Predictable. No suspense and no attempt to explain what was happening to the main character. Polished writing style but not much else to sell this story. I liked Jeff Strand's "Specimen 313", which comes out of the same anthology, better--also free on Kindle.

I think this story isn't really about a lake monster. See spoiler below.

I think that this is an allegory and that the teacher in this story is a "predator" of a different type. Her choice of the boy to work on her house (and she clearly wants only one boy---the most attractive boy in the class) is quite creepy and the sexual tension is obvious. She is cautious to determine the age of the boy and wishes that his less attractive cousin didn't come along. There are quite a few references to people from a small town being less concerned about apparent improprieties than they were in Boston, where she came from, and she makes reference to some trouble that she had gotten into at her prior school. ( )

I picked up this short story because a friend recommended I check out this author.

The Lake is a good short story, but a bit predictable. As others have already described the plot, I will leave it be. Though not very scary this short story would've made an excellent Twilight Zone episode. The changes which the main character undergoes throughout the story would have been even more powerful in a visual medium. Overall, I thought this was a good, well written story. As it is currently free, you really can't go wrong. ( )

Entertaining.

A nice clean short story from a talented writer. I was entertained enough that I will look forward to more of her work. ( )

Terrifying story of a teacher who makes the mistake of swimming in a Florida lake during the summer--and the awful consequences of doing so. Due is a superb writer I first discovered while reading the excellent Atlanta Noir collection. ( )

Gracetown is a rural Florida location, just over the Georgia border; a hot and sticky, sleepy town - with a chilling dark undercurrent of supernatural influences - which boil to the surface in the summer.
In 'The Lake' we meet a schoolteacher who's decided to take a job in Gracetown, sight unseen. We're not told exactly why she left her last position, but it's hinted right from the beginning that she might have some rather unprofessional plans concerning some of the teenage boys in her class. But things don't culminate in the way the reader might expect. The teacher is strongly drawn to the lake in back of her new house, and although she's always been a bit timid of the water, finds herself spending more and more time swimming in the murk...
A very strong horror story - it would've been a full 5 stars from me if not for the off-stage 'appearance' of Mary Kay Letourneau, which I felt weakened the effect considerably. I also felt that I had quite a bit more sympathy for the main character than the author did. ( )