Coming Soon From Ed Lynskey

To start off, Ed Lynskey is an American author who writes crime fiction. I have read one of his previous books Blue Cheer. When I was asked if I wanted the opportunity to read an early release of his book Lake Charles, I said, "Sure!" This book is scheduled to be released in June of this year.

Let me start off by saying this is not a part of the series of the previous book I read - it seems to be a standalone book. There are several characters in this book but the main character is Brendon. In fact the story is pretty much told from his point of view. Just some information about him, he appears to be a young adult recently getting out of high school and he has a twin sister - Edna. He has been raised by his mother - his father left when he was still a toddler. Occasionally, he gets a postcard sent to him from his father in Alaska but it does not say anything. Brendon has a job working at a press - one of only a few of the businesses in this area of Tennessee. He has thoughts of going to Alaska, meeting his dad, and probably going to work in the lumber business with his father.

A couple of things however happen in Brendon's life that puts a grasp on his life. He likes to drink and take drugs. One weekend he gets hooked up with a girl and some of her friends. They go to a concert and do drugs. Afterwards, he goes to a motel with the girl. They continue with the drugs and have some sex before they fall asleep. When he wakes, he discovers the girl has died so he calls the police. He tries to cover up the evidence of the drugs they had been doing but more evidence appears and he gets hauled in for questioning about the murder of the girl. She apparently died from an overdose on PCP which was NOT the drug they were doing. (Oh by the way, the girl is the daughter of a well known lawyer who has political ambitions.)

He is set to be charged with murder and will be going on trial. His mother gets him a lawyer he does not like who gets him out on bail. (This is not the same lawyer who is the father of the dead girl.) Since he got out on bail, he has been having these "dreams" and conversations with the dead girl. He is trying to quit drugs and one of the questions is whether he is having these "dreams" because of the drugs. (Or is this an inherited trait? You will have to read for yourself to see if this is a possibility.)

And if it is gonna "rain", it usually pours!!! Brendon takes a trip with his twin sister and his friend Cobb to the lake - Lake Charles. He and his buddy plan to fish, while his sister plans to ride her jet ski. While there, his sister disappears and they start looking for her. A lot happens - they get shot at, they discover drugs are being grown in the area around the lake, and Brendons' friend Cobb gets killed.

The questions mount up. Is his sister Edna still alive? Why was Cobb killed and who is responsible? How does the dead girl fit into this?

I am not going to tell any more of the story - if you are interested, you need to read it for yourself. I will say I had to read it twice for myself because I wanted to make sure I understood it. Brendon was a hard character to get to understand. Whether it was because of the drug problem he had or whether it was a cultural thing, I am not entirely sure. Of course I think probably some of it 1s also related to the area where it occurred at in the Tennessee mountains. I would be interested in knowing what others think about the book.