This was engaging with a lot of drama and action. Kay is the main character who is a former FBI profiler who goes back to the small town where she grew up after her brother goes to jail for an assault. I loved getting everyone's back stories. Kay is complex or rather her past is.

All the profiling skills offer insight into the actions and motives of the killer. I absolutely love it and it was so interesting.

Overall a really great fast paced book. If you're a crime lover, this one is definitely for you.


There are triggers so be warned (kidnapping and torture)

A popular theme with some new energy! There are a lot of "female profiler with baggage" books out there, and this is definitely one of the better ones. The "baggage" is a bit more interesting than most, and the dynamic with local police was definitely engaging. This looks to be the first in a series, and I'll definitely read the second - got me hooked enough to find out what's going on!

The Girl from Silent Lake is a very well written thriller. A gripping plot with many twists and turns. A real edge of your seat page turner.

Leslie Wolfe never fails to make me stay up past my bedtime to read her thrillers.
Kay receives a phone call from her brother. After a brief bar fight, Jacob is arrested and sentenced to jail time. Kay knows her brother will never survive a month in jail, let alone several.
Kay leaves her FBI BAU profiler job to move back home - a small rural town, her childhood house Kay ditched after graduating high school.
Only to be met with evil. Someone has been taking women, torturing them for months and burying them on Silent Lake. Kay knows it's only going to get worse.
Teaming up with the local detective, Kay races to create a profile to help catch a viscous killer.
Excellent plot, very creative and great suspense. Love the characters. Looking forward to the next book.

Dr Kay Sharpe returns home to help her brother and is drawn in to a murder case. Gritty but good read.

This is the first book in for Detective Kay Sharp
She leaves her job as a F.B.I profiler to return to her home town.
It’s not long before Detective Elliot Young ask for her help when a mother and daughter go missing and other women start disappearing.
Looking forward to the next in the series.
Thanks NetGalley

Dr. Kay Sharp, a profiler with the FBI for 8 years in the San Francisco regional office, is called home to Mount Chester when her younger brother, Jacob, is put in prison for assaulting a man in a bar. Kay hasn't been home for more than 10 years, but she needs to look after the family home and see what she can do about getting Jacob released. Although Kay's childhood was traumatic in some ways, she's very attached to her brother and feels responsible for him. Once back in the small town where she grew up, Kay is immediately invited into a current case involving several dead and missing women and children. Her liaison is Detective Elliot Young with the Franklin County Sheriff's Office and she joins him as they begin the investigation into the cases of Silent Lake. When buried bodies are found demonstrating interesting ritualistic components, they know they are hunting a serial killer. The villain is very clever and is always one step ahead. Can Kay and Elliot find the latest victim in time and will they stop this psychopath's twisted plans? NO SPOILERS.

This is the first in a new series by this author and it has all the typical elements of the crime thriller genre, including my least favorite trope -- the killer sets his sights on the female protagonist as the ultimate prey and they have the inevitable confrontation where she is in his clutches. The plot was predictable and though well-written, I didn't find the twists and turns or suspense that was advertised. There's a bit of detailed description about the abuse the captured women suffer but it's not too graphic. Of course the female protagonist has issues from her past and secrets to keep but I sense a romantic element coming in future installments. I'll find out shortly as I am intrigued enough to read the second book right away.

Thank you to NetGalley and Bookouture for this e-book ARC to read and review.

Detective Kay Sharp left her home after an unforgettable family trauma. A Special Agent with the FBI, she is a renowned criminalist and also has a psychology degree. Coming back home is the last thing Kay wants to do, but her brother Jacob is being jailed for a short duration. Kay feels responsible for Jacob and his house, so she leaves her career behind and goes back to home to a place where she is haunted by terrible memories.

The story unfolds in minor acts, building in emotional substance. With a profusion of imagery in the writing style, it makes you feel you are right there in the book, and that’s something I look for in a delightful book.

Leslie Wolfe is a new name for me in the world of books, and it thrilled me to read the first book in a new series. I love how she developed Kay’s personality. I am excited to read the next book in the series. I love Kay and cannot wait to see how she handles her next case.

Thanks to Bookouture and to NetGalley for this ARC for review. This is my honest opinion.

