A fast paced murder mystery that surrounds a murder that happened a while ago when the protagonist was a child. I highly recommend this read

This was the first book on here that jumped out at me. The cover, title and blurb all intrigued me. The compelling idea that drew me in is that a young girl discovers a dead body as a child and it, rightfully so, traumatises her into her adolescence. The book features multiple flashbacks to reveal the lead-up and aftermath of this discovery following along the thoughts of three characters – Lily, Grace and Flo. While it didn’t take me too long to finish this book, I feel like I was fuelled by a need to get through it rather than desire. It had an unclear and confusing start I found which made it a difficult read and I struggled with this one. The plot had an interesting premise but was bogged down by multiple ideas, subplots, flashbacks and POV’s. I was overwhelmed with information yet underwhelmed with the result.

I was about ¾ in when I finally started to involve myself in the plot and feel for the characters because, at this point, I figured out what was going on. While I understand the need for suspense, I felt I was confused for too long for it to be a compelling read. The characters were interesting but, for me, there wasn’t enough character development to balance out the chaotic (and often confusing) lines of the plot and I prefer to be more invested earlier on. I put this down to the pacing and the flashback jumps that pulled me out of the story and often made it confusing.

All in all, I enjoyed some parts of this read but I was underwhelmed on the whole. There was too much needlessly going on in the plot and too little in the characters. Whilst this will appeal to some it didn’t for me and wasn’t what I wanted to read.

I admit that it was cover love at first sight when I first saw The Cry Of The Lake, but I was intrigued by the blurb as well and I just couldn't resist giving it a go. I was looking forward to this story, but somehow sadly I wasn't all too impressed by what I found. I'm having a hard time pinpointing exactly what went wrong for me, but I'll try to explain which elements didn't work for me below.

The first thing that stands out is the structure of the plot. The Cry Of The Lake has a multiple POV structure and is divided into three different POVs following the three most present female characters: Grace, Lily and Flo. This kind of structure can really spice up a story, but sadly I didn't think they actually complemented each other and ended up being distracting instead. The POV switches only further interrupted an already quite erratic pace and made it considerably harder to stay focused on the story itself... The fact that the characters themselves didn't feel realistic and were hard to like didn't really help either. I'm not sure if it was lack of development or simply the way they were represented and acted, but none of them actually convinced me and this always turns the story in that much more of a struggle.

As for the plot itself... I felt it was just too chaotic and over the top; both the plot development and plot twists seemed unrealistic and weren't able to convince me. And as much as I love a puzzle and lots of question marks in my thrillers, I think in the case of The Cry Of The Lake there were just too many riddles and the lack of information was actually confusing and rather frustrating instead of it adding the intended dose of suspense. This might just have been a personal reaction, but it is what it is I guess... On top of this, I wasn't able to warm up to the writing either; up to the point that I was starting to feel the urge to skimread... And this is of course never a good sign. All in all it wasn't the reading experience I was hoping for, although I do seem to be in the minority so this might just not have been the right story for me at the moment.

Thank you NetGalley and BooksGoSocial for the eARC.
What an amazing book, absolutely riveting!
It's told from the perspective of three characters: Lily, the mute young girl; Grace, her psychopathic sister/mother and Flo, Lily's best and only friend.
This is probably going to be my favorite book of 2020, it's a psychological thriller, but it's so different from most others, it's actually genius in it's concept. Plus, there's no gratuitous violence, it's subtle with a creeping horror that's thrilling enough to make you keep reading, but at the same time you don't want the book to end...
Wow, what a great read, can't wait for Charlie Tyler 's next book, highly recommended!

I've got to be honest I really didn't "get" this book. It was difficult to know which path it was taking and veered off on too many tangents for me rather than staying focused on the story at hand.

"A gruesome discovery unravels a dark trail of murder and madness.

A six-year-old girl sneaks out of bed to capture a mermaid but instead discovers a dead body. Terrified and unable to make sense of what she sees, she locks the vision deep inside her mind.

Ten years later, Lily is introduced to the charismatic Flo and they become best friends. But Lily is guilt-ridden - she is hiding a terrible secret which has the power to destroy both their lives.

When Flo’s father is accused of killing a schoolgirl, the horrors of Lily’s past come bubbling to the surface. Lily knows that, whatever the consequences, she has to make things right. She must go back to the events of her childhood and face what happened at the boat house all those years ago.

Can Lily and Flo discover what is hiding in the murky waters of the lake before the killer strikes again?"

Past horrors bubbling to the surface? I'm liking this lake!

Lily A six-year-old girl sneaks out of bed to capture a mermaid but instead discovers a dead body.
Ten years later she meets Flo.
Lily is hiding a terrible secret which has the power to destroy both their lives.
When Flo’s father is accused of killing a schoolgirl, the horrors of Lily’s past come bubbling to the surface.
Lily knows she has to make things right. And face what happened to her all all those years ago.

This book was a bit s!ow at first. But boy as I kept reading did the story pick up.
This book had that thriller/mystery feel. That I absolutely love. The plot and ending had me saying "what" "wow"!!!
I sure hope to read more from Charlie Tyler his writing is wonderful.

Thank You NeyGalley And Publisher for this great ARC

One of my favourites reads this year. a great psychological thriller about two sisters traumatized by the past. This book is well written, very witty and quite fast-paced. I was hooked from the start and was sad it finished which is always a good sign! Look forward to reading more books by this author.

A very good debut psychological thriller by a UK author. It’s quite dark without being graphic.
The chapters are told by 3 characters point of view, Lily, Grace and Flo. The time span of the book goes between present day and the past.
The novel has a multitude of layers which are gradually exposed As the layers emerge the body count increases. There would be a statement left and you have to wait (impatiently) for it’s explanation to be revealed which adds to the tension.
Because of the deception which is revealed as the book progresses I did find the first chapter a bit confusing.
It certainly got my attention from the beginning and held it throughout.
Is there a snippet of the supernatural?or is it a medication withdrawal hallucination at the end of the book?
Thanks to netgalley for letting me read this book.
#netgalley. #thecryofthelake

A gorgeous cover to draw you in,and terrific opening pages that get you hooked.
A clearly completely nuts character,who is driven to wreak havoc on someone that did them wrong in the past.
Definitely a page turner.
By the time I was half way through though,it was getting too over the top for me ,too many secrets and lies and all a bit preposterous.
Still a good solid rad,but the first half was my favourite.