I loved this and I hate that it took me so long to get to! I was completely captivated. And Matthew Sullivan’s writing is so refreshing and crisp.

A recent newlywed on her own while her husband is out of the country gets caught up in drama after finding a child covered in his mother's blood. Myth and murder combine to create a just-right experience for fans of traditional mysteries.

Midnight in Soap Lake is a haunting, atmospheric thriller that will keep you hooked from start to finish.

Abigail moves to the small, desolate town of Soap Lake, Washington, hoping for a fresh start. But when she finds a bloodied, catatonic boy in the desert and discovers his mother’s murder, Abigail is drawn into the town’s dark past—one filled with secrets, conspiracies, and a chilling urban legend.

Matthew Sullivan masterfully builds tension as Abigail unravels the mystery behind these deaths, with every twist pulling her deeper into a web of danger. If you enjoy slow-burn thrillers set in eerie, isolated towns, this one is a must-read!

Thank you to NetGalley for an ARC of Midnight in Soap Lake.

Abigail has moved to the small town of Soap Lake, WA for her husband's research. When he leaves for Poland for a temporary assignment, she finds herself alone haunted by its local legends and secrets. When a young boy stumbles into her life, Abigail discovers a long simmering mystery that goes back decades. But will it jeopardize her safety?

The premise was intriguing and yes, it takes some time for the pacing to ramp up.

There were parts I liked, the restorative properties of the lake, the varied cast of characters, and the descriptions of the small town, but the narrative got too bogged down in the 'science' of it.

Second, Abigail is not a compelling main character. She's a typical trope; not ambitious or interesting individual who is just tagging along with her husband because she's got nothing else going on.

I did like Esme and her flashbacks provided necessary exposition to her fate.

Third, I was confused to the purpose of TreeTop. At first, I hoped he was a supernatural deity, like Pennywise but when he turned out to be nothing more than redneck losers dressed up as an urban legend committing sanctioned murder, that left a bad taste in my mouth.

The scientific elements of the story combined with TreeTop made the narrative a bit messy to read, as if the author wasn't sure what he wanted the story to be about; a flat-out mystery with mysterious murders or eco-horror.

Did I miss the part why Esme's dad was killed or was that never fully explained?

The ending is ambiguous, not that I mind, but there are a lot of loose ends in regards to TreeTop and its real purpose.

The writing was good, but the plot was uneven and it could have easily been a straightforward mystery without TreeTop.

I really enjoyed the premise of this book, but it was very difficult to follow at times. I think the narrative got into the swamp several times with the details surrounding ecology, and I just found it difficult to connect. Otherwise, it was a fun suspense read.

My thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this book.

I can see I'm in the minority with my rating of this book. I just could not get into this story and I found myself skimming as I read. A lake with mysterious properties. A town haunted by urban legend. Two women whose lives intersect in terrifying ways. Welcome to Soap Lake, a town to rival Twin Peaks and Stephen King’s Castle Rock.
When Abigail agreed to move to Soap Lake, Washington, for her husband’s research, she expected old-growth forests and craft beer, folksy neighbors and the world’s largest lava lamp. Instead, after her husband jets off to Poland for a research trip, she finds herself alone, in a town surrounded by sand and haunted by its own urban legends.
But when a young boy runs through the desert into Abigail’s arms, her life becomes entwined with his and the questions surrounding the death of his mother, Esme. In Abigail’s search for answers, she enlists the help of a recovering addict turned librarian, a grieving brother, a broken motel owner and a mentally shattered conspiracy theorist to unearth Esme’s tragic past, the town’s violent history and the secret magic locked in the lake her husband was sent there to study.
As she gets closer to the answers, past and present crimes begin to collide, and Abigail finds herself gaining the unwelcome attention of the town’s unofficial mascot, the rubber-suited orchard stalker known as TreeTop, a specter who seems to be lurking in every dark shadow and around every shady corner.
A sweeping, decade-spanning mystery brimming with quirky characters and puzzle-hunt scenarios, Midnight in Soap Lake is a modern-day Twin Peaks—a rich, expansive universe that readers will enter and never forget.

Title Midnight in Soap Lake AKA Midnight in the Orchard by the Lake
Author: Matthew J. Sullivan
Publisher: Harlequin Trade Publishing-Hanover Square Press
Genre: Mystery Thriller
Pub Date: April 15, 2025
My Rating: 3 Stars
Pages: 336

Abigail and her husband Eli move to Soap Lake, Washington, for his research - he is a limnologist. Abigail expected apple orchards, draft beer, folksy neighbors and the world’s largest lava lamp. However, when Eli immediately jets off to Poland for a research trip, she finds herself alone, in a town surrounded by sand and haunted by its own urban legends.
True I am as curious Abigail about these legends. When a man who must be 15 feet tall peeks in her bedroom room, I thought I don’t know about you Abigail but I am out of here!

