I received an advanced copy thanks to NetGalley.

This is the exact book I needed. Who dunnit- who killed the four girls in the colleges. The professor? The boyfriend? The sketchy room mate? It made me suspect everyone, they were all a tad sketchy.
My only downfall is it was wrapped up a bit too quickly at the end. But I liked it all the same.

More like 3.5 but I rounded up. I really enjoyed the setting and characters, and all the different pieces. The thing I struggled the most with was the reveal. I think it fit, and I liked it, I just wanted there to be a little more character development to make it a little more believable. Still a solid thriller though!

The Lake of Lost Girls by Katherine Greene is equal parts haunting and heart-wrenching. A stunning tale told in alternating timelines, the format lent itself incredibly well to this tale. I look forward to reading more of Greene's work!

Katherine Greene's "The Lake of Lost Girls" plunges readers into the chilling depths of a cold case mystery, blending suspense, intrigue, and the unbreakable bond of sisterhood. However, as the narrative ebbs and flows, the novel struggles with its plot execution and character development.

Set against the haunting backdrop of Southern State University in 1998, a series of student disappearances casts a long shadow over the campus. Among the missing is Jessica Fadley, whose life's downward spiral becomes the story's focal point. Fast-forward two decades, and we find Jessica's sister, Lindsey, desperately searching for answers, spurred by a new lead from a true crime podcast.

The novel's suspense is its lifeline, with podcast snippets adding a modern edge to the tale, though they often feel more irksome than insightful. The most glaring issue is the implausibility of Jessica's corpse remaining hidden for so long.

At its core, "The Lake of Lost Girls" aspires to captivate with a fresh take on the thriller genre, integrating the allure of true crime podcasts. Yet, the execution of key plot points requires more meticulous handling to achieve a story that resonates with authenticity. For readers who can navigate the unlikable, two-dimensional characters and specific plot inconsistencies, there may still be treasures to uncover in Greene's suspenseful narrative.

I am grateful to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for the opportunity to review an advanced copy of the book and share my honest impressions.

I'm not sure if I enjoyed this book or enjoyed the concept of it. The story is told between two sisters' viewpoints, one in the past, Jessica, and one in the present, Lindsey. In between their narratives, there's transcripts of a podcast and some pictures and social media posts about the story. Jessica, the older sister, goes "away" to college right outside of her hometown. She goes from being a good grades, education minded girl in high school, to a partying is way more fun than school college girl. While she is trying to navigate who she is now, a girl from her school goes missing. Then another one...and then another one...and then she does too. Twenty-some years later, we're with her little sister Lindsey. The girls are all still missing, the case has gone cold. Then a body is found and things start to come together for the cold case. If you like thrillers that don't want you to look too hard at things (and see the cracks in the story), this one is definitely for you. The ending is supposed to be shocking but barely is and leaves more holes than it fills. The characters are all unlikable, the podcasts hosts are the kind to make fun of a crime more than be sympathetic (a point the book even mentions), the flow of the story is wobbly and not just because of the two narratives. A big theme seems to be police ineptitude, which is mentioned A LOT by everyone. There's a confession at the end, which requires the police to not actually look into anything anyway. I want to mention a full page description of the weird and silly mailboxes in this town. It has nothing to do with the story, it's not even something to divert attention away from a clue, it's just odd filler. If anyone can explain what the purpose of these mailboxes was, I'd be interested to know.

Overall, this is a thriller book, no question about that. There's a crime and it gets solved in a "whaaat" kind of way. There's some holes and odd plot points. The way the story is told between the two sisters is interesting. The podcast stuff would be better if the book wasn't obviously against true crime podcasts. Solid 2.5 stars, very middle of the road all around.

FANTASTIC! Told from different pov’s and different timelines, this is a fun book to read and it keeps throwing twists and turns.

The structure of this book is all over the place and is such an elaborate and over the top web of who is deceiving who that the final resolution was flat out bizarre, then the book just abruptly ends with a neat little wrap up saying what happened to everyone.

The book opens with snippets from a new true crime podcast about a woman Jessica from a local college who went missing in 1999 and then switches to the perspective of that woman's sister, Lindsey, who still lives with her parents in the same town, and Jessica herself, interspersed with podcast updates, Instagram posts, and press relases from the police. The release of the podcast reignites Lindsey's interest in what happened to her sister in addition to the sudden appearance of a man who shows up at her work and promises to help her find out what happened. We then find out that it was actually four women who went missing from the college (including Jessica) and all four knew each other.

Every man in Jessica's life is depicted as a suspect in the most over the top way possible- all of them being creepy, violent, liars with so many red flags it's ridiculous. Obviously of course any author will engage in misdirection to keep the reader guessing, but it was taken so far in this case that it strained credulity. Lindsey encounters some of these men too and ignores every single red flag in a way that doesn't even seem like it's how women are socialized and conditioned to be "nice,"it just doesn't make any sense whatsoever.

