The Lake House

After reading 'Where the Wind Blows'. I was happy to have snagged this book from my local Little Free Library. It is definitely one of Patterson's better works (that I have read) and I can't for the life of me understand why Patterson abandoned the original version of Max/the other bird children for the crappy reboot Maximum Ride. Wind Blows/Lake House is leagues ahead in storytelling than the Maximum Ride series, and Lake House left an ending with plenty of unanswered questions that could have led into a third book for the original bird children series. When I read 'Where the Wind Blows' (having read the first Maximum Ride book) I was stunned at how poor Maximum Ride was compared to Wind Blows, and even more so after reading Lake show more House, Patterson is a meh author but Wind Blows/Lake House was actually a decent series. show less

This book felt like James Patterson didn't quite know where he was going with the story. There were choppy parts that left me wondering what just happened. Kane was a boring antagonist, even though he was supposed to be a mad scientist character. It seemed like he couldn't decide if he wanted his main characters to be children or young adults. And the ending was a major let down. Not my favorite by Patterson.

James Patterson’s book, The Lake House, was rather a surprise since I expected a gripping murder mystery and got a science fiction story about children with wings that could fly. Nevertheless, Patterson grabbed my attention early in the story, and by keeping the chapters short for easy reading and filling the pages with action-packed happenings and/or dialogue, he kept the story moving. While I am not a science fiction fan, the story was interesting enough to keep me reading. The resolution to the plot was a bit downsized—an entire hospital and many workers were involved, yet, they weren’t mentioned in the resolution—only the man responsible.
If you read this book you will be rewarded with a happy ending for the characters.

I loved this book, it had all my favourite things in a book, Cornwall, mystery, a dash of romance. I kept thinking I had it figured out and then another twist would throw me off. The final surprise disappointed me though - just a little too convenient.

The sequal to When the Wind Blows, and it starts off with a bang. Frannie and Kit are waiting to find out if they will received custody of the extraordinary children, but while they’re trying to move on with their lives past heartache, someone else is creating a place much worse than the school - The Hospital.

It was a great conclusion to the adventure, even up until the very last page of the book, where you are unsure what is really going to happen.

I’m interested to see where the Maximum Ride series comes in and how they take off from end of this story. Unless, it’s about the kids adventures before they meet Frannie and Kit.

Overall, a very good book, doesn’t necessarily need to accompanied with When the Wind Blows.

In Colorodo, six unusual children named Max, Ozymandias (Oz), Icarus, Matthew, Peter, and Wendy are in trial. It’s not them that are fighting, but Frannie and Kit, their “parents” versus their actual parents. You see, these children are genetically mutated superhumans that are part human, part bird. Their mothers were unknowingly part of a secret experiment and at last they have found their parents, but the kids don’t want them. Before the trial, the children were found by Frannie and Kit, and like real birds, they imprinted on them. Frannie and Kit did all they could to gain custody, but failed. Now all eight of their dreams of living at the Lake House, the one place where it’s truly safe, is crushed.

Time has passed and the show more kids are separated and try to live life normally, but that’s not easy when they have wings with IQ and strength that’s off the charts, and having the Press constantly trying to film them. But that’s not the worst part.

Dr. Ethan Kane is the surgeon of Liberty General Hospital and the mastermind of the Resurrection. His plan is to save the world forever while destroying it. In this Hospital, people die for his cause, and there is nothing that can stop him, except for Max and her Flock. He doesn’t want to kill her, because she’s worth millions, and pretty soon the special place called the Lake House may not be so good anymore.

I’ve wanted to read this book because it inspired the Maximum Ride books. I thought they’ll be very similar, but it’s not at all. In the MR books, the characters goof off half the time, but in here, it’s all serious, all the time. Also the MR books are kind of scientific with the characteristics of the bird-humans, but this one is a lot more scientific with way more “realistic” physical and mental bird DNA. What I like is that all of them, especially the oldest Max and Oz, have very high levels of bird instincts.

In short, this book is better than all of the MR books combined. It would be five stars, but the book just ended. I kind of wanted more, and there were some unanswered questions I would love to know, but all in all, very good.

Rating: Four and a Half Stars **** ½ show less

The story begins with “When the Wind Blows”.

Frannie O’Neill is a veterinarian in a small Colorado town, working tirelessly at her job in a bid to numb the pain and confusion over her husband’s unsolved murder not very long ago. While driving home late one night, she makes an incredible discovery in the form of a young girl, fleeing from her. The girl had wings.

Kit Harrison, an FBI agent who earned the nickname “Mulder” for being as eccentric as the character in the TV series, turns up as Frannie’s new tenant. He is supposed to be on a holiday, following a personal tragedy, but is simply unable to let his current case go. His investigations brought him into town and to Frannie because there is a possibility she was show more involved.

Sparks fly between Frannie and Kit. She tells him what she saw in the forest, and they go searching for the girl. They find her and her horrifying world unfolds for them.

Max is the product of a secret experiment at what she refers to as the School. She and the other bird children – alpha male Ozy, blind Icarus, Max’s brother Matthew and twins Wendy and Peter - were specially “designed”. They have IQs that go off the charts. They are mature for their age, possibly aging like birds rather than like humans.

Max and Matthew escaped at the first opportunity and became separated. The School wants them back before anyone sees them.

As the hunters close in on her and her newfound friends, Max finds herself drawn back to the School in search of Matthew and the others.

Not too surprisingly, Max is a part of the case that brought Kit there in the first place, the reason why his superiors wanted so badly for him to let the whole thing go.

“When the Wind Blows” captures the imagination because there are many of us out there who wish we could fly. Like Jurassic Park, the events described here are in the realm of biological possibility and this is a book published in 1998.

The adventure continues with the 2003 sequel - “The Lake House”.

The children are now living with their biological parents, but there is no happily ever after. Their parents don’t understand them, but sell interviews and endorsements. Their schoolmates pick on them for being different. The rest of the world is just trying to adjust to the fact that the “freaks” exist.

They want to return to Frannie and Kit, whom they consider their parents. Frannie and Kit sue for custody, but the odds are firmly stacked against them. The devastation is too much for the vet and the FBI agent. They part ways, returning to their individual lives and drowning their sorrow in work.

But Max, who was put to work in the School, knew that there is another horrible medical experiment taking place in a lab somewhere in America. When hunters come for her one night, she and Matt flees the house. They collect the other four and together, they return to Frannie. She calls Kit.

With the very unusual family reunited, the only thing left to do now is to coax Max into telling them what she knows. Her years at the School conditioned her into not revealing any secrets. But with her astronomical IQ, a photographic memory and biological make-up, she is both an asset and a danger to the evil unfolding at the Hospital.

Patterson is fond of short, abrupt sentences, which works to the narrative’s advantage most of the time, especially in his fast-paced Alex Cross series. However, I found phrases like “The flock! The tribe! The family!” a bit irritating this time around. The only thing missing from that sentence is a “Yay!”

There is a successful Young Adult spin-off called “Maximum Ride: The Angel Experiment” based on a slightly older Max. I’m waiting for it to come out in mass paperback.

In general, Patterson is a quick read because his short, tight chapters and masterful hooks just keep you hurrying along to see what happens next. He is not just incredibly prolific; he is extremely versatile as well, although it shows better in books like “Suzanne’s Diary for Nicholas”, where he writes from the perspective of a woman better than most woman authors do. Yes, I’m a big fan.

(2006) show less