She learns from her friend Esme that he is actually a puppet who represents the legend of “Treetop’".

There is no doubt that this story is very different than my usual psychological thrillers!
Although I really am fine with reading paranormal stories, this one was a bit of a struggle.
However, I totally enjoyed reading the “Author’s Note”.

Matthew Sullivan tells us that he and his wife Libby lived in the real Soap Lake, Washington.
He tells as that TreeTop is entirely a figment of his imagination. Then adds it never hurts to check the branches about your head,

Trust me and be sure to read it as you will find it is as interesting as the fictitious Soap Lake.
There is no doubt out author has a great sense of humor as well as a very vivid imagination.

Want to thank NetGalley and Harlequin Trade Publishing ~ Hanover Square Press for this early eGalley.
Publishing Release Date scheduled for April 15, 2025.

Oh boy, I was so sure I was going to give this a five star review, but I ended the book feeling betrayed.
I liked the setting of this story, really liked the characters and how nuanced they all are. I liked the premise and how multiple questions arise throughout the book and how most of them get solved too.

Spoilers start here:

My main issue with this book was the ending. I feel like I needed a decent epilogue and that was not it. I invested a lot of time in this plot, going back and forth, reading the same event told from different perspectives, which got a bit tiring at some point, but ok, still interesting. To get to the end of the last chapter and not find out what happened to these characters I cared about? I really dislike when authors do that: “leaving it open for interpretation”, especially in such a long book. Speaking of long book, I think this work could have used more editing.

Thanks to NetGalley and Harlequin Trade Publishing for the ARC.

So fun fact, Soap Lake is a real place in my beautiful state of WA. It’s said that if you swim there you will be granted beauty because it’s rich in minerals (which is actually true). It’s an urban legend, but I grew up with one, so I was excited to dive in and see where this book went. Okay, so this book does play on the truth of Soap Lake, and I loved it. I much prefer the reason for the mineral rich soil in the book, it was a lot more up my speed, and honestly, it feels like a plausible explanation. I don’t want to say what it is because that would be a spoiler, but if you like thrillers, then you’d like the reason. I really enjoyed the dual point of view of this book because right from the start you know that one of them is passed away, and I kept needing to know what her story was. What happened to her? Both points of view intersect at the “who” of the crime around the same time, and it was great. The writing was well done and I really enjoyed it. I read the author’s book a few years ago, and it was obvious that he has grown as an author since. I really enjoy his writing and will continue to read what he writes because he crafts really well-done mysteries that I don’t get bored with.

Check this one out if you like well-paced mysteries with a fun tie in to a real life place.

Thank you to NetGalley and Matthew Sullivan for the digital advanced reader copy of Midnight in Soap Lake. This novel is just as gripping as Sullivan's first, Midnight at the Bright Ideas Bookstore. Sullivan has a fantastic talent for building monsters of incredible magnitude and then tearing down their facade to show the terrible, vulnerable, and complicated people beneath.

As a librarian, I had complicated feelings about Miss Nellie. She is a terrible librarian, censoring books, harassing patrons, and bullying her staff. She's also horrific for allowing her lech of a brother to harass Sophia. However, as a character, Miss Nellie with all her power tripping and judgement, complicated by her kindness/protectiveness towards Preston makes her and her motives through the progression of events before and after Esme's death highly suspect, adding to the suspense around Tree Top. Parts of the actual conspiracy in the town remain unanswered, which, while frustrating, realistically illustrates bureaucratic corruption in small towns like the fictionalized version of Soap Lake.

Abigail and Esme are both compelling narrators. It's hard to read about a character growing up, and coming to love them as they become themselves, knowing all the while how and when they're going to die. Somehow, despite the novel starting with the discovery of Esme's body, I still found myself rooting for her to grow up, get out of Soap Lake, and for George to find help for her in time. Children are often hard to write realistically, but George felt like a real kid, in all the nuance that entails. The detail written for the supporting characters, especially Kevin, Krunk, Sophia, and Silas, and a few moments with Dr. Carla, made them just as easy to care about as Abigail and Esme. Not necessarily easy to love, but the way Sullivan molded them made me care about what happened to them. The only one who fell flat was Eli, but that's mostly because he spent 3/4 of the book out of the country and out of Abigail's life - and because he REALLY lives for the science, not seeking to harm others, but also not seeming to have easy access to his empathy either.

