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Book Summary and Reviews of Lost Man's Lane by Scott Carson

Lost Man's Lane by Scott Carson

Lost Man's Lane

A Novel

by Scott Carson

  • Critics' Consensus (10):
  • Published:
  • Mar 2024, 528 pages
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About this book

Book Summary

A teenager explores the darkness hidden within his hometown in this spellbinding supernatural thriller from bestselling author Scott Carson.

For a sixteen-year-old, a summer internship working for a private investigator seems like a dream come true—particularly since the PI is investigating the most shocking crime to hit Bloomington, Indiana, in decades. A local woman has vanished, and the last time anyone saw her, she was in the backseat of a police car driven by a man impersonating an officer.

Marshall Miller's internship puts him at the center of the action, a position he relishes until a terrifying moment that turns public praise for his sharp observations and uncanny memory into accusations of lying and imperiling the case. His detective mentor withdraws, friends and family worry and whisper, and Marshall alone understands that the darkness visiting his town this summer goes far beyond a single crime. Now his task is to explain it—and himself.

Lost Man's Lane is a coming-of-age tale of terror that proves why its author has been hailed as "a master" by Stephen King and one who consistently offers "eerie, gripping storytelling" by Dean Koontz.

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Reviews

Media Reviews

"Carson masterfully weaves threads about Marshall's home and school life into the tantalizing central mystery, and populates the narrative's margins with fully realized characters who help bring the setting to vivid life. This unique and intelligent crowd-pleaser is not to be missed." —Publishers Weekly (starred review)

"Give this one to fans of Michael Koryta and Chuck Wendig's Black River Orchard." —Library Journal

"I fell deep into this book and never wanted to come out. It'll make you a Scott Carson fan for life." —Joe Hill, #1 New York Times bestselling author of NOS4A2 and Strange Weather

"I've spent the last few nights completely enthralled by teenage private investigator Marshall Miller and his creepy coming-of-age horror story. Lost Man's Lane made me feel like I was 17 all over again. It's sweet, scary, nostalgic, and deeply unsettling — and I couldn't turn the pages fast enough!" —Jason Rekulak, nationally bestselling author of Hidden Pictures

"Scott Carson has done it again. Lost Man's Lane is a richly imagined, terrifying trip down memory lane. High school keggers and small town legends, first loves and heartbreaks, serpents and secrets — it's all here in one action-packed story. Poignant, nostalgic, and profoundly unsettling, I couldn't turn the pages fast enough. Carson is a spellbinding storyteller and Lost Man's Lane is his best yet." —Richard Chizmar, New York Times bestselling author of Gwendy's Final Task and Becoming the Boogeyman

This information about Lost Man's Lane was first featured in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.

Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.

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Author Information

Scott Carson

Scott Carson is the pen name of Michael Koryta, a New York Times bestselling author whose work has been translated into more than twenty languages, adapted into major motion pictures, and won the Los Angeles Times Book Prize. A former private investigator and reporter, his writing has been praised by Stephen King, Michael Connelly, and Dean Koontz, among many others. Raised in Bloomington, Indiana, he now lives in Indiana and Maine.

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