In the Lake of the Woods

By Tim O'Brien

Categories: Literature & Fiction

In the Lake of the Woods is a 1994 novel by Tim O'Brien, author of The Things They Carried. It was adapted into a 1996 television film. John Wade, a Minnesota politician, loses a Senate primary after it is revealed that he took part in the My Lai massacre in Vietnam. He and his wife retreat to a cabin on a remote lake, and one morning she is gone. The novel mixes possible explanations, evidence, and history without ever solving the mystery of what happened to her.

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• Stephen King: “On Writing (Scribner, 2000), "And Furthermore, Part II: A Booklist"”