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    Cemetery Lake: A Thriller
    Unavailable
    Cemetery Lake: A Thriller
    Unavailable
    Cemetery Lake: A Thriller
    Ebook418 pages6 hours

    Cemetery Lake: A Thriller

    By Paul Cleave

    4/5

    ()

    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this ebook

    A chilling case of unsolved murders and mistaken identities unravels when a lake in a Christchurch cemetery releases its grip on the murky past in this exciting crime thriller from the internationally bestselling author of The Laughterhouse.

    Cemetery Lake begins in a cold and rainy graveyard, where Private Detective Theodore Tate is overseeing an exhumation—a routine job for the weathered former cop. But when doubts are raised about the identity of the body found in the coffin, the case takes a sinister turn. Tate knows he should walk away and let his former colleagues on the police force deal with it, but his strong sense of justice intervenes.

    Complicating matters are a few loose ends from Tate’s past. Even good guys have secrets, and Tate thought his were dead and buried for good. With time running out and a violent killer lurking, will he manage to stay one step ahead of the police, or will his truth be unearthed?

    Originally published in Paul Cleave’s native New Zealand in 2008, Cemetery Lake is the first novel to feature Theodore Tate, the “quintessential flawed hero” (Kirkus Reviews) from Collecting Cooper and The Laughterhouse. Full of the clever plot twists and sardonic humor for which Cleave has become known, it is at once a totally entertaining crime novel and an unforgettable drama about the universal battle against the darkness within.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherAtria Books
    Release dateJun 18, 2013
    ISBN9781451677867
    Unavailable
    Cemetery Lake: A Thriller
    Author

    Paul Cleave

    Paul Cleave is the internationally bestselling author of ten award-winning crime thrillers, including Joe Victim, which was a finalist for the 2014 Edgar and Barry Awards, Trust No One and Five Minutes Alone, which won consecutive Ngaio Marsh Awards in 2015 and 2016. He lives in Christchurch, New Zealand. 

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    Reviews for Cemetery Lake

