An okay novel that was set up like a thriller but was low on thrills. I’ll admit that I didn’t guess the final twist!

A whodunit case made up of alternating timelines following the lives of the Fadley sisters in order to solve the cold case of the eldest's disappearance. A cold case from the late 90's being rediscovered in contemporary times felt very today.. but I just didn't love the podcast insertions (though I feel as though there was reasoning behind them once I made it to the last transcript). I did however, enjoy the other pieces of social media that had been sprinkled into the story. There were a few plot points that just felt so far fetched it was distracting. In the end, I definitely enjoyed the book but it fell a tiny bit short of that 5 star for me.

Thank you to Net Galley and Crooked Lane Books for the opportunity to read an E-ARC of The Lake of Lost Girls by Katherine Greene in exchange for my honest review.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC of The Lake of Lost Girls! When I started this one, I was so excited that this might become a new favorite of mine. It covers the disappearance of four young women from many years prior - one of which was the older sister of main character Lindsey. The book follows Lindsey - and occasionally her missing sister Jessica - working through the events of the past. There's a mixed media element (which I'm always a sucker for), spanning posts akin to TikTok, transcripts from podcasts, and more. It had many suspects and, although I guessed the ending, it wasn't glaringly obvious and was a decent twist.

One thing I kept getting hung up on was the writing. Normally I'm no stickler, but this writing is so extremely literal. Everyone sounds angry or looks sad. Things are exactly as they are. It kept taking me out of the book a bit, like I was just reading a police report of what actually happened.

Overall, this is easy to read and pretty interesting. If you're new to thrillers, I think this would be the perfect place to start!

The Lake of Lost Girls: A Haunting Dive into Unsolved Mysteries (4.5 out of 5 stars)
Katherine Greene's "The Lake of Lost Girls" is a suspenseful thriller that will keep you guessing until the very last page. The novel cleverly weaves together two timelines: 1998, when a series of college students vanish from a Southern university, and the present day, where a popular true-crime podcast reignites the cold case and pushes a determined sister on a desperate search for answers.

The book excels in its atmospheric storytelling. Greene masterfully evokes the eeriness of the college campus and the chilling secrets buried beneath the lake's surface. The podcast transcripts add a unique layer, offering a glimpse into the public fascination with unsolved mysteries and the relentless pursuit of closure.

Dual protagonists, Jessica and Lindsey Fadley, are well-developed characters. We see Jessica's struggles unfold in the past, leading to her disappearance, while Lindsey grapples with the lingering pain and unresolved questions in the present. Their contrasting perspectives create a nuanced exploration of sisterhood and the enduring impact of loss.

"The Lake of Lost Girls" isn't without its flaws. The pacing can be a bit uneven at times, and some plot twists might feel predictable for seasoned thriller readers. However, the strong emotional core and the exploration of complex themes elevate the story.

Overall, this is a gripping and suspenseful read that will stay with you long after you turn the final page. Fans of mysteries with a touch of true-crime intrigue and those who enjoy character-driven narratives will find themselves engrossed in "The Lake of Lost Girls"

This book had a good plot with well written characters. I was rooting for some, others not so much. It was well written and kept me guessing.

This was a really well done ‘girls have gone missing’ cold case thriller and I was utterly hooked.

The star of the show is definitely the level of suspense that is built and maintained.

The plot itself was interesting enough to keep me interested but if you’ve read more than a handful of mystery/cold case/thriller novels then I don’t think the plot is going to be a huge surprise here. Nevertheless, I loved all the red herrings! I felt like each and every one I genuinely believed could be the answer and they were so cleverly explored and interwoven. The reveals and revelations were also cleverly done. While I did see the majority of them coming, that’s more to do with my inability to be surprised by a mystery than anything else.

As far as the podcast inserts… I get what they were trying to do, and that did bring a modern tilt to the story but they were more irksome and cringey than insightful. I genuinely feel the book would have been stronger without them.

It’s also worth mentioning that I didn’t like any of the characters. I’m not sure if that was a deliberate choice or not, but it’s always an interesting decision to have a whiny and rather unlikeable FMC.

