A murder close to the home of Paul and his new wife, Charlotte, happens to be the second murder near Paul's home. I had this one figured out early, but wasn't sure I was right. I was! I liked the premise, but wanted more suspense and parts of the story dragged as the plot played out. I was hoping for more oomph from this author. If you're looking for a slow burn mystery with a bit of a detective feel, this might be one for your shelf!!

It’s taken me quite a while to review this one. Not a favorite for me by Kimberly Belle. I found it a bit predictable, the story slow and Charlotte the main character annoyed me how naive she was.
I’m still a fan of Belle this one was just a miss for me!

I did not finish this one, it was not for me, I couldn't relate to the characters, and just did not care for the story.

Kimberly Belle's thrillers are always a must read for me. She did not disappoint with this one. The perfect beach thriller.

I enjoyed this book even though I thought I figured out what was happening, but was very pleasantly surprised at the ending. Will definitely be adding this to my recommendations for my customers.

This was not what I expected. I found the characters to be flat and the story to drag on quite a bit...

Review posted on Goodreads, 8 June 2020:

I'm always drawn to small-town secrets novels and STRANGER IN THE LAKE certainly qualifies. It's not super original, but it is an engrossing page-turner that I zipped through because I HAD to know what happened next. The pool of suspects in the murder(s) at the heart of the novel is small, so it isn't that tough to figure out who the killer is. However, I wasn't ABSOLUTELY certain of his/her identity until the end of the book and even then, there was one twist I didn't see coming. I liked Charlotte as an MC. She's relatable, empathetic, and moral. It wasn't difficult to like and root for her at all. Overall, I enjoyed the novel and will look for more from Kimberly Belle.

Oh, look…it’s me reviewing a book months after I said I would, which was already months late.

Charlotte is married to Paul, a rich widower. Life is going great…until a dead woman appears in the lake in an eerily similar way to Paul’s first wife. Charlotte recognizes the woman from town after seeing her talking to Paul. Is Paul who he says he is, or is there a darker side to him?

This was a fun thriller to read. There were several characters that easily could have been the killer, including those from Charlotte’s past. Belle does a great job of utilizing the atmosphere of the lake and the surrounding area. And while I enjoy the snow storm/phone lines are down trope as much as anybody, I’m glad that some methods of communication were left open here…it’s a little less stressful.

Thank you so much to NetGalley for the AR lax of this book, and my apologies for the super late review.

This was an easy read and fairly well written, but I guessed absolutely everything from very early on. Still a fun day's reading, especially if you want to be transported into a rich lake house in North Carolina and a few long-running mysteries to figure out.

I read a digital ARC of this book via Net Galley.

This story was full of unlikeable characters. I didn’t really connect with any of them, unfortunately. I felt that the pace dragged and the plot was predictable. There’s wasn’t a lot of tension or suspense. With all that being said, I do read a ton of thrillers, so I can usually suss out a plot twist early on.

Not as exciting as I hoped it would be. I was on the blog tour for this one and was offered a digital ARC. At first, I wasn’t going to read it, cause I only signed up for an excerpt. But then I saw the 4 & 5 star reviews and thought, what the heck!

It might not have been for me, but I think many will enjoy it. For me, I had things figured out very early on (which I don’t like). I need my thrillers and mysteries to be unpredictable. And, I found the storytelling mostly underwhelming.

*sigh* Sorry..but this was just kind of meh for me.

Not my favorite KBelle book but I’ll still read anything she writes, she draws me into her books like no other. I found this to be slower than her usual pacing and the ending was just ok.

This book was ok. Not my favorite of Kimberly Belle's. I usually love her writing but this one I just could not really get into.

With STRANGER IN THE LAKE, Belle has yet again given her readers a tense and atmospheric suspense novel. This story will pull you in and hold on until the very end.

Good, slightly predictable page-turner. A lake community down south, a rich and poor side of town. Three deaths in the lake. One ruled accidental, but was it? One body that emerges after 20 years and a recent one that shines the spotlight on newlyweds Charlie (poor side) & Paul (rich side) Keller as the body is found by their dock. Many twists to keep you going. Well written.

Stranger in the Lake was not the book I taught it would be. I didn't dislike it, there were parts that were predictable. It fell short of the psychological aspect I look for when reading a book that is sold to me as a
psychological thriller.

Well this was my first read of the month so this is a bit overdue now. I picked this one up as a buddy read with @ and I don't know why I waited so long to pick this one up. I had read The Marriage Lie when it came out and was obsessed from chapter one.

Charlotte and Paul already living that charmed life together even with the age gap thrown in there.

Even if your marriage is so perfect, do you really know the man you married and what their past entails.

Two women winding up dead in the same spot in the lake. Can it really be a coincidence or is your husband really hiding something.

Going back and forth between the different timelines you really get q feel for the characters. Who's lying and covering up?

Get ready for a ride of all of the secrets coming out from now and 20 years back.

Have you read any Kimberly Belle yet? What was your favourite? I also have Dear Wife on my neverending TBR to get to.

I was excited to read this book. It didn’t disappoint.
Kimberly Belle is a master storyteller and you won’t want to put her books down.
Great, thrilling, mystery.

This was a decent thriller that I did fly through pretty fast, it was a quick read in my opinion. I just felt kind of...bored for most of the book. There wasn't much action to this book and everything just seemed to drag on and on, it never really captivated me or shocked me. It was spooky in some aspects but not enough to where I was hooked and needs to know immediately what was going to happen next.

While I did enjoy the story being told from the main character Charlotte, I didn't really care for all of the flashbacks to her childhood. We got them, but I didn't feel like there was enough information pertaining to her past that helped shape her character how she was in present day.

The ending was underwhelming for me but the author did do a great job of setting up the atmosphere which was one big plus of this book.

*Thank you so much to Park Row Books and NetGalley for the complimentary copy for my honest review!*

I've loved many of Kimberly Belle books and this one is added to that list. This book had me guessing the whole way through and I read it in two nights because I couldn't put it down. The perfect who dunnit with just the right amount of suspense.