Lost Lake

Lost Lake is a good if somewhat straightforward read by Phillip Margolin. Its protagonist, leading a peaceful life in Portland, Oregon is suddenly revealed to be a man on the run from the police for killing a Congressman. But he maintains that he was the member of a secret unit that carried out illegal missions and that the unit was led by a general who is now a presidential candidate. The general's own daughter, the hero's high school sweetheart, supports his story. But their pasts leads the police to attach little credence to their story and the only person on their side is a small-time lawyer, who was the hero's landlord.

The previous book by Margolin was a serial killer thriller. But the author holds his own here inspite of the large canvas that includes a popular presidential candidate, the Vietnam war and a secret unit carrying out covert missions. The novel maintains its pace successfully from start to finish and keeps us hooked by using flashbacks to reveal its story a little at a time. Characters, like the charismatic general, are developed well and are convincing. At the same time, the novel is quite straightforward with few surprising twists. Some of the sequences are quite unbelievable and the climax is quite weak.

This is only the second book by Margolin that I have read and though it doesn't move him to the top of my list of favorite authors or anything, it makes sure that I will be on the lookout for his next one.