Overall this was a really solid thriller and I can imagine so many people loving it. If you’re looking for something completely new or revolutionary in the genre then this might not be the one for you though.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an E-ARC

A really well done book! The twists and turns and the general bad feeling you get while reading made me pout the book down a few times before I could pick it up again. The different points-of-view combined with the podcast made for a great read!

This book has so many elements that I absolutely love, cold case, podcast and unbreakable bonds. At some point everyone comes under suspicion, and it keeps you guessing throughout the entire book. Some parts of the book seemed a bit farfetched and plot holes for sure but overall, I enjoyed reading this book. Thank you for the ARC NetGalley.

The Lake of Lost Girls fits right in with the current crop of books that include some sort of true crime podcast uncovering a huge mystery surrounding some cold case murder. The writing here is fine - the author does a great job developing and maintaining tension and moving the plot along. However, the reveal and twist at the end happened to be one of my personal triggers.

SPOILER










If you have issues with incestuous child sexual assault, this is not the book for you.

Thank you NetGalley and Crooked Lane Publishing for an eARC in exchange for an honest review.
The Lake of Lost Girls is a typically ‘girls are missing’ thriller. The novel told in alternating timelines with podcast clips intermittently spread throughout; it tells the story about Jessica Fadley and the struggles she’s going through during her freshman year. Struggles that aren’t normal for a young girl on her own for the first time in life. When her and 3 other girls at her college disappear, it becomes the talk of the small town. Twenty four years later, Jessica’s sister Lindsey is searching for answers.

I thought this book was very predictable which is why I rated it so low. Everything that occurred, I called out in my annotations chapters before it happened. It is a very simple and straight to the point who done it mystery - but that’s all it is. There are no twists and turns in my opinion that keep you guessing. The main character is bland and a tad whiney in my opinion. There just wasn’t anything to love about this book. It was good overall to keep you reading so you could confirm your assumptions at the end. If you enjoy an easy read with a simple mystery, this is the book for you.

Thanks to NetGalley and Crooked Lane Books for the ARC. "The Lake of Lost Girls" blends true crime and podcasts, focusing on college coeds' disappearances in the '90s. The story jumps between timelines and POVs, highlighting the struggles of Lindsey, whose sister vanished. While the slow first half and redundant dialogue tested my patience, the pace picks up later. Despite flaws, the book offers twists and a compelling mystery. Trigger warnings apply.

Thank you to NetGalley and Crooked Lane Books for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.
If you love true crime and podcasts, you may enjoy this mystery/thriller. The Lake of Lost Girls focuses on the disappearance of college coeds in the 1990s and the life of. One girl’s surviving family member. Told in multiple timelines and POVs, the story bounces between current day and the campus of Southern State U. in the 1990s.
I struggled with first half of this book, because it felt like many early scenes dragged on longer than needed. The conversations between two main characters were often redundant, and I found myself skimming pages.
Around the halfway mark, the pace picks up. The premise and plot are both strong, but the delivery was lacking. I enjoy a fast-paced thriller and found this book to be rather slow burn for the first half. And while I’m a fan of mixed-media books, the podcasters in this story were very light-hearted and disrespectful, almost to the point of feeling farcical. I think I would have rated this 4 stars if not for the very slow and repetitive first half.
However, the book offered red herrings and misleads and was a fun, interesting mystery with twists and I’m glad I decided to finish reading.

Thank you to #NetGalley and #CrookedLaneBooks for sending this book for review consideration through NetGalley. All opinions are my own.

The book contains trigger warnings and complex themes that may be unsettling to some readers. Aside from murder, the novel is rife with depictions of objectification of women, grooming, infidelity, predatory behavior, police incompetence, psychological dynamics of toxic familial and teacher-student relationships, and trauma.

One of the maddest plot twists I've read since "Sharp Objects."

