LOST LAKE, an ambitious work by Phillip Margolin, opens with a
prologue set in 1985, a short account of the bloody discovery of a
murdered Congressman. When the story proper begins, a modern-day
Little League game explodes into violence. The identity of one of
the participants threatens to expose a secret military unit that
was headed by Morris Wingate, a former U.S. military general who is
now a candidate for the presidency. Wingate's primary accuser is
his daughter, Vanessa Kohler, a tabloid reporter with a history of
mental illness and a long-simmering grudge against her father.
Kohler's accusations lack substantive proof.

When film of the Little League melee is broadcast over nationwide
television, however, Kohler spots Carl Rice, a man who she claims
worked for her father in the military unit and who she was involved
with as a teenager. But Rice also has a history of mental illness.
Are Kohler and Rice merely delusional? Or have they each placed
themselves in terrible danger as the presidential primary
approaches?

My feelings about this novel are somewhat mixed. Margolin is
incapable of writing badly, and if you apply the John Jacob Smith
test to LOST LAKE --- "what would you think if this was a book by a
new, unknown novelist named John Jacob Smith?" --- then it's not
bad, not bad at all. And it isn't bad, not by any means. It's just
that Margolin has done better before.

In my opinion the narrative is a bit choppy. Some of it is
certainly necessary, given that the salient events in the book scan
some 30 years, but on occasion I felt as if I'd been yanked
off-track by the transitions. The story, however, is quite
compelling, and even with such small warts as LOST LAKE might have,
it is nonetheless a riveting read. I honestly wasn't sure until the
end who was telling the truth and who stood to literally get away
with murder.

While some of Margolin's longtime fans may be disappointed with
this particular effort, it is still strong enough to keep even
casual fans in the fold.