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Lake Roland

Tom O’Malley is a pretty normal American high schooler. Readers get the sense that this story starts out in that not-so-long-ago past when the neighborhood boys would gather in the streets or any empty space to toss the football around until the streetlights came on. Tom’s no all-star on the field, but he plays for the fun of it and to spend time with his best friend, Mark. Mark is one year older than Tom, and as the time nears for Mark to graduate, Tom knows things are going to have to change: but he never could have expected the foundation-rocking tragedy that comes during his junior year. Now life for Tom has changed dramatically and he’s left to sort through the emotions that come with not only devastation, but also that added stressor of the unknown. Tom will be grappling with the deluge of feelings well beyond his teen years. 

Lake Roland, self-published by author , is new this May. It’s a coming-of-age story told in first person narration that spans the several decades of protagonist Tom O’Malley’s life. In the foreword, Reese expresses his belief that “professional writers don’t have the corner on the strange stories that occur in life.” That sentiment seems to be carried through the rest of the novel as O’Malley, a banker by trade, comes alive on the page with a voice that feels more like your friendly neighbor than an expert storyteller. Most readers are likely to find some elements of Tom’s experience quite familiar: neighborhood football games, summer jobs and romance that leads to the blending of families. But then again, it’s equally likely that readers will find some portions of Tom’s story not only unfamiliar, but also quite mysterious. 

Readers follow along as Tom moves on from high school and then eventually from college, and establishes his adult life. Lake Roland is a fictional novel, but it reads like a memoir. Tom gives detailed accounts of some key moments that may last an entire chapter and then summarizes spans of several years that seem less significant with only a few quick sentences. As the narrator moves into each new phase of life — summer job, college, marriage, career — readers get the sense that some piece of him is left behind at the scene of his childhood tragedy: Lake Roland. The once-serene body of water that abuts his parent’s property, the place Tom was when he first heard the horrible news, has filled his mind since high school and is forever tainted with dread. 

The book isn’t so much a mystery in the traditional sense. There isn’t a focus on detectives, clues or investigations, but nonetheless Tom’s troubled past hangs over him even as he experiences more present struggles. As an adult, he faces difficult bosses, becoming a parent and advising a friend in deep legal trouble, but the shadow of his youth and that first great loss he felt casts a darker shadow than any of these. The mystery becomes a psychological one: What will it take for Tom O’Malley to make peace with his past? Is it possible at all? To get some closure, he may have to revisit the place where it all began: Lake Roland.


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Buy this Book!

Barnes & Noble Indie Bound
Genre: Book Club Network, Fiction, Mystery, Thrillers
Paige Vigliarolo

Paige Vigliarolo works as a Publishing Assistant at Wolfram Research where she specializes in publishing nonfiction books pertaining to math and computer science research. She graduated from Miami University, where she studied Professional and Creative Writing and Marketing. In her free time, she loves reading fiction with compelling characters, especially YA. She’s originally from Michigan and, though she’s enjoying life on the east coast now, she’ll always be a lake girl at heart. Her other hobbies include coaching and participating in synchronized ice skating.

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