Mystery novels infused with the intrigue of true crime podcasts are currently all the rave. I may have read more than five books using this trope as a framework, yet it's far from being overdone. There's more to unpack from this method of storytelling to introduce the murder mystery narrative, offering a unique blend of realism and social commentary that retains reader engagement.

When a true crime podcast creates a buzz about the unearthing of human remains in Doll's Eye Lake, the people of Mt. Randall speculate that the remains were of Jess Fadley, who vanished twenty-four years ago. Jess's sister, Lindsey, was just a six-year-old then, and she's been struggling with the void of her sister's absence ever since. When Ryan, a determined journalist, seeks the help of Lindsey to uncover the truth behind Jess' disappearance, more bodies have surfaced in the lake. In this dysfunctional madhouse of a thriller, Greene takes us into a small town's dark secrets that will blow your sanity away.

"The Lake of Lost Girls" swirls as an intriguing whodunit that starts with a slow build, but halfway to the end, the plot finally heads in the right direction. But despite a seemingly ascending trajectory, the tension ebbs and flows. It wasn't until the final pages that everything started falling into place. The alternating chapters offer evidence of the murder in the present while responding to previous chapters' cliffhangers by narrating what transpired in the past as it happens. I can't help but gush at how the authors structured the narrative by LINEARLY laying down the pool of suspects and highlighting their relevance to the plot in individual chapters. The author cleverly executed the narrative flow, preventing me from going back and forth between chapters to analyze specific characters.

If there's one thing that would make me remember this book, it is the brilliance of including news articles, clippings, and social media posts within the narrative. Such visual elements blur the barrier between fiction and reality as readers partake in the immersive journey.

I would have given this book five stars in a heartbeat, but I cannot deny I was on the verge of abandoning it due to its tedious nature and the repetitive stream of consciousness from Lindsey and Jess. Additionally, most of the characters were downright toxic and unlikable, except for a few decent ones. Misgivings aside, the unexpected twist stunned me. I've run through possible outcomes in my head, but the jaw-dropping moment threw me for a loop.

"The Lake of Lost Girls" is a sad tale brought upon by traumatic experiences and society's ills. It gnaws on your skin until nothing is left. The aftermath left me in grief-stricken astonishment, all while confronting moral ambiguity. Murder mysteries are genres I've come to love for the thrill, but no matter how fictional most of the narrative is, its foundation is rooted in reality. And it is damn terrifying.

A small town college.
4 missing girls from the same campus.

A sister who was young when Jessica, her sister, went missing.
Parents who never spoke of it.
Until, 24 years later, they were forced to deal with the past and their part in it.

When the first body is found, a journalist shows up at Lindsey's place of business.
He has investigated the disappearance of her sister Jessica since the day she disappeared.
Lindsey senses something is "off" about him.
She decides it is time for her to learn more about her long lost older sister on her own.

Told through the voices of both sisters in the past and the present, the author does a great job of building characters, not only of the sisters, but touching on the interaction between Jessica and the other missing girls on campus.

I enjoyed this book.
The story held my interest.
I, too, wanted to know what happened to Jessica and her peers.

I struggled a little with Jessica's behavior since some of her actions were the exact actions of someone she dearly loved that negatively affected her.
When she started going down the same path, I was tempted to set this one aside as unbelievable.
I am glad I pressed on, as the reasons behind her choices helped the whole story come together in the end.

I did think the shoddy police work piece of the story was a bit excessive.
No police officer, even in a small college town, could get it THAT wrong. Be THAT incompetent.

Another thing I want to mention is the True Crime Podcast that intermittently pops in.
While it wasn't annoying, it didn't add anything at all to the story.
As far as I could tell, its only purpose in the book was to open the door for a sequel.

Overall, this one was a good read that I would recommend.

Thank you to Netgalley and Crooked Lane Books for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Loved it!

Pros: Engaging storyline, loved all the plot twists, likeable characters. There wasn’t just one suspect and I was guessing until the end. Fast paced. I personally like the FB posts and little things interspersed throughout.

