Thank you to Net Galley for the chance to read this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This book was better than I was expecting. This book is set in a small town and is a mystery surrounding the death of a local woman. The book delves into the depths of the history of a couple girls when they were back in high school and the mystery of deaths and disappearances. This is the first book I have read by this author and I really liked it.

The Lakehouse was an interesting book. My biggest compliment is that the book had many twists and turns and a couple of red herrings. I never would've guessed the actual ending of this book, which I find impressing. My biggest complaint is that the middle of the book is very slow moving and the author seems to repeat things over and over again. Tracy is a likable and relatable character, while the others seem more like caricatures or tropes. Overall it was a decent book, and I am glad I read it!

Solid and competent, this novel lacked the je ne sais quoi that more engaging mysteries exhibit. Some of the characters fell flat and the pacing felt disjointed at points.

The author’s writing portrays the darker side of some we think we know, but might not truly. He paints these characters’ flaws in stark realism while adding in bits of a character you just might recognize. (And that may be even more disturbing.) I was really gobsmacked by the ending, but I should have known Joe Clifford could find a way to do that.

This book had such a great start and amazing setting and I was so excited and then... it became boring, aimless, ridiculous at some points. I had to force myself to read it, and god, was it a chore. I didn’t think I would actually finish it, to be honest.
The characters are oh so plain, one-dimensional, and flat. We have multiples POV but we don’t really get to know anyone except maybe Sobczak, a little bit. We are supposed to be awry about Todd Norman, but I don’t know ONE thing about that character. We are supposed to feel sympathetic about Tracy, but she’s just insufferable. Doctor Bakshir was all over the place all the time and they wanted him to be suspicious, but they never got it right. All the back story that we are given in little pieces are supposed to make up for the flat, question-stocked ending, and it just didn’t work for me.
An excellent setting with insipid characters and an intermittent plot, with an ending with more questions than answers, that’s my view of this book.

Boy, do I love a good thriller! Set in small town New England (where I live! a plus!), lots of secrets form this story.
The plot, characters and setting all fit together nicely.

This was the first book I have read by this author. The book has you guessing who the killer is but you are always wrong. Twisted characters but suspenseful and a must read. The ending was a surprise and makes you look forward to another book by this author.

Tracy Somerset is a single mother with a young child. When she runs out of pain medicine and heads to Wal-Mart she meets a nice guy. What Tracy doesn't know is that people think he killed his wife.
Women start to be found dead too and people suspect him for the killing.
This is a suspence novel, really enjoyed.

This mystery was just okay for me. The feel and writing style is a standard, detective centered small-town murder. Overall I liked the characters but wasn't wowed.

Some people are just unfortunate and dead bodies keep appearing. I love story that has the weather as a character. This book definitely has the state as another character. I really thought it was worth a read. I wasn’t sure whether I engaged fully as it’s quite hard to accept another detective character in your life when you’re a big crime fan like I am. I’m hoping there will be more books in this series.

The story is told from the viewpoint of two of the main characters- Tracy Somerset, a young divorced mother and Dwayne Sobczak, Chief of Police of a small town Covenant.
The eponymous house is being built by Greg Norman who was acquitted of murdering his wife in New York. He has returned recently to the town and becomes involved with Tracy - despite several deaths and missing girls.
Dr Bakshir, local psychologist is involved through his previous work at a mental/rehab facility previously where several local teenagers were admitted. He is also Tracy’s current therapist.
The book is well written, although wanders at times and for me the ending was unsatisfactory and confusing.
3 Stars.

Thank you to Net Galley for the chance to read this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This book was better than I was expecting. This book is set in a small town and is a mystery surrounding the death of a local woman. The book delves into the depths of the history of a couple girls when they were back in high school and the mystery of deaths and disappearances. This is the first book I have read by this author and I really liked it.

The Lake house is a new domestic thriller from author Joe Clifford. This was my first read by the author and I quite enjoyed his writing style.

The story is simple enough, a hot shot from New York comes back to the small town his wife is from and plans to rebuild the lakehouse. However he isn't met with a warm welcome, this has to do with the fact that he just got acquitted of his wife's murder.

Enter Tracy a lonely divorcee who happens to fall for him before she realizes who he really is. There are many twists and turns on the road to discovering if he did in fact murder his wife, Tracy has to know if he really is the "Bank Butcher" and if not, who did kill her old friend?

There were a few points of view through out this story and I quite enjoyed a little glimpse into each of their lives. I don't know if quarantine has gotten to me but lately I am just obsessed with these small town mysteries where everything looks perfect from the outside but of course the more you look the more secrets, dysfunction and scandal there are.