    4/5

    12 ratings13 reviews

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    • 4/5
      I enjoyed this book, although it did take a while to get into initially. It was an intriguing plot with some good twists. Not sure I liked the main character though, but an interesting conundrum about how low you can go. When do you reach bottom? What are we capable of doing? Is there a way back?
    • 5/5
      I've been looking for this novel since last week. Thanks so much!
    • 4/5
      Christchurch, New Zealand...Christchurch Noir Crime Series...tragic, brooding atmosphere...The lake opposite the graveyard begins to release its grip on the past and bodies begin to resurface....quite unlike anything I've read....vivid...But, I do have a question or 2....perhaps I missed the explanation.
    • 5/5
      This is my 4th book by Cleave and I can't say enough about how pleased I am to have found this author. I started with his last (to date) book "Joe Victim", then went back and started at the beginning. This series is very unique in that they feature the same police department but not the same main characters and the books do not take place one after another. I'm totally surprised by each book. Cemetery Lake takes place concurrently with book 1 "The Cleaner" and mentions the case going on in that book along with including some detectives from the first two books but the main character is a private detective who has been briefly mentioned in the previous books, but whom we've never met ... until now. And what a unique, provoking character is Theodore Tate, ex-cop turned PI. Tate takes on a case the police are working on as he feels some responsibility to it as it ties into one he was working on before he left the job. But Tate is much more of an anti-hero than the usual main character of police procedurals. This guy has his own brand of justice, loose ethics, and yet personally validates his choices as morally ethical. I couldn't help but liking him to some degree and am looking forward to the further two books he is featured in. The story really kept me guessing. I had no idea where it was going and when I did, it surprised me by going somewhere completely different; the twist was unexpected. There were several shocks along the way and I ended up reading this very fast. It's also quite refreshing to read a thriller series set in New Zealand, where things are done just a little bit differently, for a change of pace from my usual US, UK and Scandi thrillers.
    • 1/5
      I didn't care for this book. The main character is not just flawed but self-destructive one. His daughter is dead and his wife in a care facility because of a DUI but after awhile I got tired of reading about him doing things he knew he ought not to or even thinking DON'T DO THAT YOU IDIOT! You also wouldn't want to book a trip to New Zealand, especially Christchurch with the police portrayed as less effective than the Keystone Cops. Too dark for me.
    • 5/5
      Having never read any of Paul Cleaves books before, I had no expectations. I couldn't put it down. The story starts with an exhumation and just builds and builds and builds to a very unexpected ending (no spoilers here). I found the main protagonist to be annoying at times, as he just never let things be and made some interesting (for want of a better word) choices, but that's the character. You will love and hate him. Looking forward to reading some more of this authors books.
    • 3/5
      Great story with a grim and urgent tone that seems a cross between a funeral eulogy and a runaway train. Theo Tate is a former cop and current rogue P.I. who is working on a multiple murder case despite warnings from his former colleagues on the police force to stay away. He is compelled to act, weaving in and outside of the law, by his feeling of responsibility for having possibly missed an opportunity a few years previous that may have brought the killer to an earlier justice, thereby saving lives. Tate is not an especially likable character. Although the reader can sympathize with his grief and pain, it's difficult to decide whether or not his unpredictable moral compass is leading him down the right path. With such heavy happenings at such a fast pace, this reader wanted to cry uncle on Tate's behalf at least once or twice. The story has the structure of a police procedural, but the main character's outsider status and the heavy suspense is engaging and keeps the pages turning at a good clip. I look forward to reading the next book starring Theo Tate, called Collecting Cooper, to see how Tate proceeds to blaze his path through crime in Christchurch, New Zealand.
    • 5/5
      When private investigator Theo Tate find himself standing by a grave in the process of having a body exhumed little does he know that this is just the beginning of an investigation that will involve multiple corpses, deep secrets and dark betrayals. Cemetery Lake by New Zealand author Paul Cleave opens with a bang and immediately grips the reader and, as the story develops, the more twisted and dark it becomes.Theo himself is not in a good place as he is dealing with a horrendous tragedy that befell his family two years ago. He is barely coping but when this case comes along it seems to press his buttons and even though he knows he should leave this to the police, he cannot stop taking matters into his own hands. Theo is an ex-police detective but, eaten up with grief and trying to hold his anger, guilt and depression in, he is like a loose cannon. The author keeps the atmosphere dark and the momentum building as Theo pulls himself deeper into a moral abyss as he relentlessly tracks a psychopathic serial killer.Cemetery Lake is the third book in Paul Cleave’s Christchurch Noir series, and the first, but not the last, to feature Theo Tate. I found this a powerful story that had excellent timing and although Theo isn’t a character that demands either the readers liking or sympathy, I look forward to reading more about him.
    • 4/5
      Cemetery Lake introduces former police detective Theodore Tate, who has recently lost his daughter in a crash with a drunk driver andwhose wife is living in a vegetative state at a convalescent home. During a routine exhumation of a possible murder victim that he’s asked to investigate, the lake starts floating other corpses. But that’s not all. The wrong body is in the exhumed casket! How are all of these bodies connected? And what does the Priest know? The father/son gravedigger team? So many secrets in the town of Christchurch, New Zealand. Paul Cleave once again does not disappoint in this, his first novel featuring Theodore Tate. Ifyou’ve already read Laughterhouse (released last year) don’t despair, skipping around out of chronological order only adds to the noir senses of Cleave’s books. As always, suspenseful, gruesome, and wait for the twist.
    • 5/5
      Christchurch, New Zealand private investigator Theodore Tate is attending the exhumation of a man who died two years before. Suddenly bubbles appear on the surface of the small lake in the middle of the cemetery, and several bodies slowly rise to the surface. When the exhumed coffin is opened, it does not contain the right body. As the identities of the lake bodies are established, their graves are dug up to reveal further unexpected corpses.

