The Lake House Children by Gregg Dunnett

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⭐ Book Review: The Lake House Children by Gregg Dunnett

👉 Grab your copy of The Lake House Children on Amazon (affiliate link)

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⚠️ Trigger Warnings

This book touches on some heavy stuff, so heads up if these are sensitive for you:

• Child death (drowning)

• Fire / arson

• Infidelity

• Suicide / assisted suicide

• Gaslighting / manipulation

• Family conflict (seriously, these people should not be left unsupervised around a lake… or matches 🔥)

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📖 Quick Take

Wow. I honestly wasn’t expecting much because Gregg Dunnett isn’t a “big name” like some of the authors I usually binge. But you know what? This was GOOD. It’s the perfect cocktail of mystery + paranormal + thriller + detective drama, shaken not stirred. 🍸

I’m usually skeptical about paranormal elements in thrillers because sometimes it feels like a lazy way out, but here? It totally works because everything is told through Kate’s lens, and she is NOT the most reliable narrator. It leaves you questioning whether her little boy Jack really is the reincarnation of his cousin Zack… or if Kate is just too deep in grief and family drama.

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🚨 Spoiler Warning 🚨

I’m diving headfirst into the entire plot, including the ending. If you don’t want spoilers, scroll down to my final thoughts + recommendations.

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📝 Full Plot Summary of The Lake House Children (with Spoilers)

The book begins with Detective Jim McGee investigating a suspicious fire that killed four people at a fancy lake house. The person he’s interviewing? Kate Marshall—and oh boy, she has stories.

The Dysfunctional Family Retreat

Kate and her sisters (Amber and Bea) gather at their father’s lake house to meet Dad’s new girlfriend, Susan (aka Camilla Evans—surprise! She’s actually part of an assisted suicide group). Dad soon reveals he has a terminal illness and decides to “peace out” with a morphine overdose. The family is horrified.

From there, everything spirals into chaos:

• Amber wants to renovate the lake house (totally not suspicious that she suddenly has “extra” money after her son’s assault charges vanish with the help of shady lawyer magic).

• Bea is grieving her drowned son, Zack, who tragically died in the lake.

• Kate’s son, Jack, starts saying super creepy stuff like “I used to be big” and hating baths. 😳

Jack = Zack?!

Kate becomes convinced her son Jack is the reincarnation of Bea’s dead son Zack. Jack recalls details he shouldn’t know (Zack’s toys, birthday cakes, even the drowning itself). Enter Dr. Wells, a reincarnation researcher, who interviews Jack and gets him to say that Aaron (Amber’s son) held him underwater until he drowned. 😱

Naturally, the family erupts. Amber defends Aaron, but then Aaron’s twin sister Eva confesses it’s true—he drowned Zack and their mom Amber forced her to cover it up. Oh, and while we’re dropping truth bombs: turns out Neil (Kate’s husband) was cheating on her with Amber. Yikes.

The Fire 🔥

During the lake house memorial party for Zack, family tensions boil over. That night, the house is set on fire. Four people die: Amber, Aaron, Eva, and Neil. Everyone else survives, but the detectives know the fire was deliberate.

Was it Aaron (since he conveniently bought gasoline earlier)? Was it Amber? Eva? Bea? Neil? Or Kate herself? The detectives debate, but the case goes cold.

Epilogue

Detective McGee retires but still obsesses over the case. He suspects Eva set the fire, but when he visits Kate, she just smiles and says:

“I don’t think this world can quite handle the truth, do you?”

👀 Suspicious much? Yeah, I’m convinced Kate was the fire starter all along.

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🎭 My Thoughts

• The blend of genres worked: Mystery + paranormal + family thriller = addictive.

• The pacing was perfect—never dragged, always kept me turning pages (or in my case, listening to hours of audio).

• Reincarnation element: Done well because it’s filtered through Kate’s bias. You can choose to believe or not.

• The ending: SO MANY QUESTIONS. Who really set the fire? Was Kate working with Bea and Tristan? Was Eva collateral damage? Dunnett leaves it just ambiguous enough to spark debate (and keep me awake at night).

And honestly? That’s what I loved. A book that makes you think long after closing it.

⭐ Rating: 5 out of 5 stars ⭐

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📚 If You Liked The Lake House Children, Try These:

• The House Across the Lake by Riley Sager – equally twisty, with unreliable characters and lake vibes.

• Daisy Darker by Alice Feeney – family secrets, creepy setting, shocking twist.

• The Drowning Woman by Robin Harding – water + betrayal + double-crosses galore.

• Behind Closed Doors by B.A. Paris – psychological thriller with claustrophobic family tension.

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✨ Final Word: The Lake House Children is haunting, addictive, and totally worth the read. Whether you believe in reincarnation or not, you’ll be glued to the pages.