First of all, I have zero interest in hockey. That being said, the story was wrapped around hockey and I still really liked it. The author has a good command of the cliffhanger - getting to almost the point of figuring things out, then retreating to a different part of the story.

I agree with some of the reviewers about the number of characters - I kept with it well until the last portion of the story. I had to turn back a few pages to recheck the character a few times.

The author presented characters that liked to add intrigue to the story, then cut that info off in midstream (as described earlier in this review). What got to me is when the main character, Gus, started doing the same thing in his narration. That bugged me. I felt like my ally had dumped me!

The items above are really nitpicky though - the story has multiple twists and turns, investigative angles, and an insight into the quirkiness of small town America. I look forward to reading another mystery from Gruley.

Buy it - you'll be glad you did!

If one were to write a book guaranteed not to appeal to me it might look something like Bryan Gruley's Starvation Lake which is chock full of hockey, hockey and, did I say hockey? Also, lots of testosterone, did I say testosterone? Plus a fair dose of automotive fetishy love. Also, a little local town with the interesting characters, a great diner and lots and lots of snowmobiles. Also, snow, and ice--the book is set in Michigan, the north of Michigan and much of the action takes place in, predictably, winter.

I loved it. Totally terrific novel--the story, the plot, the writing, the voice and more. Finest kind.

Starvation Lake, told in first-person by Bryan Gruley weaved a hypnotic spell over me. I say this because #1: the subject of hockey doesn't appeal to me and #2: because of that fact, something magical had to have happened to keep me reading. The magic was in Mr. Gruley's writing. As I said, I learned more about hockey than I ever wanted to know. However, the plot, the characters, and the sense of place all worked to make this a riveting read. Augustus 'Gus' Carpenter has returned to his hometown of Starvation Lake in Michigan after a not so triumphant career as a journalist at a big Detroit paper. He's now editor of Starvation Lake's paper, the Pilot, and he isn't too happy about it. The most exciting thing to happen recently is some crackpot claiming to own piles of poop from Sasquatch. That's right, Big Foot. Then, the snowmobile belonging to Gus's old hockey coach, Jack Blackburn, turns up in the lake with evidence on it that points to murder instead of an accidental death, as the citizens of Starvation Lake concluded when Blackburn went missing in the lake years earlier. Soon, Gus, with his trusty sidekick, Joanie, are investigating the case and learning staggering secrets about the denizens of Starvation Lake in the process! Gus realizes he really doesn't know the people he grew up with. Not even his own mother. This was an exciting story, one that kept me interested and the conclusion was very realistic. Also, the villain will make your skin crawl. That's all I'm saying. Read the book!

Starvation Lake paints a vivid image of smalltown northern Michigan with its focus on two things: hockey and the relationships between the people who have lived there all their lives.

The seminal moment in the town's history is the state championship that got away, followed by the mysterious death of the coach that took the team there. When evidence shows up that coach's death may not be what it seemed, one of his ex-players, now turned newspaper editor, is determined to track down what really happened, even if it destroys the lives and reputations of people he has known all his life.

The novel is well-written, easy-to-read, and stays focused on the story. The secrets buried in the community are peeled away slowly, providing a feeling of suspense from start to finish. Each page exposes a little more, but keeps you reading long past the time you had planned to put the book down.

Gruley sets his mystery in a small tourist town at the top of Michigan's Lower Peninsula. His characters are rugged - they work hard, care about their community, and love to cheer on the local hockey team. They're also flawed - some of them drink far too much, some value a buck over the welfare of the town, and some of them harbor vile secrets.

Enter Gus Carpenter. He's a down-on-his-luck newspaperman who was ousted from a big paper in Detroit and finds himself back home, editing the local rag and wondering about the journalistic value of bake sales and school board meetings. He can't live down the fact that his goal tending cost Starvation Lake the chance to take the state championship way back when, something he relives every time he takes to the ice in local games. When a snowmobile belonging to the town's idolized coach who died a decade ago is pulled from the frozen lake, theories about how Coach Blackburn really died begin to swirl through the town, and Gus is pushed right into the middle of digging for answers.

Small towns. Secrets. Hockey. A town once on its way up that is now sinking to the bottom. A murder mystery that might be something even bigger. Gruley brings all these elements together into a solid, well-paced mystery. The characters are compelling, and the story clips along at an even pace - nothing spectacular but nothing too slow either. This is a great book to curl up with when the snow is falling outside. Gus is the tried and true flawed hero, and I look forward to reading the next in what has to be a successful series from Bryan Gruley.