What Lies in Darkness continues the intriguing Jess Lambert series, a police procedural thriller series with a spin............. a sprinkle of the paranormal.

Book one for me was just meh, book two though was what got my interest peaked - especially with that ending..!

I like Jess's character a lot, she's just worn down enough with her past to give her character the motive to why she acts the way she does. Then of course the mystery itself is one big puzzle, connecting back to book one so read that first for sure.

I am glad I enjoyed this one a LOT more than book 1. I loved this ending, that twist at the very end was shocking. I also liked how I was used to the paranormal aspect with this one, so it worked for me. This is worth the read for sure!

A crash in Killers Grove on Christmas Eve left Alice Harper injured on the side of the road. Alice's family is missing. Laura, Pete and Ella are nowhere to be found. They are presumed to be dead, but no one has recovered their bodies.

One year later, Alice is attempting to find all clues that lead to the discovery of her parents and sister's whereabouts. She's dealing with the trauma of the car accident day by day, and she starts to remember small bits and pieces randomly. Alice is also experiencing hallucinations. she sees a blonde girl, as well as hallucinations of her dad. Randomly she smells the lotion her mother wore daily. But what does all this mean?

Alice and her friend, Maya, find Ella's backpack in the basement of a house in Killers Grove. Once the cops are notified, Alice meets Detective Jess Lambert. Jess also sees similar hallucinations to what Alice is experiencing. Her therapist says this is related to a grieving response. Jess develops a rapport with Alice. Jess is determined to help Alice get closure and help find her missing family.

This is a page turner for sure. This is the second book in the series of Detective Jessica Lambert. This book was easy to read as a standalone, but this does make me excited to read the first book in the series. This was fast paced with lots of cliff hangers throughout the chapters. I would definitely recommend picking this book up when it's released!! Thank you to Christina McDonald, NetGalley and Thomas and Mercer for the opportunity to read this advanced readers copy in exchange for an honest review.

Well now........

Me thinks that Detective Jess Lambert has tied on her big girl kickass boots in this second book in the Jess Lambert Series. And this time, she's making some deep tracks embedded in a creative storyline that sizzles so much more than These Black Waters (2023). Christina McDonald, you've chiseled out some mighty fine characters to carry these buckets of intrigue and mystery.

Rarely do you find a central character who aches with the pain of this much loss. Alice was but sixteen years old when her entire family was taken from her on that frigid Christmas Eve. Peter and Laura bundled their two daughters into their minivan to make the quick journey home. It was after midnight when they came upon a detour sign. In a matter of seconds, something jumped out in front of the van and Peter swerved into a giant tree. Alice was later found stumbling in the dark with no memory of what had happened. Beyond belief, the bodies of Peter, Laura, and Ella were never found.

Alice is now living with her aunt and uncle, Jack and Mel. She's trying to stabilize her mind and her emotions from that fateful night. Christine McDonald does an amazing job of portraying the character of teenage Alice as she stumbles through the staggering reality of loss. Alice doesn't seem to be able to find a niche where she truly belongs anymore. She's lost all sense of direction and identity.

Detective Jess Lambert can almost taste Alice's despair. She was driving when her own young daughter, Isla, died. Jess carries that weight of guilt non-stop. She even turned to the bottle to kill the pain after a severe injury to her leg in the accident. Jess sees random images of Isla wherever she goes. And this will be a thread with some vibrant voltage in this storyline.

While I enjoyed These Black Waters (2023), What Lies in Darkness is a more fine-tuned and well developed offering this time. McDonald has her finger on the pulse of these characters. As readers, the veil slips to the side and we become privy to some really uncanny backstories. The set-up is masterfully formed in the hands of McDonald. The good guys may not always be good guys and the bad guys may not always be the bad guys. Peel that back and get a gander on the bones that reveal some real fleshy moments.

I received a copy of this book through NetGalley for an honest review. My thanks to Thomas & Mercer and to Christina McDonald for the opportunity.

First of all, thanks fot this great opportunity NetGalley!

