A House at the Bottom of a Lake
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A House at the Bottom of a Lake Audible Audiobook – Unabridged

Josh Malerman (Author), Taylor Meskimen (Narrator), Ozzie Rodriguez (Narrator),
3.7 3.7 out of 5 stars 1,127 ratings
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From the New York Times best-selling author of Bird Box and Malorie comes a haunting tale of love and mystery, as the date of a lifetime becomes a maddening exploration of the depths of the heart.

"Malerman expertly conjures a fairy tale nostalgia of first love, and we follow along, all too willingly, ignoring the warning signs even as the fear takes hold.” (Lit Reactor)

The story begins: Young lovers, anxious to connect, agree to a first date, thinking outside of the box. At 17 years old, James and Amelia can feel the rest of their lives beginning. They have got this summer and this summer alone to experience the extraordinary. But they didn’t expect to find it in a house at the bottom of a lake. The house is cold and dark, but it’s also their own. 

Caution be damned, until being carefree becomes dangerous. For the teens must decide: Swim deeper into the house - all the while falling deeper in love? 

Whatever they do, they will never be able to turn their backs on what they discovered together. And what they learned: Just because a house is empty doesn’t mean nobody’s home. 

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  1. Listening Length
    4 hours and 9 minutes
  2. Author
    Josh Malerman
  3. Narrator
    Taylor Meskimen, see all
  4. Audible release date
    January 19, 2021
  5. Language
    English
  6. Publisher
    Random House Audio
  7. ASIN
    B08B8XKJCT
  8. Version
    Unabridged
  9. Program Type
    Audiobook
  10. See all details
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Product details

Listening Length 4 hours and 9 minutes
Author Josh Malerman
Narrator Taylor Meskimen, Ozzie Rodriguez
Audible.com Release Date January 19, 2021
Publisher Random House Audio
Program Type Audiobook
Version Unabridged
Language English
ASIN B08B8XKJCT
Best Sellers Rank #189,976 in Audible Books & Originals (See Top 100 in Audible Books & Originals)
#1,602 in Coming of Age Fiction (Audible Books & Originals)
#2,414 in Supernatural Thrillers (Audible Books & Originals)
#9,514 in Supernatural Thrillers (Books)

Customer reviews

3.7 out of 5 stars
3.7 out of 5
1,127 global ratings
Book Review 4.5 Stars!
4 Stars
Book Review 4.5 Stars!
I want to start out by saying damn Josh Malerman can write. He has easily become one of my favorite authors after reading Unbury Carol, Birdbox, and now A House at the Bottom of a Lake. This beautifully mastered story had me on the edge of my seat nearly the entire time. How many books can you actually say you loved the House more than the characters? If you said none, then look no further, because this story will blow your mind.One thing I really loved about this book was the atmosphere it created for the reader. I felt like I was right next to Amelia and James exploring this creepy underwater masterpiece. Parts of this story gave me actual goosebumps because I had no idea what could be lurking around the next corner and not to mention all of this takes place underwater! TERRIFYING! I also really enjoyed the mystery around it all and that I honestly had no idea where the story was going.Sadly the ending was a huge issue for me. I really didn't understand it and wished it had ended differently. I'm also not a huge fan of ambiguous endings. I want the author to lay it out for me. That's the main issue I had with it. If you are into that type of thing this book is right up your ally.Overall I gave this book 4.5 Stars because I loved absolutely everything about it till the ending. It gave me the creeps and I believe that is such an important thing in a horror novel.Thank you to Netgalley and the Publisher for this gifted copy for an honest review.
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Top reviews from the United States

María J. Estrada
5.0 out of 5 stars A Magical, Coming-of-Age Novel with a Horrific Twist
Reviewed in the United States on January 22, 2024
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I love Malerman’s work, but I read this book without reading the book description. I was expecting horror akin to Birdbox or his other work, but this magical realism novel blew my mind! Although the trope of young love and boy meets girl are not unique, the main characters' obsession with the house at the bottom of the lake made me read the novel in one sitting. I loved this book so much and thought the twist ending was masterful. I think it would make a fantastic film, maybe even a series (although there is a similar horror movie based on ritual murders and magic, but this book is better).

