OK, gotta admit, this was not the genre I was expecting when I started reading. Upstate New York Gothic is my third favorite type of Gothic (after OG British Gothic and Mexican Gothic), but it took me a minute to realize that this was not that. Lack of girl school on the lake, to start with. So what we are actually looking at is a missing child, actually two of them, story.
The Van Laars are a wealthy banking family who own a large bit of the Adirondack woods. The first Van Laar built a family retreat. The second Van Laar established a summer camp, to teach wood lore and survival skills. And the third generation? Is having difficulty holding on to their kids. Bear, age eight, attends camp but is found missing one day. He is never found. His mother is devastated, and his father less so, but that’s an heir that he really is going to need. They eventually have another child, but it’s a daughter, so the father immediately loses interest. The mother tries, but just can’t let go of the loss of her son. Plus she has plenty problems of her own. This is set in the mid-70s, so Mother’s Little Helper is in full display. Well, the daughter decides to attend camp this year, a surprise decision for a punk girl, and guess what! She disappears too!
But! The Van Leer’s camp is a major source of employment for the locals and several generations of People Who Know Some Things are heavily involved. Many scenarios appear, and eventually all is disclosed. I really love the reveal as to who the titular character actually is. Yeeesss!