      The cemetery caretaker has disappeared, and Tate is sure that the priest of the little church next to the cemetery knows a lot more than he is willing to say. The police try to warn Tate away from the investigation, but his curiosity is aroused, and he can’t help but put his own life in danger as a result. As the case advances, and stolen evidence, the police, the media, priests, his own personal demons, murder and suicide all roadblock Tate, he finds himself making bad choices and spiraling into destruction.

      Tate is an intriguing, but very flawed character. A former police officer, who left the force under a cloud, he is still dealing with the consequences of an accident, caused by a drunk driver, which destroyed his family. As the story progresses he starts to drink and for much of the book seems bent on self- destruction. The reader shifts between feeling sympathy for Theo, and utter frustration with him.

      Cemetery Lake is an impressive novel from a talented writer who creates compelling characters that ring true. A great feature of Cemetery Lake is the character-like atmosphere of Christchurch itself. This mystery totally engrossed me and it was filled with so many twists and turns I never had any idea how it was going to end. Cleave makes you want to turn the page, and when you get to the end, you want to go out and immediately find another of his books.
    • 3/5
      Like Tana French, Paul Cleave writes crime novels that center on a location rather than particular characters, at least he did until Theo Tate came along and I, for one, wish he hadn’t. I can only guess that he was looking for a sympathetic character to hang a series on, but he picked the wrong guy; Tate is a loser. Like his “friends in the department” I lost patience with his stupid decisions and willful obstruction. Not to mention he’s a murderer who can justify his killings with his tragedy or just bad luck. There were many times I wanted to fast-forward through scenes featuring the results of his idiocy, but I persevered and I don’t want to spend any more time with this jerk even if the overall story was decent and the solution surprising.
    • 5/5
      Set in modern Christchurch, New Zealand, Theodore Tate used to be a cop, but 2 years ago his wife and daughter were in a terrible accident. Things have been on a downhill slant since then. Now, he does some work for the local police and one of those things is to be present during exhumations and sign off on the paperwork. However, this exhumation brings up lots and lots of questions. First, there’s a couple of bodies in the cemetery lake. Next, the body they expected to be in the coffin isn’t there; instead it’s a body of a young woman.From there on, the police want to take point and the tell Tate to butt out. However, he can’t let it go. He calls in favors and old friendships as he does his own investigation. He’s driven because he believes it is all related to a case he was working when his family was in the devastating accident, a case he dropped the ball on and should have finished out. The mystery leads to more bodies and Tate breaks so many rules.Things are complicated and part of that complication is a priest who knows more than he’s telling. He’s bond by the confessional and that makes things tricky, morally speaking. I liked this twist being tossed in because for me it is simple: the law comes before the confessional, especially when it comes to very serious crimes such as murder. But that is not the case for everyone and this story really delves into those facets.To add fuel to the fire, there is this news reporter that pushed him into saying things he shouldn’t, which she uses in a slanted news story. It’s more hot water for our troubled would-be hero. I found him fascinating because he isn’t your typical Good Cop Fallen On Hard Times character. Throughout the course of the story, he does a few things that I don’t agree with. He does feel remorse over most of them and yet his drive to solve this keeps pushing him to greater extremes. The ending wrapped up the murder mystery nicely, but left plenty of questions as to what will happen to our main character in the next installment.I won a copy of this book from the Lazy Day Library Facebook group (via The Audio Book Reviewer) with no strings attached.Narration: Paul Ansdell was pretty good, tho I don’t know why he didn’t use any NZ accents. I did go double check myself by listening to some NZ folks on YouTube. He had a variety of British accents and that was great for keeping all the characters distinct. His female voices were believable.
    • 4/5
      I had a hard time deciding between a 3.5 or 4 rating for this novel. It was a page turner, but the writing was a little choppy. That being said, it will not keep me from reading more by Paul Cleave. Sometimes you just need a book to take you along on a crazy ride, and Cemetery Lake will do just that.