3.8 stars, because at some point, i got bored? Or, maybe i'm not in a good vibe when i read this book.

But at first, i love the first chapter. It's grabbed me, makes me want to read the rest of the.story. Yeah, it's really good. Actually i read it for fivr days, and that was awesome ride though.

I love the paranormal things, that keeping up, besides how mystery handled very well.

p.s sorry for my english, but i enjoyed this book very much. Even some sentences noted on my little quotes book

What a great follow up to These Still Black Waters, the first book in the Jessica Lambert series! Jess Lambert is a detective in the small town of Black Lake who is newly sober after a year of battling alcohol addiction following the tragic death of her only child. The book opens with another family’s tragedy: last Christmas Eve, there was a car accident that left only one survivor, their teenage daughter, Alice. However, the bodies of Alice’s mother, father, and sister, missing from the scene, were never found.

Told from multiple POVs in the past and present, this book grabbed my attention from the first chapter, and kept me up well past my bedtime finishing it. Det. Jess Lambert is a complex, flawed character, and her story intertwines with Alice’s in surprising ways. Christina McDonald expertly layers the twists until the very last page.

In addition to book one, there is a novella, The Stranger at Black Lake, that gives some of Jess’s backstory, but it isn’t crucial to understanding the books. I highly recommend you read the first book before you read this one.

I’m looking forward to reading the next Jess Lambert book McDonald is hopefully writing! Thank you to NetGalley and Thomas & Mercer for then opportunity to read and review a digital ARC. This book will be published on July 16, 2024.

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC. The second in a series and it did not disappoint. Great mystery, well written, unforgettable characters that will grab you and make you want to continue with the next in the series.

[arc review]
Thank you to NetGalley and Thomas & Mercer for providing an arc in exchange for an honest review.
What Lies in Darkness releases July 16, 2024

On Christmas Eve when Alice was 16-years-old, her family of four suffered a fatal car accident. Her parents and younger sister died in the crash, or so everyone thinks, because the bodies all vanished. What happened between the moments from just before the crash and when Alice came to?

A year later, body parts and evidence from the car accident are found in a vacant home that Alice’s best friend’s mother cleans.
Will the town of Black Lake finally get the answers they’re looking for?

This was night and day compared to the rest of the books in the series. I found it gripping and unputdownable, with a plotline that was cohesive, intricate, and actually made sense in relation to the series lead, Jess.
The way the Harper family was connected to the detective was so clever and really rounded out the character arcs.
I’m really glad I decided to read this despite not loving any of the other books in the series, and I appreciated that while the supernatural element was still present, it was toned down a lot.

I'm not usually a series reader, but I'm totally hooked on Christina McDonald's Jess Lambert thrillers. In WHAT LIES IN DARKNESS, she takes an irresistible premise and propels it with memorable, complicated characters grappling with unanswered questions and unimaginable loss. Haunting, suspenseful, and expertly woven, WHAT LIES IN DARKNESS hooked me on the first page and never let go.

Christina MacDonald is becoming a new favorite author of mine! I read These Silent Black Waters (Jess Lambert 1) a few months ago and it was so good! This one was even better! It is the second in a series. You do not need to read the books in order but you there is some connecting information. Here’s a quick summary.

Alice is a 16 year old girl whose family went missing about a year ago, as the anniversary approaches, she is thinking more and more about the family she lost. Her mom, dad and sister all went missing on their way home from a Christmas Eve Party. Alice and her friends are partying in a house and find Alice’s little sisters backpack. As the investigation heats up, so does the danger! Jess Lambert is investigating the missing family and the connection to her present and past are undeniable. There is an air of ghosts in this story, Jess sees and speaks to her deceased daughter and others throughout the book. It’s done in such a great way that it adds to the story!

I highly recommend reading them both if you are looking for a fast paced, twisty thriller. I love Jess Lambert’s character and can’t wait to read more about her!