Cons: This is the 3rd or 4th recent book centered on a new true crime podcast, although this was well done and written, the concept is well used now

Rating:
4 stars/B+

Thanks to NetGalley and Crooked Lane Books for this ARC! The Lake of Lost Girls is a thriller set in a small college town where four college girls went missing 24 years ago. The main character is Lindsey, one of the missing girl’s little sister. The case is re-opened when a body is found in a local lake. Lindsey begins to look deeper into her sister’s disappearance and her life at college. She discovers a side to her sister she didn’t know and uncovers complicated family secrets while she’s at it. The story jumps back and forth in the timeline and several of the chapters are from different characters’ points of view. There is an added element of a true crime podcast that brings attention to the case but honestly seems unnecessary in the development of the story. With the multiple points of views, podcast, and timeline jumps it’s hard to stay focused. The story was intriguing but the “big twist” was pretty predictable. Again, the premise was intriguing and the true crime podcast element was something new I hadn’t seen an author employ before but I did not enjoy this book as much as I thought I would

It’s been a long time since a thriller book kept me on the edge of my seat from beginning to end and that it blew my mind.
“The lake of lost girls” introduces us to the missing cases of 4 women which were never found, and the investigations turned cold. The weird aspect of these cases was that the girls were connected between each other, but the police never took that into consideration.
24 years had passed and one of the girls’ bodies is found and the investigation is back to uncover secrets, where Lindsay Fadley (sister to one of the missing girls) wants to find answers and her way she is finding people from her sister’s past, in addition to a murder podcast which shines the light to all of these girls.
There is so much to say about this book, but I don’t want to reveal too much because it was journey and I want you to experience it for yourself. It is written in two-line times which makes it a friendly story to keep up and you’re never lost between story lines.
This book leaves in evidence the lack of work of the police and how the little attention to those who seem to be the guilty ones and the power that a “good reputation” can have to overlook a clearly bad behavior.
The story is so well written that everyone seems guilty, and you don’t know who to trust and who is telling the truth. Each chapter ends in a cliffhanger which makes you not let go of the book, and the tension build to reach the ending was magnificent and the ending even better. MINDBLOWING.
If you are going to read the book, please consider the following trigger warning: murder, infidelity, predator behavior, dysfunctional family, teacher-student relationship, trauma.

Katherine Greene's "The Lake of Lost Girls" is a suspense-packed thriller and enables the reader to feel like part of the puzzle while the mystery unfolds. Told from the dual perspective of two sisters, this cold-case mystery is captivating from the very first chapter.

Author Katherine Greene takes her readers back in time to 1998, following the disappearance of four female Southern State University students. Lindsay Fadley, the younger sibling whose older sister Jessica disappeared without a trace the same year as the other female students, is still consumed with uncovering what happened all those years ago.

There was a botched police investigation paired with multiple suspects, including a professor, a boyfriend and someone in the sister’s own family.

The unique storyline includes snippets of podcast episodes, social media posts and newspaper clippings from the time of the murder and present day. This thriller had me invested in solving the cold case and uncovering the truth behind the mystery of the missing students. I was on the edge of my seat until the very end. I can’t wait to recommend this book to all my fellow readers. It’s one of the best thriller books I’ve read this year!

Publication Date: November 5, 2024

Thank you @netgalley and @crookedlanebooks for the arc in exchange for my honest review.

Was a beri suspenseful story.
Good character development and plot twists.

I could not stop reading but I wanted something more

Thanks to NetGalley for this arc! This is a true crime mystery novel with dual timeline and dual pov about a missing girl named Jessie/Jess. Present day is from Lindsay’s pov and the past is told from Jess’s pov in college. We get to see what unfolds about Jess and what happened to her along with the aftermath from her sister’s pov in the present day which I found basic but there’s something to it that’s interesting. From Jess’s timeline it feels a little predictable to me. The story drags a little and I didn’t really like the podcast in the story but I very much enjoyed Jessica’s pov more than Lindsay’s. the twists of this story is really good if you love true crime/mystery I recommend but for me personally as I did enjoy it there was some that just didn’t go well together for me. All together a 3.75 for me.