“A Heartbreaking Milestone”

Tags

Covid-19 Milestone, United States

No doubt most of my fellow citizens here in the U.S. have learned that we have reached the unimaginable milestone of having lost 500,000 people to Covid-19. 500,000 people. It’s difficult to wrap your brain around that figure isn’t it? That just about matches the number of Americans who gave their lives in WWII, Korea, and Vietnam combined. The U.S. death toll is the highest in the world and accounts for over 20% of the 2.5 worldwide coronavirus deaths. Were some of these deaths preventable? Absolutely. Just last week the respected medical journal The Lancet found that 40% of the deaths could have been avoided. It compared the pandemic in the U.S. to other high income nations and discovered much of the blame attributable to Mr. Trump’s “inept and insufficient” response to COVID-19, as well as decades of harmful public healthcare policy decisions. But meanwhile, while most of us are waiting for vaccines to become more widely available, we’re still politicizing mask wearing, social distancing and the vaccines themselves. And to top things off, there are about 31 million people who are uninsured. It’s unfathomable that a country who likes to think of itself as the “greatest nation on Earth” can’t take care of its citizens. If I sound angry and frustrated it’s because I am. For the most part, except for people like our frontline workers, and some instances of heroism and basic human kindness, this pandemic has brought out the worst in us. Selfishness, violence, and callousness that was breathtaking in its scope. And the continuing willingness to use simple lifesaving measures for political expediency is the height of stupidity. If we had any brains at all we’d take a long, hard look at ourselves and our reactions to the pandemic over the last year and change our behaviors and attitudes. Obviously that’s not going to happen. Anyway, you’ll be relieved that I’m stopping my rant now. I apologize, but I’ve been stewing about this all day. Just think though: 500,000 lives gone. People who had family, and friends. People who died horribly, afraid and alone. Many of them needn’t have, and it’s not over yet. If any of you missed it, here is President Biden’s Memorial which aired a few hours ago.

The Lake, By Natasha Preston ~ 2.5 Stars

Tags

Mystery, Suspense, YA Fiction

Thanks to NetGalley and Delacorte Press for providing an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Release Date: March 2nd, 2021

336 Pages

Synopsis: Esme and Kayla one were campers at Camp Pine Lake. They’re excited to be back this year as CITs (counselors in training). Esme loves the little girls in her cabin and thinks it’s funny how scared they are of everything—spiders, the surly head counselor, the dark, boys…even swimming in the lake! It reminds her of how she and Kayla used to be, once. Before…it happened.

Because Esme and Kayla did something bad when they were campers. Afterwards, the girls agreed to keep it secret. They’ve moved on—or so they say—and this summer is going to be great. Two months of sun, s’mores, and flirting with the cute boy counselors. But then they get a note. THE LAKE NEVER FORGETS. And the secret they kept buried for so many years is about to resurface. (Goodreads)

I have to be honest and say I haven’t had the best luck with Natasha Preston. I keep trying her books though because the premises always suck me in, which was exactly the case with The Lake. Unfortunately, the best I can say is it was marginally better than the previous books I tried. The “Killer at summer camp” has obviously been done before, but I’m always interested in seeing new takes on it, which brings me to my first issue. Preston really brings nothing original to the table. It’s the same exact trope that’s already been done in so many books, and movies, only the villain has a slightly different backstory. The characters are so wooden that they all blend into one another, and most of their actions made no sense to me. The majority of the action is saved for the last few chapters which may have been alright as a slow burn if I had cared about any of the characters, but I didn’t. I did like the twist at the end, but it was too little, too late. I reviewed Preston’s Awake (1 star) and The Cabin (1.5 stars), so The Lake is definitely an improvement. But for me, while it wasn’t a horrid read, it was an apathetic  “meh,” and again left me unimpressed.