Stillhouse Lake

Gina Royal is the definition of average—a shy Midwestern housewife with a happy marriage and two adorable children. But when a car accident reveals her husband’s secret life as a serial killer, she must remake herself as Gwen Proctor—the ultimate warrior mom.

With her ex now in prison, Gwen has finally found refuge in a new home on remote Stillhouse Lake. Though still the target of stalkers and Internet trolls who think she had something to do with her husband’s crimes, Gwen dares to think her kids can finally grow up in peace.

But just when she’s starting to feel at ease in her new identity, a body turns up in the lake—and threatening letters start arriving from an all-too-familiar address. Gwen Proctor must keep friends close and enemies at bay to avoid being exposed—or watch her kids fall victim to a killer who takes pleasure in tormenting her. One thing is certain: she’s learned how to fight evil. And she’ll never stop.

• Stillhouse Lake by Rachel Caine
• Series: Stillhouse Lake, Book #1
• Published by: Brilliance Audio on July 1, 2017
• Genre: Thriller, suspense
• Listening length: 10 hours 3 minutes
• Dates listened: 7.19.2025 – 7.23.2025 (5 days)
• Format: Audiobook
• Narrator: Emily Sutton-Smith
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• Purchase on Amazon
• ⭐⭐⭐⭐½

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Y’all, I’m kind of kicking myself right now because of this book. About 8 years ago, I decided to check out the Amazon Kindle Unlimited (KU) service. Like most people, I had a trial for 10 or so days. I quickly browsed through the books available at the time and snagged a few that looked interesting. Back then, it was mostly books from less-known authors. This was one of the books that caught my eye, so it was in my library. Since I didn’t see many books from authors I was interested in, I quickly decided that the service wasn’t for me, so I cancelled, and assumed all those books I borrowed got returned. Jumping ahead to now, KU has definitely gotten some upgrades, and it’s well worth the subscription cost, especially since many of the books also include the audiobook version. Being a single woman in my “reading era”, I decided to resubscribe to KU, and as I was going through my library, I came across this one, still hanging out, just waiting to be read! Why did no one tell me how good this book is?!?!

The plot sounded so intriguing, I was immediately drawn to it. Maybe I can blame that on my other love, which is all things true crime and serial killer related. But it piqued my interest and had me wondering about other serial killers’ wives and families. How do they survive the knowledge of knowing their loved one did such horrible things, and how might a community treat them? I would imagine they would have to have entirely new identities, just like Gina Royal and her children had to do in this book. After having your entire life come crumbling down around you, realizing that you married and procreated with a monster, who do you trust? HOW can you trust anyone?

It makes me ill and sad to realize how little I understood what was right in front of me, right in bed with me, the entire nine years of my marriage. It was my marriage. Not ours. Because it had never been a marriage to Melvin Royal. I’d been a tool, like the saws and hammers and knives in his workshop. I’d been his camouflage.

The book starts off just a bit on the slower side, helping to establish the back stories of the FMC (Gina/Gwen) and her two children. With the aid of an anonymous hacker, only known by Absalom, Gwen and her children have possibly finally found a “home” where they can build a life and stop looking over their shoulders all the time. The kids can finally make friends, even though it isn’t easy. All is well in the household…until a young woman’s body is found floating in the lake that Gwen’s home sits on. When Gwen’s past is finally revealed, the police can’t ignore the similarities between this murder and her ex-husband’s MO. She’s immediately the prime suspect. But this isn’t Gwen’s first time fighting for her innocence, and she’s a much stronger person now than when she was Mel’s wife. She’s prepared to fight. That is…until another body is discovered on the lake, right in front of her house, and a mysterious phone call from her ex lets her know that he’s still hunting her. He’ll always be hunting her. She knows that she will have to have allies, and she decides to trust her neighbor, Sam Cade. But Sam has secrets of his own, and he isn’t in Gwen’s life by accident.

When the police department responds to a false call of “officer down”, Gwen discovers that both of her children are missing, their bedrooms ransacked and bloodied. In a race against time, Gwen and Sam search for the children. Gwen knows that someone has been leaking information about her to the media, and possibly even to her ex-husband. But she doesn’t know who it could be, and she has no idea who she can/can’t trust. In the search for her children, she learns just how deep her husband’s “virus” has spread, and that Absalom hasn’t been helping her at all, but stringing her along, keeping her right where they want her. Right where Mel wants her.

The book ends on a happy-ish note, with the children being safely returned. And just when you think you can finally breathe a sigh of relief, Gwen finds out that her husband has escaped from prison!!! What a great cliffhanger! OMG! I immediately ran to KU to see if book 2 was available, and it was, so I quickly downloaded it and started listening to it. I can’t wait to see how all of this plays out. I was sad to see in my research about the author that she passed away from cancer in 2020. There are a total of 7 books in this series, the last and final one was just released in June. The 6th and 7th books were co-written with her and Carrie Ryan. Glad to see that someone carried on the series, but sad to know that she is no longer with us. Rest in peace Ms. Caine, and thank you for writing such amazing books for us! ❤