My only complaint is that it was short. I wanted to follow these characters to the next destination, but otherwise, A House at the Bottom of a Lake was a real delight. If you love magical realism and weird coming-of-age love stories, with unexpected twist endings, this is for you.
One person found this helpful
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Vicky
4.0 out of 5 stars Intriguing
Reviewed in the United States on January 4, 2023
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This book was well written and intriguing and I was really enjoying it -- until the end. I'm not saying it was a "bad" ending -- just that it left me with a feeling of "what next?" Even though I wish it had gone on a little longer and expanded on what happened after the end, it still was very good and well worth reading.
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Book diva
3.0 out of 5 stars Bewildering
Reviewed in the United States on August 30, 2023
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This is the first Malerman book I’ve read, so I don’t know if this is a typical ending style for him. I found the story interesting and easy to read, but feel abandoned by the ending. It was as if he suddenly ended the story mid-thought.
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Phillip Tomasso III
5.0 out of 5 stars A coming of age story, with a splendid twist of the supernatural!
Reviewed in the United States on November 14, 2016
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I stumbled onto Josh Malerman quite by accident. (And I apologize for the stumble). I was in a reading group at work. The book, BIRD BOX, was the first title selected. I knew upon finishing that book that here was an author I'd follow.

The novella, A HOUSE AT THE BOTTOM OF A LAKE, was a fast read. One sitting. I couldn't move until I found out what happened next, and after that, and then reached the ending. Call it puppy love. A coming of age tale. Whatever you want, this story is what it is.

James and Amelia agree to go on a date. The awkward asking, and accepting were reminiscent of my own clumsy attempts at dating. Hard not to laugh, thankful it was the characters in the book experiencing the "trauma" and not me this time. (And whether I've gotten any better at the art remains to be seen).

Determined to do something different, James suggests the two go canoeing. Strangers. Canoeing. What could be more romantic? James knows. A second, less crowded lake. One away from the speedboats, and loud intoxicated teens in swim trunks and bikinis.

What is better than a quiet, out of the way second lake? Finding a hidden third lake. And on this third lake, under the surface of placid water they see a roof. Determined to explore the depths, the two find more than a roof. They discover an entire house.

It's their secret. They promise to adhere to two rules. No asking How. No asking Why. And then they explore. Every inch.

Only exploring every inch forces more and more questions. How did the house get there? How come no one else knows about it. Why are the laws of physics not applicable below the surface? The items on shelves, and on end tables remain on shelves, and on end tables . . . when by all rights they should be floating, or ruined by the water.

And yet they are not.

Worse. Who is walking around on the second floor? Why are the floorboards creaking? And who was that laughing at them?

Josh Malerman's latest work is chilling. I wanted more. Many times I found myself holding my breath while I was reading, but didn't realize it until I needed air. A HOUSE AT THE BOTTOM OF A LAKE was intense. The suspense is constant; the anticipation. The ending is heartbreaking, and necessary, with just a hint, a faint glimmer of hope. It was, in short, an awesome read!

Phillip Tomasso
Author of the Severed Empire series, and
The Vaccination Trilogy
8 people found this helpful
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"Jay"
4.0 out of 5 stars A Gorgeous Dream of Love and Fear
Reviewed in the United States on November 22, 2019
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A Gorgeous Dream of Love and Fear

If you loved Bird Box and Unbury Carol, then you'll...well...I have no idea how you'll feel about A House at the Bottom of a Lake. And that's precisely why Josh Malerman is one of the most fascinating storytellers working today. Although the prose is distinctly his, Malerman insists that the story itself be the centerpiece, rather than the narrator's voice--which serves this story particularly well.

A House at the Bottom of a Lake is, as you might expect, a flowing, dreamlike tale of two teenagers experiencing the excitement of true love for the first time--as well as all the dread, fear, uncertainty, ambiguity, and hurt that goes with it. Wonderful, clever metaphors abound in this fleeting story that feels frozen in time, both by the framework of the story and by the readers' own nostalgia for his or her own "first true love."

