Though the second in the series, this is my first read written by J. J. Dupuis. Cryptozoology fascinates me (I'm a water creature lover!) and was not disappointed in the bits of science and legend presented here. Cressie, the legendary lake monster in Lake Crescent, Newfoundland, has made appearances dozens of times throughout history.

Laura is drawn to this legend and has a personal quest as well. She is the team leader of a cable TV show which flies to NFLD to film locals tell their stories and hopefully catch a glimpse of a huge eel, the width of an adult's thigh. Not only that but there are also rumblings of holes appearing in the ice during winter. Laura and her team go about their business, interviewing and filming, and are at hand when a discovery is made, one of which they had not expected. This discovery adds layers of mystery to the expedition. There are a few back stories involving the team members as well. We are privy to snippets of their inter-relationships and their dealings with the locals. There is even a great food description which is enjoyable.

My favourite aspects of this book are the suspense (though not a psychological thriller level of suspense) and plot. I feel the characters aren't explored as much as I would like but that's a personal view. The chapter headings are also revealing. When on a Loch Ness boat ride in Scotland I fervently hoped for a Nessie sighting, whilst knowing full well it wouldn't happen. Still, legends are fun to read about and leave one wondering...what if?

Intrigued by myths and legends swirling with mystery? Do read this. I look forward to the next book in this series.

My sincere thank you to Dundurn Press and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC of this interesting book in exchange as an honest review. Much appreciated.

Laura Reagan is a Cryptozoologist that hosts a TV series named Creature X.
She and her crew set out to Crescent Lake in Newfoundland to film her latest documentary as they search for “Cressie” a gigantic eel said to be living in Crescent Lake. “Cressie” has been described by locals to be as large as a human thigh. Evidence of actual sightings is sketchy at best. When a local declares he has caught the legendary eel and offers to allow Laura and crew to examine it for a fee of $5,000 they realize they have been duped. In spite of knowing that the local is trying to pull a fast one on them, Laura decides to play along. She and her crew sail out to the location that the eel had supposedly been caught. As they dredge the waters what they discover is not an eel breeding ground but a human skeleton wrapped in a tarp. Thus begins an investigation into the mystery to discover who the person had been and what secrets were buried with the murdered victim. I found the first 1/3 of the book to be a bit slow. As the mystery unfolds, the pace for the remaining 2/3 of the book made up for it.

3 Star
Lake Crescent is the second in the Creature X series, following Roanoke Ridge. 

A cryptozoologist and her tv documentary series crew visit Lake Crescent, Newfoundland, Canada in search of the infamous giant eel, Cressie. While pulling up their ROV from the brackish water after a day of underwater exploration, they pull up a female skeleton as well. Thus, an investigation opens up involving small town rumours, pirate treasure, and love triangles. What is this tight knit town hiding? What is the truth about Cressie? Who is the killer? The tv crew get to work figuring out the truth to a decades long disappearance. 

This brought me back to my childhood creature-loving days. I was interested in this piece of Canadian folklore as I have never heard of it before. This is a very Scooby-Doo style story; a basic whodunnit featuring a creature and a bad guy. The first half of the book was a little boring, but it sped up and the end was more exciting. I felt that the characters were a little flat and there were some cheesy similes, but it was full of aquatic knowledge and excerpts (at the beginning of each chapter) of real life Cressie publications. Overall, this will be a decent beach read that will crawl under your skin just enough while you’re out camping by the lake-- considering the publication is set for August 2021. 

Thank you to NetGalley and Dundurn Press for giving me this book in exchange for an honest review

A television crew goes to Newfoundland to document the sighting of a giant eel Cressie (interesting!!!) when they find a skeleton (ooh! even more interesting!) and start investigating what happened. This book has so many elements of a book that I would love but unfortunately I didn't.

For the first 30% the book felt dry and textbook-ish. The action started to pick up after that but even in the end, I couldn't really keep track of who did what and who was who. Maybe it was me, but it didn't ever really fully captivate me.

Thank you to NetGalley and Dundurn Press for an advance copy of this book.

Thanks NetGalley and Dundurn Press for this book. It was a fast read, and engaging. A cryptozoologist and her team head to Newfoundland to look for Cressie, a giant eel, so they can film a documentary. Cue the scary music. Instead, they pull up a skeleton wrapped in a tarp along with a Portuguese gold coin. What don’t the villagers want the outsiders to know?
This book is set for a Summer publication and it will be a great beach read.