Overall this story kept me guessing and trying to connect the pieces. Anyone who enjoys a slowburn mystery would be into the Lakehouse.

This book was given to me via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

3.5 stars rounded up. I definitely loved this story and kept me turning but it was a little slow for me in places. I couldn’t totally connect to the characters like I wanted to. I definitely was guessing all the way till the end on this one and still thinking. Overall, it was a very interesting and entertaining book. I definitely recommend if you love a good mystery. Thanks!

After being cleared of his wife's brutal murder, Todd Norman moves to Covenant, Connecticut to fulfill her dream of building a lake house in the town she grew up in. He is hoping for a fresh start in the town but when you're dubbed "The Banker Butcher," well, a fresh start is hard to find unless you, too, are looking for your own fresh start, as is the case with Tracey Somerset. Newly divorced and single, she also has re-located to the town to raise her 2-year-old son. She has no idea who Todd is when she casually runs into him at Walmart but soon finds herself entangled with him after it turns out that she has to serve as an alibi for his whereabouts the night a woman goes missing. Naturally, Todd is the prime suspect but did he do it?

The novel is told through the point-of-view of Tracey, the local Sheriff, Duane Sobczak, and the town psychiatrist, Dr. Meshulum Bakshir. There's simply too much inner monologue from them, especially from Dr. Bakshir, whose actions felt largely dramatic. While the first half of the book is well-written, the second half falls apart. Tracey's motivations for defending an alleged murderer are unclear and she doesn't seem to dig deeper to learn whether or not he really committed the crime.

The last few chapters felt like an information dump and even after re-reading them several times, I still feel like I am unsure what happened or why the villain snapped. The resolution to whether or not Todd murdered his wife is too tidy and ultimately, convenient.

Thank you to NetGalley and Polis Books for the opportunity to read an advanced reading copy. The book is out now.

After being cleared of his wife’s murder, Greg Norman returns to her (his wife's) small Connecticut hometown in order to finish building their dream house by the lake. He is eager to restart his life and cast aside any remaining suspicious...but all of that is dashed when a young woman’s body washes up on the beach next door.⁣
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What I liked: Multiple perspectives, small town setting, a little bit of romance sprinkled in, troubled youth. I also liked that I didn't predict the ending!⁣
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What I didn't like: flat characters, too many perspectives(I love multiple perspectives, but this has too many that I would get confused if I set the book down and picked it back up the next day)/characters and their similar names.⁣
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Overall I enjoyed this book. I appreciated the multiple perspectives, but truthfully I felt like the psychologist's perspective wasn't really needed as it didn't add too much to the story. I also didn't really feel any connection to the characters until about the halfway point of the story, where I found myself rooting for Greg and Tracy. All the A names- Amber, Amanda, April REALLY caused me confusion that required me to flip back and reread sections which I found extremely frustrating. I also found myself having to stop and sort out the connections between this group of three girls and the group of girls that were in the group home. I did love the “misunderstood suspect” trope that it had, and throughout the book I found myself feeling sorry for Greg.⁣
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Most interesting to me was the story of the "preacher" (priest?) and the "church" he had out in the middle of nowhere. In fact, if the author chose to develop some sort of book around that I would definitely pick it up and read it.

I have read almost everything by this author and loved all of it but this book left me feeling shortchanged. After being cleared of the murder of his wife, Greg Norman returns to her hometown to fulfil his promise to her of building a lakehouse. However, he soon finds out he is not welcome at all here and when a dead woman's body turns up near that lakehouse, Greg is the prime suspect. A lot of characters (maybe a few too many) , all seemingly with past secrets gave the plot a lot of momentum and potential, but I simply can't overlook the very confusing ending. I finished the book. Sure wish the author had as well. Thanks to Net Galley, the author and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This was just an ok read for me. It read quickly so that's good, but the ending was a little lackluster and I'm still confused on the motive for why things happened the way they did. Bottom line, it wasn't terrible and it wasn't the best book I've ever read either.

I appreciate the advanced copy. Thank you very much.

The first chapter and the synopsis had me intrigued. After, I just couldn’t get into the story. I picked It up, and put it back down a couple of times to retry, but it wasn’t doing it for me. I enjoyed Tracy’s perspective, but the rest was boring.

Normally, a small town lake house story, is right up my alley.

I would try another book by this author.

Solid mystery set in small-town USA. What did happen during those high school years? Do people change? Unsolved until the end, or is it?