I enjoyed this book and it kept me interested. I look forward to going back and reading the first book in the series

3 stars. What Lies in Darkness is the second book in the Jess Lambert series. There is also a prequel which I haven't read. I did read the first book, and this second one can be a stand alone, but I recommend reading the first one before this one. Killer's Grove is where it all takes place. Alice, Ella, and their parents, Pete and Laura are driving home from their aunt and uncle's home on Christmas Eve when Pete loses control of the car in Killer's Grove and crashes. When Alice wakes up after the crash, her entire family is gone. Enter Jess Lambert. Jess is still working on herself after her own personal tragedy.. Jess still sees her daughter, who was killed in a car accident that Jess blames herself for. Can Jess help Alice heal and investigate to find out what happened to Alice's family?

This was a very good book. Very well written. Creepy, interesting. Told from different perspectives in different timelines. I liked it better than the first book. However, about 3/4 of the way through, the story just fell apart for me. There was too much going on. It seemed like 3 possible endings could happen and each one was sort of thrown in but not in a good way. Not that "wow" look at that way. Overall, it was immersive, the characters were done very well and the setting was superb for this book. Would I recommend it? Heck yes.

Thank you to Netgalley and Thomas and Mercer for the ARC. Again, I do recommend the book. I'm greatly appreciative for theARC.

Huh. This is one where I almost feel at a loss for words. The book kept my curiosity piqued almost the entire time. There were parts that were slow, but ultimately the tangle of Maya, Alice, Laura, Mel, and all the others was intriguing and well set up. The part about seeing ghosts felt odd but it generally worked.

Borderline spoilers: 1- It was heartwarming to read about Pete “moving on,” as well as Isla. The author was spot on when she says that those we love are never truly gone. 2- the last chapter… wow. Did not see that coming at all.

Welcome back to Black Lake for What Lies in Darkness, the second installment in the Detective Jess Lambert series. Jess is fast becoming one of my favorite female detectives! She’s so dedicated and cares so much about helping people, even while she battles her own demons of grief, loss, and addiction. Although you could easily read this book on its own, Jess’s character arc is so compelling that I absolutely recommend reading These Still Black Waters to get the full effect!

In this installment, Jess is assigned to investigate the mysterious disappearance of the Harper family. Last Christmas, their car was in a rollover car crash while taking an alternate route home past Killer’s Grove. Sixteen-year-old Alice was found injured but alive, but her parents and sister seemed to have vanished into thin air. Now a year later, new evidence reignites the languishing case, and it hits closer to home than Jess could have imagined.

I devoured this book in less than 24 hours! It’s so twisty, turny, and compulsively readable that I didn’t even want to put it down to sleep! I kept telling myself “just one more chapter” over and over again, I just had to see what was going to happen! Of course I did a lot of guessing but the plot twists at the end still had me stunned! The dark, atmospheric suspense is top-notch, but it’s the emotion and nuance of the characters that really takes this book to the next level. Christina McDonald, you are so clever and creative, you’ve got me completely invested in Jess and I’m begging you to keep this series going!

I can't get enough of the Jess Lambert series. I've never read anything like it, Paranormal thrillers are my absolute favorite, and this author writes them so incredibly well. Although this is in a series, it is perfectly fine to read as a standalone. There are quick summaries of Jess's backstory throughout this book.

Another fantastic book by Christina McDonald! I cannot wait for the next addition to this series!

WOW! This book was great. I loved how quickly the author jumped straight into the action, of course complete with all the shocking twists and turns. The ending had me SHOCKED. I loved how she tied everything together as well.

The story is told in two parts, present day and a year earlier, known as "before". On Christmas Eve a family of 4 travel down an icy road, spin on ice and crash, only to disappear and never found, besides one daughter, Alice. There are no bodies or trace of them, they simply vanished. Teenaged Alice is still struggling with the loss of her entire family. That's when detective Jess Lambert steps in and takes on the once cold case.

Such a great read, the entire book is very fast paced, which is perfect for a thriller. Highly recommend!

Thank you NetGalley for this ARC, all opinions are my own

As soon as I read These Still Black Waters last year, I knew I would be grabbing each new Jess Lambert book with excitement. This book is dark, atmospheric, continues to dwell deep into exploration of grief and loss but simultaneously it is engaging, bingeable and perfectly paced to convince you to read “just one chapter.”