Detective and FBI profiler Kay Sharp has made it her life’s work to save others. Now she is returning to her home in Mount Chester where her brother, Jacob, is in jail. There is fear that a serial killer appears to be targeting women in the community and she is asked to assist in the investigation. One woman has been found murdered, wrapped in blanket, and a second woman has gone missing. Not only is the woman missing, but she was with her six-year-old daughter. The daughter is nowhere to be found. Is the killer closer than she realized? Will she be able to find the killer and stop him before he kills again? I have read other books by Ms. Wolfe and books about serial killers and their twisted reasons for killing, but the dialog involving the little girl was difficult for me to read. A satisfactory ending as Kay refuses to stop until the killer is stopped. I received an advance review copy at no cost and without obligation for an honest review. (by paytonpuppy)

FBI profiler Dr Kay Sharp quits her job and returns to her hometown when her brother is imprisoned for a bar room brawl. Almost immediately, she spots a newspaper headline and becomes convinced that a serial killer is active in the area but can she convince the local police team...?
The Girl From Silent Lake refers to Kay, a determined and tenacious investigator who is adamant that a serial killer is on the loose. Women's bodies are discovered and there are children missing. She teams up with Detective Elliot Young and together they rapidly look for clues to save the latest missing woman and her daughter from a vicious ending.
Kay, Elliot and the killer all have secrets in their past that affect their present actions and viewpoints. I enjoyed the dynamic between Kay and Elliot as they negotiate a new working relationship yet remain mindful of their own pasts.
Author Leslie Wolfe includes chapters from the killer and victims' viewpoints and these are difficult to read due to the intensity of the violence perpetrated. I admit to initially feeling some sympathy towards the killer as he reveals his troubled past but I suspected that his skewed viewpoint did not tell the whole picture.
I was totally engrossed in this book from the first page. Kay's past is gradually revealed and this gives the reader an emotional investment in her success and safety. The pace was rapid and there were plenty of twists. The killer and victim perspectives increased the 'human' side of the story and made this unputdownable!
The Girl From Silent Lake was an excellent crime thriller and I can't wait to see what happens next in the series.

I really enjoyed this mystery. Kay is former FBI profiler who goes back to the small town where she grew up after her brother goes to jail for an assault. The book unravels their back story along with the story of a serial killer. Kay works with the local PD to solve the case.
Engaging ride.

Drama, actions, twist and turns made this book a great read. It's the firs book I've read by this author, but it definitely won't be the last. Can't wait for the next one to see what's next.

I have never read a book by Leslie Wolfe and once I started this book I became a fan for life! SO much suspense and mystery ! I was hooked from the first couple chapters and look forward to more books by this author. Time to go back to her back list of books and see what I have been missing out reading ! Great book! Love that this is a series and I will be anxiously awaiting the next book in this series! LOVED!!!!

Reading Between the Wines book review #23/115 for 2021:
Rating: 4 🍷 🍷 🍷 🍷
Book 📱: The Girl from Silent Lake
Author: Leslie Wolfe
Genre: Mystery & Thrillers
RELEASED ON February 19, 2021!!!

Sipping Synopsis: Kay Sharp is an FBI profiler called home when her brother is arrested but charged overly harsh for his crimes. When she gets there, she gets involved in a murder case with a missing child. As she starts investigating, she starts getting closer to the killer she realizes that she wants to catch the killer but not at the cost of revealing her secrets.

Final sipping thoughts: I felt like this story was 3 mini stories woven all into one and it was done seamlessly. I don’t think it is a hard jump to figure out who the killer is because the clues are dropped early on. But it was very interesting watching Kay try to solve the case knowing who the killer was going to turn out to be. I really enjoyed Kay as a protagonist and can’t wait to read the next book in this series.

Cheers and thank you to @NetGalley and @Bookouture for an advanced copy of @TheGirlFromSilentLake

#TheGirlFromSilentLake #Bookouture #NetGalley #advancedreadercopy #ARC #Kindle #Booksofinstagram #readersofinstagram #bookstagram #nicoles_bookcellar #bookworm #bookdragon #booknerd #booklover #bookstagrammer #bookaholic #bookreview #bookreviewer #IHaveNoShelfControl #ReadingBetweenTheWines #fiction #thriller #suspense #mystery #MysteryAndThrillers

When Kay Sharp’s brother is tossed in jail for a minor offence which should have merited only a slap on the wrist, she can’t make sense of it. But she does what she has to do, taking a leave of absence from her job as an FBI profiler based in San Francisco, moving back to Mount Chester, the tiny ski-resort town where she grew up. She expects it to be a quiet six months, just living in her parents’ old house, keeping the home fires burning until her brother gets home. But almost immediately, Mount Chester is rocked by the discovery of a young woman’s body, buried in a strange, ritualistic way that sets Kay’s threat alarms tingling immediately. Kay’s sure it’s a serial killer. Offering her assistance to the local police, she teams up with Detective Elliot to try and catch the killer before the body count rises further.

As the story goes on, we learn more about Kay’s own traumatic past, and then it’s revealed she has a much closer link to the killer than she suspected. That she, herself, is a target for a twisted killer, who has been pulling strings to get her back under his sphere of influence for quite some time.

This is really, really good. Kay is a fascinating character with some major trauma in her background, and the detective she is partnered up with is intriguing in his own right, though we don’t get a lot more than snippets of his background (and hints of the intense crush he is developing on her). There were some big twists in the reveal of the killer’s background and identity, though we’d been getting snippets from his point of view all along. I’d be really intrigued to see where the series goes from here, particularly with Kay’s brother presumably coming home and the two of them settling in together. Five stars for a fascinating start to a great new series of psychological thrillers.