There are some half hearted attempts at feminism in this book in the form of various women either explicitly saying or thinking to themselves that it's unfair women are responsible for the feelings of men or whatever, but it's shoved in there in an incredibly awkward way that seems like the author felt obligated to make that point. The topic of how true crime media treats women is touched on, but also in a way that seems like the author wanted to make a point, but didn't know how to do so naturally. The podcast text in between certain chapters appears to function as kind of a Greek Chorus to sum up what the actual reader might be thinking in the real world in terms of who is the perpetrator, what actually happened, and so forth.

Just in general a lot of the dialogue and interations between the characters seemed very awkward, stilted, and not at all how anyone would interact in real life. I felt that it was almost like a soap opera in a sense with the melodrama and if it were possible for characters in a book to overact.

Despite all of these reservations I had, I am rounding this up to 3 stars because the story was compelling enough to make me really want to know what had happened. The final resolution was very creative, however incredibly bizarre, unrealistic, and the short little summary of what happened to everyone made it feel very abrupt and like something was missing.

Many thanks to Crooked Lane Books and to NetGalley for this ARC to review. This review is my honest opinion.

A thrilling whodunnit which kept me guessing all the way through. Characterisation was strong as well as the storytelling. Bits of it I think could have been cut shorter as I found myself skimming through some sections. But overall great read which I couldn’t put down

In 1998, four girls from a South Carolina small town college disappeared without a trace, including Lindsey's older sister Jessica. Jessica was the absolute center of the family's universe, and to say she was their father's favorite would be a gross understatement. The shadow of her disappearance and the dysfunction left behind still drives Lindsey's life twenty-four years later. Now an adult in her 30's, Lindsey is a successful hotel manager who lives at home not because she has to but because the trauma their family endured is still so strong they can't seem to break free of it.

Then a decades-old decomposed body is found by Doll's Eye Lake (best atmospherically-creepy-as-hell name I've seen in a while). A popular cold case podcast catches wind of the activity and brings the whole investigation from the disappearances back to light, turning Lindsey's life upside down. The perspective of an adult is different than that of a little girl, and with the unwanted help of a jaded journalist in town to poke old wounds (who just happens to also be an attractive older man), Lindsey discovers there's much more to the mystery of her sister's disappearance.

The Lake of Lost Girls wins on the disturbing atmospheric thriller level, from the little details and Lindsey's discoveries (again, Doll's Eye Lake) to the hints and foreshadowing that Lindsey follows down her path. I enjoyed the time bounces between Jessica's college life leading up to the disappearances and the present day. I also thoroughly enjoyed the flaws and complications in the lead characters which make the story less straightforward and the main players more unpredictable.

Katherine Greene is a pen name for A. Meredith Walters and Claire C. Riley, who have done an excellent job weaving the many facets of the necessary crumbs of thriller/mystery plot right along with the character arcs, so the story moves along at a fast pace and switches timelines without losing any of its heart along the way. I thought the aftermath of the disappearances on Jessica's mental health and the spiral leading to her own disappearance was particularly well done, and that lead up to the reveal of the ending made it satisfying.

I did predict a few big points along the way, including the gist of the end (of course I'm not saying what they were here, that's no fun for anyone, and I'm a weirdo who can be hard to surprise). For that reason alone, I gave this one four stars (thrillers get five stars out of me if I can't predict a darn thing). I enjoyed the hell out of this one and I could see it as a Lifetime or Netflix movie.

The Lake of Lost Girls will be available in all the usual places on November 5, 2024.

The twists! The turns! The Mystery of whodunit! I loved this book!
Honesty I'll be recommending it to everyone and would absolutely purchase this on audible and listen to it again.
Loved it!

Firstly thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for the advanced copy of this book . This is my honest review.

Wow what a book . Really fast paced never a boring moment . Told from the dual timelines of both sisters past and present day interspersed with podcast elements newspaper reports and police records the story played out with the disappearance of 4 college students and the hunt for the killer .

Great twists all the way though and the ultimate twist at the end . Would highly recommend this book to everyone . 4.75 ⭐️

Katherine Greene’s “The Lake of Lost Girls” is a fast-paced novel set in North Carolina. It involves multiple college-aged female students who go missing in the late 1990s, as well as the search for answers 24 years later. One of the girls who goes missing is Jessica Fadley, a local girl whose parents and sister, Lindsey, still reside in the town where Southern State University is located.

When the book begins, a new podcast has been started and its purpose is to talk about the missing girls, the police investigation back then, and explore new pieces of information. One of those new pieces of information involves the discovery of multiple bodies at a nearby lake. As Lindsey begins listening to the podcast, she also begins reexamining the disappearance of her sister and tries to discover the answers.

There were a few red herrings and I must admit I, sadly, had the bulk of what happened figured out by the end. It was still an enjoyable read, though.

Overall, I recommend this book. Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for my ARC.

Lindsey lives her life behind the shadow of her sister Jessica, who has been missing for 24 years. A podcast dedicated to her missing sister and other college acquaintances of Jessica has surfaced and is bringing back old memories and unwanted attention to her family, friends and people from their town. The story goes back and forth between the present and the past and both situations bring a lot of thrill and angst because everyone is a suspect but no one has ever been able to find the killer of these young college women. Reader, know that you are in for a huge and rude awakening, because you will never guess who the killer was.

