SOLVED. 80s YA--guy finds skeleton in woods with stake through its heart. [s]

[John]

This is (I think) a YA vampire story from the 80s. A guy and his friend are at a lake and find a skeleton in the woods with a stake through its heart. One of them removes the stake, and they leave... then a mysterious woman shows up, and becomes involved with the main character--but in reality, she's a vampire (it was her skeleton in the woods, and by removing the stake they freed her), and she's not out for romance, she's out for blood. I think there were disappearances and/or deaths leading up to the climax, but I can't remember clearly.

[Tab]

Do you remember the cover?
Part of a series?
Time period /location story takes place?
How far into the story does the reader find out that the woman is a vampire?

[Kris]

Nightmare Lake by Carl Laymon? One Goodreads reviewer says, " The book starts with a couple of kids [Burt and his sister] who find a skeleton with a stake through its ribs while on a camping trip. They remove said stake which brings a vampire back to life..."

[John]

Tab wrote: "Do you remember the cover?
Part of a series?
Time period /location story takes place?
How far into the story does the reader find out that the woman is a vampire?"

I can't remember the cover at all, nor whether it was part of a series or not (I certainly didn't read it as part of a series). The fact that the woman is a vampire isn't revealed until almost the very end, where she is in a boat with the main character, and is sort of hypnotizing him so she can either kill him or make him a vampire as well.

[John]

Kris wrote: "Nightmare Lake by Carl Laymon? One Goodreads reviewer says, " The book starts with a couple of kids [Burt and his sister] who find a skeleton with a stake through its..."

That might be it... I'll have to search the title to get some more plot details so I can know for sure.

[John]

Yep, that's the one! Thanks everyone for all your help! I have so many books from my childhood that I want to find again.

Now, how do I update this so that it's solved?

[Kris]

Great! Glad we could help.

I marked your request as Solved by clicking the "edit" link beside the topic header. This can only be done on the desktop (not mobile) version of the website.

[John]

Kris wrote: "Great! Glad we could help.

I marked your request as Solved by clicking the "edit" link beside the topic header. This can only be done on the desktop (not mobile) version of the website."

Hey, thanks very much!!