This is my first book by Leslie Wolfe but it won't be my last! I can't wait to see what's next for these characters. A few twists and turns, some red herrings, drama, action. this book really has it all and the pace was great, the characters are perfectly flawed.

Riveting read! I would have finished this one a lot faster if it hadn't been for so much going on in my life at the time of reading. I found myself thinking about getting back to it when I wasn't reading.

Kay Sharp is a great character with a complex past. I found it interesting and intriguing how she profiled the killer. As a former FBI agent, life pulled her back to her hometown, to a past she wanted to forget, and a house she would probably prefer to see burned to ground. But family is obviously important to Kay--namely her brother and her deceased mother. Her father? Well, there's a story there you'll need to discover for yourself by reading the book.

With nothing much to do in a small, northern town of California, Kay finds herself writing the local sherrif's office with her thoughts about murders in the area. She never expected that a detective would show up at her door suspicious of her involvement. After all, he doesn't understand how she'd have all this understanding of a killer if she wasn't the one behind the deaths. But what is a rocky start, becomes a quick partnership between a cowboy detective who hails from Texas and a former FBI agent from San Francisco.

There's intrigue, suspense, and danger. Maybe the unnecessary of putting oneself in harm's way toward the end...but that just had me screaming at the book and flipping the pages faster to get to the resolution.

And speaking of "resolution," this book wrapped up quite nicely!  I hate it when you get to the end of a book and are like "ah, wait a minute, what about x?!" That wasn't the case with this one. Any loose ends were tied up making it a very satisifying read and Leslie Wolfe an author to look for. In fact, this book even delivered a bit of a warm and fuzzy ending, which one doesn't always get from a crime novel. But it actually left me curious about what Kay's future might become. I also wonder if there's going to be a romance developed in the future between Kay and the local detective Elliott.

I received an advanced reading copy of this book for honest review. Thank you to the author, Bookouture, and NetGalley.

Thank you to Netgalley and Bookouture for allowing me to read this. This is my first book for this author and I was HOOKED from the beginning! I definitely didn't see the ending coming like it did.

Leslie Wolfe has a great way of keeping you guessing while reading this thriller!

I kept thinking they were going to find out Kathy's secret and somehow that was connected to everything or at least the killer. Definitely looking forward to this series!

This is book the will grab you from the first page and you won’t be able to but it down until the last page. Kay an FBI profiler is coming home after many years. With her mom gone all she has left is her brother Jacob. When he calls to tell her a simple bar fight has landed him in jail for 6 months. Kay returns and is haunted by the secrets of her past.
Kay can’t help but be intrigued when she hears about a murder by Silent Lake. She can’t help but get consumed with the details of the case. Being on leave from FBI she really misses the details not found in the paper. After receiving more than one letter from a concerned citizen Detective Elliott goes to pay Kay a visit.

Will Elliott and Kay team up? When more bodies start being found, could there be a serial killer in this small town?

Highly recommended!
Thanks Netgalley for complimentary copy. Thoughts and opinions are my own.

This novel, The Girl from Silent Lake by Leslie Wolfe is the first instalment in the Detective Kay Sharp series, set in her hometown of Mount Chester. Dr Kay Sharp is a former FBI agent who was based in San Fransisco where she was a forensic psychologist involved in criminal profiling. Her younger brother Jacob has been imprisoned for six months following a brawl in a bar, and she has temporarily returned to Mount Chester, in the Northern Californian mountains to housesit for him. When a dead woman is found by Silent Lake, partially buried by leaves, her hair braided and her body wrapped in a blanket, the experienced Kay believes there is a serial killer at large and they will strike again. Then another woman, Alison Nolan, vanishes along with her daughter, Hazel, and the local detective, Elliot Young, asks for Kay's assistance.

This is a rapid-paced, compelling story with masterful execution. The constant action means there is never a dull moment and the threads detailing Kay's personal life are equally as exciting as the main plot concerning the murders and abductions. Told through the eyes of Kay in the present day as well as the past, the reader is also treated to the killer's thoughts and motives. I really warmed to Kay; she displays independence, fierceness, and strength and gets on with her life whilst trying to look out for those she loves. The timeline shifts are seamless and expertly done as Kay addresses her awful and deeply traumatic childhood years.

An author with an impressive back catalogue, Leslie Wolfe is a new author for me and one whose work I am so glad to have come across. I liked her writing style and found it hard to tear myself away from this book. I am really excited to read more from Leslie Wolfe and this series going forward. It was a pleasure to read The Girl From Silent Lake, complete with it's terrific, jaggy finale and I highly recommend it.

I received a complimentary copy of this novel at my request from Bookouture via NetGalley. This review is my own unbiased opinion.