I honestly think I love Katharine Green a little bit. I fell head over heels in love with their debut novel The Woods are waiting. And they were able to solidify my love with The Lake of Drowned Girls. Honestly they are going to be an instant buy for me from now on.

Of course this book had one of my biggest pet peeves, what make me love it even more. Mixed media, I love it when it is well executed. And in this case, it is just wonderfully done! Podcast episodes, flashback chapters from alternating perspectives, news articles and social media post are scattered throughout the chapters. It doesn’t break up the story line but adds little puzzle pieces that you as a reader need to put together. I loved this concept, but then again I love true crime podcasts and youtube channels. So this was right up my alley.

This is a slow burn thriller, not an adrenaline rush. I come to think that this is a signature move of the authors. Creating a scene, creating a feeling, creating an atmosphere… it was important in their first novel and once again in this one. It takes away some of the speed of the storytelling, but it adds so much information for the reader. It felt like I was on campus or in the town while reading this novel.
I loved it and I cant wait to see what is next!
Thanks to netgalley and the publisher for providing me with an ARC.

Alternating between 1998 and the present day, the novel tells the story of Jessica and Lindsey Fadley, two sisters whose lives are forever changed by a series of mysterious disappearances at Southern State University. As Jessica vanishes amidst the turmoil, Lindsey is left grappling with unanswered questions and a relentless desire for the truth.

The use of podcast clips adds an intriguing layer to the narrative, drawing readers deeper into the investigation alongside Lindsey as she unravels the dark secrets surrounding her sister’s disappearance. The tension builds steadily as the sisters’ stories unfold, leading to a shocking revelation that will leave readers breathless.

With its well-crafted plot, complex characters, and atmospheric setting, “The Lake of Lost Girls” is a must-read for fans of psychological thrillers and true crime mysteries. Katherine Greene skillfully blends suspense and emotion, delivering a captivating tale of sisterhood, resilience, and the search for justice.

Jessica Fadley is so excited to start college! Even though she’ll still be close to home, she can’t wait to escape her stifling relationship with her parents and to start her journey into adulthood. Once there, she pledges at her Moms sorority and becomes friends with her roommate and her new sisters. Life is good, until some fellow female students start to mysteriously disappear.

I’m a huge sucker for novels focused on the missing. I just can’t seem to get enough. With multiple missing women and a huge whodunnit forming around them, this novel had major promise. It started out really well and I was immediately intrigued by the story. However, some aspects fell a little flat. The character building was ok, but even the main characters felt a little weak. The story was good and kept me guessing for the most part, but it felt slightly like more of a young adult novel.

Those two things aside, I still enjoyed this book. I enjoyed the twists and turns and couldn’t get to the conclusion fast enough! I also really loved the addition of podcast transcripts, blog posts, and Facebook posts scattered throughout. This was a unique touch!

Overall, I liked this book a lot and feel it’s absolutely worth the read if you love a good mystery or true crime! Many thanks to NetGalley and Crooked Lane Books for gifting me an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

A classic thriller, who-dunit, so many clues as to who the perpetrator could be - but I’ve got to say very satisfied with the ending.

This is a great summer read, following the disappearance of 4 young women from South State University in the late 1990’s. We follow one of the missing women (narrated in her voice in flashbacks), her sister (narrated now in her voice) and a true crime podcast trying to solve it. Misogyny, grooming, the bonds of family and friendship.

A solid 3.5 stars, rounded up and a worthwhile read.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher Crooked Lane Books for an ARC of this book in return for an honest review.

*Thanks to NetGalley and Crooked Lane Books for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review.* My goodness, what a story. I devoured this in a weekend and did not see the twist coming. There have been quite a few books published recently based around the concept of a 'cold case' podcast, but Greene's 'The Lake of Lost Girls' does not read like the others, but is instead a fresh take on the sub-genre. The story shift between the present and the late 1990s and deals with the disappearance of four young women from Southern State University in North Carolina. Lindsey was just six years old when her beloved older sister, Jessica, a freshman at the university disappeared. In the present day, she is a thirty year old woman (still living at home with her parents), looking for some answers. A thrilling and intense read.

Thank you NetGalley. This whodunnit was crazy! Greene did an amazing job keeping the details obscure until the last minute. The dysfunction of the Fadley family thoroughly fleshed out and Greene made sure to show Jessica slowly spiraling. Her relationship with her parents were equal parts weird and sad. And Lindsey was put in an awkward position as the second child and as the sister of the unsolved mystery regarding Jessica. This was really good.

The lake of lost girls is a brilliantly written edge of your seat thriller. The book is told in alternating perspectives between two sisters, Lindsey in the present and her sister Jess 24 years earlier in the lead up to her disappearance.

In 1998 four women from the same college go missing and the case remains cold until 24 years later, a popular crime podcast tells the girls stories and shakes up the investigation, it's not long before the missing womens bodies turn up at a nearby lake. The clips from the podcasts, the social media posts and police transcripts in each chapter were a great addition to the book.

The story is gripping and has a jaw-dropping ending that is heartbreaking but also brilliant. It kept me guessing right up until the end.

Thank you @netgalley @katherinegreeneauthor
and @crookedlanebooks for the ARC.