Amazing story. Well developed characters that are in a twisted engrossing thriller. Highly recommended. Super suspense that comes to a satisfying end! Highly recommended . A true roller coaster thrill ride

This was a very nice and fun mystery! I loved the setting and I loved how the writing style perfectly set the vibe and atmosphere.

I found it a little hard to get inside Laura's head despite her being the pov character, but all the rest of the characters were really great and interesting. I particularly liked Lindsey and Saad.

I haven't read the first book of the series but it felt to me as this worked great as a standalone, to be honest the references to Roanoke Ridge just piqued my interest and I feel like I must read it asap, too. It was also super fascinating to learn about Cressie and now I'm very tempted to look up the myths surrounding different lake monsters around the world.

Thank you for this really enjoyable read!

Folklore and sea monsters, murder plus pirate loot well that’s different. Loved this second book in a series, although it can easily be read as a stand-alone.

Lots, I mean lots of technical jargon to make the reading reach a higher level of understanding. Sea monster knowledge. What could be better.

Things don’t start off great: scientific evidence is scarce, stories keep changing, and locals are throwing a wrench into the production. But what began as a simple TV shoot takes a drastic turn when the crew pulls a body from the depths of Lake Crescent.

Thank you NeyGalley and publisher Dundurn and J.J. Dupuis for this advanced copy.

Next installment may be someplace tropical, hint, hint!

I received an advanced reading copy of this book through NetGalley. I discovered that it was the second book in a series and I haven't read the first one in the series. That being said, the book works as a stand-alone book for the most part. There are some mentions to events that happened in the first book, but not many.

One thing I found was that a number of the lesser characters were not introduced very well and they all seemed to blur together to me. It didn't help that there was some flipped between referring to them by their first names, and sometimes by their surname. I take it that these characters were given more of a background in the first book.

The book as a very nice pace to it and a very good build up at the start. What I liked about the story was the unpredictability; it starts off as a monster-chasing story but morphs into a mystery. But unlike a lot of common mysteries, it doesn't follow an entirely predictable pattern or outcome, which I like.

On the downside, while the overall pace is good and there is a slow build up of tension, the climax/ending just sort of shows up out of nowhere.

That being said, faults aside, I did really enjoy this book and I'm going to go back and read the first one.

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC.
#LakeCrescent #NetGalley

Thank you to NetGalley for an ARC of Lake Crescent.

I didn't read the first book in the series but Lake Crescent works well as a standalone.

I love cryptozoology ever since I was kid, especially Nessie, so I was intrigued to read Lake Crescent. Cryptozoology and a mystery! Count me in!

Laura Reagan, host of the cryptozoological documentary series Creature X, and her team are in Newfoundland investigating the legend of Cressie, a giant eel.

It's not easy producing a documentary with little physical and scientific evidence, but to make matters more complicated, the crew pulls up a dead body from Lake Crescent. Laura soon realizes Cressie isn't the only mystery lurking in the murky depths of the lake.

I like Laura Regan; she's smart, resourceful and tenacious, like Nancy Drew. And like the famous teen sleuth, she has a knack for discovering dead bodies and solving the mystery, not without incurring bumps and bruises of her own.

As Laura probes into the mystery with the local authorities, her two loyal colleagues are eager to lend a hand and the three of them break the case of a decades old mystery fostered by greed and jealousy.

My favorite parts of the book are when Laura and her team discuss how local legends grow and evolve in the community; why some myths and legends persist through the centuries and the explanations behind the scientific techniques and equipment Laura and her team use to prove or disprove the legend of Cressie.

I would read the next book in the series.

I enjoyed the first book in the Creature X Mystery series, so I figured I'd enjoy this one as well.

Laura takes her team to Newfoundland to shoot an episode on Cressi for their documentary series Creature X. Cressie is rumored to be a giant eel, but there is no scientific evidence, the town's people change their stories all the time and some of the locals just aren't too fond of a camera crew go around their town for a sensational story. When the team lowers some equipment to the bottom of the lake they fish up something no one expected a dead body. Danger and mystery is something Laura attracts and just can't let go of. She goes in full investigation mode, trying to solve the cold case and to prevent other events from escalating.

