Title: Lake Thirteen
Author: Greg Herren
Genre: YA Horror, YA Paranormal Mystery
Age Group: Young Adult
Rating: 4 stars
Purchase: Amazon
Review copy provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

It seemed like a good idea at the time…
Every summer three families take a trip together—this year it’s to a remote resort in the mountains of upstate New York. Scotty, a teenager who’s just come out, is nervous about how his friends will react to him. A late night visit to an old nearby cemetery seems like a great idea to the bored teens, but the old cemetery holds dark secrets hidden for almost a century—secrets that might have been better left undisturbed.
And what originally seemed like a boring week in the mountains gradually becomes a nightmare of terror for the teens and their families…

Lake Thirteen is a ghost story and paranormal mystery that offers fluent writing, interesting characters, and a worthy plot. Three families take a trip together each summer, to a location shown at random. This summer, it’s a remote resort in the mountains of upstate New York, named Lake Thirteen. Scotty,  our main character, is nervous about how the other teenagers will react to him, as he just outed himself as being gay. Unfortunately, their reaction to his sexuality will be the least of his worries when they arrive at Lake Thirteen.

They go on a late-night visit to a local cemetery, which harbors dark secrets better left undisturbed. Eerie things start to happen. First to Scotty, but then to the other teens as well. Scotty is convinced his boyfriend Marc, who he left back home, is involved or connected to the strange happenings at Lake Thirteen.

I love ghost stories, and Lake Thirteen did as it set out to do: it scared me. Not that much, but then again, this is YA horror, and I’m used to reading the genre. But there were some creepy twists and clues I hadn’t seen coming. A great read for fans of YA paranormal mysteries or YA horror.