Released by This Is Horror in 2016, today is the last day A House at the Bottom of the Lake will be available. My advice: drop what you're doing and grab this beautiful piece of genre-bending fiction while you still can!
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V. A. Tapia
3.0 out of 5 stars Ambiguous Ending Leaves You Wanting More.......
Reviewed in the United States on August 16, 2017
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This scant 105 page novel is more a love story than a true tale of horror.
The author writes well and creates his two main characters with enough charm and innocence to make you care about them but he does not give them a robust tale to hinge their fate on. I would like to see what this author could do by delivering a full fledged novel since much of his prose reminds me of the great Peter Straub (no one writes like Straub....no one). Unfortunately for more than a good 85 pages you get treated to an interesting mystery which is never fully explained and the ending reads like a "To be continued" in a chapter serial. The book definitely is not worth the ten dollars it's currently selling for, five dollars is a fair price.
8 people found this helpful
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Kindle Customer
2.0 out of 5 stars Is this really a book?
Reviewed in the United States on January 4, 2017
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I have been busy reading hardcover for the last few months. Then I got a list of "best ofs'" somewhere and that somehow led me to this book. This book started out good, good enough to buy anyway and ended, well not so good. In fact, it didn't end at all really. It just stopped. It's not horror, or a mysterious conclusion. It just stops. And I really didn't like it. It's not a "wow" ending, because it doesn't end. I think the author was trying for a " Sixth Sense" type of moment. He failed. (All grammatical errors are mine, please note I am a READER not a WRITER.) (This means quit snarking on my book reviews. I AM entitled to my own uneducated opinion.)
3 people found this helpful
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Amazon Customer
5.0 out of 5 stars Amazing
Reviewed in the United States on May 2, 2024
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Could not put it down!!!
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Top reviews from other countries

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Patrick
5.0 out of 5 stars Bom livro com final meio mediano
Reviewed in Brazil on September 26, 2019
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É um livro pequeno, mas muito bem construído, os personagens são verossímeis e razoavelmente bem desenvolvidos. A história se desenvolve bem, sem clichês ou partes confusas.
Só o final que não achei grandes coisas, mas no geral vale a pena sim.
Espero que traduzam e lancem no Brasil
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Camilla Macaulay
5.0 out of 5 stars Eerie and beautiful
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on June 5, 2017
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After reading the brilliant "Birdbox" by Josh Malerman I was keen to check out his other work. This beautiful novella does not disappoint. We are introduced to James and Amelia, both seventeen years old and falling in love. For their first date, instead of going to the movies or out for dinner, they borrow a canoe and visit some lakes. Malerman's writing is so descriptive and vivid I felt I was making the journey myself. Josh and Amelia squeeze the canoe through a narrow graffiti-lined tunnel and find a lake that seems abandoned "the third lake". As they row over it they notice something beneath the surface of the water...a roof. When they investigate they find an entire house, submerged. Something isn't quite right; the paint isn't flaking and the books haven't disintegrated. Josh and Amelia are drawn back, under the water, day after day. I don't want to give anything away but I will say that what I love about Malerman's writing is that he doesn't spoil the story by trying to explain the inexplicable. In fact the characters themselves say "no whys or hows". I only wish this book had been longer, I didn't want the story to end.
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ENIGMA
5.0 out of 5 stars Malerman's story will take you to a place of blossoming young love, a place where curiosity overcomes fear
Reviewed in Canada on November 23, 2016
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In 'A House at the Bottom of a Lake' Josh Malerman brings all the dread, all the terror to life, and then turns the lights on. Captivating and otherworldly, Malerman's story will take you to a place of blossoming young love, a place where curiosity overcomes fear, a place beneath dark waters, a place that will change the lives of two seventeen year-olds. This novella had everything, I cared and related to the characters, it appealed to my senses, it tapped my love of the forbidden. I didn't want to leave the story, Josh had me packing my bags, I was ready to move into a house at the bottom of a lake.
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Customer
5.0 out of 5 stars Would love to read another novel of him
Reviewed in India on January 14, 2017
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Chilling narration by Josh malerman. Would love to read another novel of him.His Mesmerising imagination will make you guess the whole novel upto the climax.short and sweet :)
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Amazon Customer
4.0 out of 5 stars Teenage obsession
Reviewed in Australia on February 25, 2019
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An interesting concept and story with subtly dark undertones
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