It took me about 1/3 or maybe a little more to get fully into it. It might be because I've been reading many books in a different genre, that is just paced differently. Or the first 1/3 just wasn't as good as the other 66%, who's to say? I don't like eels, so the search for a giant eel is just gross but to each their own. I like Laura's character, she is a no-nonsense type of character and does what she thinks is best. That doesn't mean she doesn't listen to others, she just does her own thing and tries to keep others safe while doing so. She sure has the best intentions. Creature X is something you mide see on Discovery Channel or Nat Geo Channel, but not something I would watch. I would happily read books like this, where the Creature is less important than the mystery.

I loved the writing style in Lake Crescent! I was very fun to feel like I was in the story and felt all the same emotions as the characters. Well done to J.J Dupuis for that. I liked the story but I think there could have been more of a "punch" nearing the end.

Thank you to Netgalley for an eARC of Lake Crescent!

J.J. Dupuis deftly delivers another truly thrilling "Creature X" mystery with Lake Crescent. The welcomed second entry in this sensational series starts with a lake monster legend in Newfoundland. However, after their arrival on the scene, our favorite cryptozoological investigation team find themselves knee deep in a murder mystery. Will they find the creature? Will they find the killer? Those questions propel the reader forward in this wholly satisfying page turner. Any person with an interest in cryptozoology, science, or mysteries will be glad they read this book. I can't wait to see where the next adventure will take our heroes. Thank you to Dundurn Press and NetGalley for the advanced reading copy. #LakeCrescent #NetGalley

Many thanks to NetGalley and Dundurn Press for the second book in the Creature X Mystery series. I had read and enjoyed the previous book, Roanoke Ridge and was excited to receive the advanced digital copy. I did not feel it lived up to the promise of the first book in the series, mainly because I found the subject of the investigation, a giant fresh water eel, not as tantalizing or frightening as the Bigfoot (Sasquatch) in Roanoke Ridge.

From childhood, I was always fascinated by books and articles dealing with cryptozoology. I was skeptical of reports of sightings of legendary creatures such as Bigfoot, Yeti, and the Loch Ness Monster, and other mythical creatures not yet proven or disproven by scientific research. I often wished that someday the existence of such a creature would be confirmed. That is if it kept its distance, and did not mutilate to devour humans.

The protagonist, Laura Reagan, has a popular website that aims to bring scientific facts about creatures mentioned in cryptozoology to a wide audience. She is skeptical of these myths and scientific hoaxes. She is cynical, resourceful, and tough through martial arts training and hiking. She is impulsive and curious, ready to intrude into police investigations.

This time, Laura travels to an outport village in Newfoundland to study the possible existence of the fabled Cressie, a giant eel living in a lake. I found the subject of this research to be dull and not as intriguing as other creatures mentioned in cryptozoology articles. While Laura and her team are filming and interviewing villagers about Cressie, they stumble upon a mystery involving jealousy, murder, the fate of two lovers, and pirate gold. Laura is a well-developed character, but secondary characters were less distinct and lacking in personality.

Laura's intrusion into the police investigation shows her to be an intuitive and determined amateur detective. I hope interviews and film her team obtained about the search for the truth about Cressie will be successful. I wish her project gives her enough audience so she can next go overseas where there are some fascinating legendary creatures to make exciting subjects for her research. The story ended with the mystery solved after a dangerous and frightening action sequence. The team was thinking of next going somewhere warmer than Newfoundland for their next investigation. I will definitely read the next adventure in the series.

224 pages

3 and 1 / 2 stars

Laura Reagan is a presenter on a television show that debunks stories of fantastic creatures/monsters. This time she and her team ar headed to Lake Crescent in Newfoundland. A gigantic eel (?) that the locals have named Cressie is supposed to live there.

When the local wise acre offers them a chance to examine the giant eel he “caught” in the lake, (for only five thousand dollars), the scientists know that it's a scam. But they decide to play along. When they sail out to where he supposedly caught the beast, they dredge up a gruesome find when their ROV gets caught on something.

It is a body. Another body, just like in Oregon on the last adventure. Jeez! Trouble just seems to find Laura. She then gets drawn into the search for the identity of the woman skeleton and the story gets bigger. She draws in a couple of sidekicks in her adventure.

It is not exactly against her will that she gets drawn into the mystery.

This is a well written and plotted little novel. It is almost a cozy. Mr. Dupuis writes well and is good in his use and choice of words. There were a couple of small typos, but I'm sure they will be rectified in the final printing. This book is an easy read with very little tension or drama. The scene at John's house got a little hairy, however. I usually read books with more punch.

I want to thank NetGalley and Dundurn Books for forwarding to me a copy of this good book for me to read, enjoy and review.