Product Description

Frannie O’Neill’s life turned upside down when six incredible children flew in on the wind. Rescuing them from the School that created them took all her courage and cunning, but the children captured her heart. Now, the young flock wants to go back to the couple it regards as parents, and Frannie and FBI maverick Kit Brennan are suing for custody. But when the case involves the most extraordinary creatures ever to land on this earth, someone will ensure there is no happy ending.

Only Max, the oldest and most remarkable of the winged children, knows that another, terrifying biological experiment is taking place. Somewhere in America, a brilliant but evil surgeon is secretly researching, performing a cruel travesty of an operation as he scoops the life from people hoping for a better future. But to complete his experiment he needs the ultimate prize – Max herself. And as the children dream of returning to the happy safety of the lake house, where for a few precious months they flew free, danger moves ever closer…

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #25899 in Books
• Published on: 2004-05-24
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 416 pages

Crime Bookseller
‘Compulsive stuff' Crime Bookseller 11/4/03

Review
‘Compulsive stuff’ Crime Bookseller 11/4/03 (Crime Bookseller )

About the Author
James Patterson is one of the best-known and biggest-selling writers of all time. He is the author of some of the most popular series of the past decade: the Women's Murder Club, the Alex Cross novels and Maximum Ride, and he has written many other number one bestsellers including romance novels and stand-alone thrillers. He has won an Edgar Award, the mystery world's highest honour. He lives in Florida with his wife and son.

Customer Reviews

If you liked When the Wind Blows you'll like this (probably)
Before I really begin, let me just highlight something: When the Wind Blows was first published in 1998. This book, its sequel, in 2003. In the intervening years, James Patterson has published 11 (yes, that's right, 11) books. Occasionally this shows, as with here.

As I say, this is a sequel to When the Wind Blows, which must of course be read first, in which veterinarian Frannie O'Neill and FBI agent Kit Brennan rescued six amazing winged (yes, winged) children from a horrendous human testing laboratory dubbed "The School" and exposed its activities to the world. The Lake House begins shortly after those events, and, at first, everything appears fine. The devastating genetic experiments have ceased, the inhuman tortures stopped. Or so everyone thinks. But, unbeknownst to everyone, there is another project currently underway, known as Resurrection, run by a Dr Ethan Kane (which, I'm sorry, but I think is a tremendous name for a villain). But Max, the eldest of the children, has learnt of the project's existence, and that puts her and those around her in mortal danger. Through her immense fear for herself and her friends, she says nothing, keeps it a secret.

But, Kane knows that she knows. And because of that, she cannot be allowed to remain free. So the vicious hunt to bring the children back to captivity begins anew.

If you hated When the Wind Blows, you will hate this. Loathe it, even. No doubt about it. Because it's really just more of the same. If you thought it was ludicrous, silly, childish, pointless, then The Lake House ain't gunna change your mind one bit. However, if you enjoyed the prequel (as I did, but only as an entertaining piece of hokum) then there's a definite chance you may like this too. It's fun, it's enjoyable for the most part, the pages fly by as usual and you finish it very quickly (although, I have come to realise that this means most of his books are very forgettable because of this pace. Indeed, I can hardly remember a single detail of The Jester, which I read but a few months ago.) Mainly, I liked the experience, it's imaginative, amusing, and entirely innocuous.

However, it has big flaws. Thin characters, needless emotional garbage that doesn't fit and would make even Danielle Steele cringe (he should save this lovey stuff for his occasional romance novels) and, finally, a conclusion that leaves the reader unsatisfied and with a sense of anti-climax. Everything just seems to fade away. Things aren't actually explained. Certainly, almost nothing is: Project Resurrection, how it works, what it's really for, and many other things. I still have big questions I want answered.

So, really, although I enjoyed it myself, I can't really recommend it, except to anyone who liked When the Wind Blows, or anyone who is just incredibly liberal with their choice of reading matter and is open to anything. This is a James Patterson novel, so of course it will soar from the shelves, but I sense that there are going to be some disappointed fans out there.

A Disappointing Let Down
I've followed James Patterson for a long time. I loved his Alex Cross books and 'When The Wind Blows' is still in my top three books of all time. But recently his writing hasn't been what it used to be. I was ecstatic when I found out this sequel to 'When The Wind Blows' would be coming out. And I was very disappointed. The storyline was very close to ludicrous and the writing was very poor. The characters I had loved in the previous book seemed pale and 2D and their speech was not at all realistic, a problem I think Patterson is having more and more as he continues to churn out his books that now come complete with TV adverts, as if that will substitute the drama that used to be found within his pages.

I can only recommend this book to die-hard Patterson fans and then apologise to them, because this is nowhere near one of his best. For others, I'd recommend Patterson's earlier works e.g. 'Along Came A Spider', 'Kiss The Girls' and or course, 'When The Wind Blows' and 'Cradle And All'. Or even the Keanu Reeves/Sandra Bullock film 'The Lake House'. Which tells you exactly how bad this books is.

1 star and that being generous
I started reading Maximum Ride: 1 - 3. (Yes I know they're kids' books but they're cleverly written and completely captivating.) So I thought I'd try `The Lake House'

I found it to be a complete mishmash: sometimes racing headlong through passages then dawdling through other parts. Perhaps it wouldn't have felt that way if I had read 'When the Wind Blows' but I doubt it. It wasn't only the impression of starting in the middle of a book that put me off, this story didn't show any of Patterson's usual flair and spark. And the characters didn't seem well thought out at all.

`The Lake House' did not get me on my tip-toes let alone soaring into the clouds.