This novella has a simple boy-meets-girl plot, but the love story is wrapped in some sinister forces befitting a horror story. It’s a testament to the skills of author Josh Malerman that this tale somehow successfully navigates between a quaint story of mild-mannered ghosts and the gruesome gore that seems to always find young lovers near lakes. We first meet James, a teenager who works in his father’s hardware store, just before he meets Amelia, who comes to buy a hose but forgets that when James asks her on a date. Through short, fast chapters written from each teenager’s point of view, we see how nervous and awkward the two feel about themselves and their date as they head out on a canoe to explore a lake. The first lake is connected to a second, and the second is connected by some kind of drainage tunnel to a third. This hidden lake is not as attractive as the first two except for the fact that is deserted, and James and Amelia discover their common ground–a shared interest in exploration. While paddling about they discover the house at the bottom of the lake. It is fully intact, furnished and ready for…