 2009

About the author

Tom Henighan is the author of 17 published books, including Mercury Man, shortlisted for the Red Maple Award; Viking Quest and Viking Terror, two historical novels set in medieval Canada; and more recently, Demon in My View and Doom Lake Holiday. In 2008 he was awarded the Victor Tolgesy Prize for lifetime contribution to the arts in Ottawa, where he lives.

Reviews

[Anne · Rating 2 out of 5]

The awkward moment when the scorned shanty girl would have been a better main character than the upper class visiting school boy.

Honestly, I felt like this story was a waste of good potential. There were a lot of great ideas and a fantastic set up: a family of four, including two teenagers, rent a cottage on a lake for a family vacation. There's only one problem. The owner, who supposedly negotiated renting with Mr. Mallory, had been dead for two years! Immediately there is a great mystery hat draws you in. Who pretended to be the dead woman? For what purpose?

Sadly the payoff isn't nearly as exciting as one would hope. The mystery is solved quite quickly in order to make room for some of the supernatural occurrences. If that is more your thing though, I wouldn't say this book delivers that either. I think there was one, maybe two chapters where paranormal stuff happens, and it is resolved pretty quickly.

Also, some of the decisions made by the adults in this book were just plain old irresponsible. I constantly felt uncomfortable about how the author portrayed character with obvious class differences in this novel, especially with May and how the family handled her situation.

The main character Chip is boring too. He is this random stranger who happens to become the main character out of coincidence. The sad thing is, some of the side characters would have been a stronger main character because they had more history with the location and the "old man," like Lawson or May.

If you are looking for a thrilling, light horror, mysterious and paranormal adventure, this book just isn't it. Unless you are a fan of the author and want to read all his books, I would skip this book and find a different novel he wrote.

[Linda · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a pretty good book but I found it more geared to teenagers. I enjoyed the story line and have to admit it kept me on the edge of my seat. There was even some paranormal involved. I really liked the characters. I would reread this again given the chance.