If you haven’t already read These Still Black Waters, you should! It’s absolutely wonderful but also necessary reading if you want to get a full experience of What lies in Darkness.

This time around Jess is working on a case of a vanishing family. Driving home from a Christmas party, the parents and one of the daughters simply disappear, leaving 16 year Alice with so many unanswered questions and plenty of grief. Jess’s ability to see things others can’t and her drive to get the answers lead her deeper through her own part of grief.

I loved everything about this story. The mystery behind the case but also the way Jess and Alice connect in unexpected ways. Christina McDonald really brings Black Lake to life and town itself feels like another character in the story. Not to mention the fact that as a reader I am so invested in Jess finding her way to certain people in her life. And when a writer gets you to care about a character as if they’re a real person you know that’s some excellent writing.

Pick this up if you enjoy:
✏️ Police procedurals
✏️ damaged but bad a$$ main character
✏️ elements of supernatural
✏️ getting hooked on a good series because this one will keep you wanting more

As always, I’m absolutely thrilled to be a part of Thrillerbookloversthepulse hype and grateful to the author, NetGalley & Thomas and Mercer for my ARC!

I have never been disappointed by one of Christina McDonald’s books. She has done it again and written an engaging thriller that will have you guessing and second guessing the entire story. There are so many secrets from so many angles. Jess Lambert is on the case of course and has her own issues she’s still working through. Alice is the only one left behind and her family has either disappeared or been killed but no one seems to know what happened. I couldn’t put the book down until I read to the last page and I can’t wait to find out what case will find Jess next.

Thanks to Netgalley, the author, Christina McDonald and her publisher, Thomas and Mercer Paperback for an ARC to read and review.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for this eARC.

"What Lies in Darkness" by Christina McDonald is a riveting addition to the Jess Lambert series, plunging readers into a chilling mystery that intertwines the past with the present in a masterful tapestry of suspense.

In this second installment, we follow the harrowing journey of Alice Harper, a young woman grappling with the traumatic loss of her family in a mysterious car crash on Christmas Eve. The narrative deftly navigates through Alice's struggle with nightmares and unanswered questions, which are only exacerbated when her friends discover her sister Ella's bloodstained backpack in an abandoned house. This discovery sets off a chain of events that brings Detective Jess Lambert into the fray, a character whose own haunted past and dogged determination make her a compelling protagonist.

McDonald's storytelling is at its peak, weaving a complex plot that challenges the reader's perceptions at every turn. The author's skillful use of suspense keeps the pages turning, as each chapter reveals another layer of the intricate mystery surrounding the Harper family's disappearance. The emotional depth of the characters adds a rich layer to the narrative, making their personal stakes in the investigation palpable.

The setting of Black Lake, with its desolate landscapes and oppressive atmosphere, becomes a character in its own right, reflecting the darkness that lies within the human soul. McDonald's prose is evocative, painting vivid scenes that linger in the mind long after the book is closed.

As the story unfolds, McDonald confronts the reader with themes of loss, resilience, and the lengths we go to protect those we love. The novel is a profound exploration of trauma and the human capacity for recovery.

"What Lies in Darkness" is a must-read for fans of psychological thrillers. With its well-crafted plot, deep character development, and haunting atmosphere, it stands as a testament to Christina McDonald's prowess as a storyteller.

I enjoyed this book, however, sometimes the alternating POV’s could be a little confusing. I was hooked from the first page all the way to the shocking ending. I wasn’t expecting that and I think that made me love it even more. Thanks to NetGalley and Thomas & Mercer for the ARC in exchange for my review.

Jess Lambert is one of my new favorite main characters. She’s been through hell and back but is still a badass AND she can see ghosts!? Epic! This sequel to These Still Black Waters by @christinamac was full of twists and unexpected surprises, especially the ending! It was a wild ride and I was genuinely surprised when the truth about what happened was revealed! Hoping there’s a 3rd installment in my future!