Pastor Kurt's fall from grace (get the pun?) is an interesting one. He ruined his life and destroyed his future in order to keep Silas out of jail, ultimately resulting in Silas's death, the death of the one kid in town with the hope of getting out of there, and forced himself into indentured servitude. And it was ultimately all for nothing.

I didn't particularly like the ending. Returning to Esme was interesting, but the timelines of the alternating perspective had already just about reached her death. It just didn't line up well with the rhythm of the rest of the novel and the dreamlike quality of the chapter did the book a disservice. Sophia's chapter didn't make much sense other than to say that the town still underestimates the marginalized and she's learned how to use that to her advantage. It didn't tie up any loose ends, and it didn't add anything. I read it twice. It just feels like it ends too abruptly, lacking the closure that made Midnight at the Bright Ideas Bookstore such an engaging read all the way through. However, I do understand how integrating actual non-conspiracy law enforcement into the conclusion would be complicated given Daniel killed McDaid and Hal for orchestrating the myth and murders of Tree Top. I think what I wanted was more, not a return to the past to close the novel.

Also, what did George drop in the desert?

Is Treetop and the healing effects of Soap Lake real or urban legend? Only Matthew Sullivan can write a book like this that puts the reader right into the action. This would definitely make a great horror movie! Loved this book, thanks for the advanced read!

Twins Peaks meets 2022’s The Resort in this quirky mystery.

Soap Lake is a sleepy town where the residents dream of being home to the world’s largest lava lamp. As magical as that could seem, beyond that it is a once thriving resort town now down on its luck and full of secrets. Newcomer Abigail is determined to uncover those secrets.

This is a slow burn of a book, told from different timelines and points of view, and it is unclear at times where the author is taking the audience. However, it’s well written and the mystery itself is compelling. Fans of the genre looking for something different will enjoy this one, and it would be a solid pick for a book group.

This book started a little slowly but I was still intrigued enough to keep reading. The main character really comes into her own towards the middle of the book, which was nice. Small towns can be filled with secrets and Soap Lake was no exception. The secrets ran dark and deep. And secrets kill in a town like this. Finding out who was behind the secrets and why was not what I was expecting. This book ends in such a way that you feel satisfied that the truth has come out but also leaves a little wiggle room for a sequel. Which would be nice. I’d like to see how the main character moves on from here.

This book surprised me. I wouldn’t normally choose this book based on the cover but did enjoy it and the dual pov. The ending did feel rushed but was overall enjoyable,

The cover of this book is not something I typically would pick up, but I was pleasantly surprised!

I loved the dual POV, in the beginning of the book I did not care much for Esme’s POV. As the story progressed, my mind was changed and I grew to look forward to her parts.

My complaint about this book stems from the ending, it felt a little rushed and some characters didn’t feel closed out properly. Hopefully by the time of publication, the ending will feel more rounded.

Soap Lake was once a restorative body of water in Washington where people gathered to heal their bodies. It was a thriving tourist destination, Soap Lake in now a small community of fifteen hundred people. The novel is a then and now story about the murder of a high school student, the disappearance of his girlfriend, and the attempts of scientists to study the lake water. Abigail moves to Soap Lake with her scientist husband, Eli, who has a grant to study the lake waters. When Eli accepts an assignment in Poland, Abigail is left on her own. She soon learns the town's story and discovers unanswered questions about the murder that occurred eight years ago. Midnight in Soap Lake is an engaging story of local legends, dirty cops, and family secrets.

Welcome to the Pacific Northwest town of Soap Lake, home to the world's largest lava lamp (maybe?) and to a quirky cast of characters, including TreeTop, a mysterious specter who both haunts the town and serves as its unofficial mascot. The novel alternates between two narrators and spans multiple years. In the present, Abigail has moved to Soap Lake with her scientist husband Eli, so that Eli can study the lake. In the past, Esme, a teenage resident of the town, navigates both normal high school life as well as terrible tragedy. In the present, the two women's lives are connected by George, Esme's young son. What happened to Esme? Are Abigail and George in danger? And to what lengths will Abigail go to uncover the town's secrets and confront its sinister underbelly and terrifying history? Past and present will collide, and shocking truths will be revealed - but will every question be answered? Midnight in Soap Lake is definitely a rich novel that touches multiple genes, including mystery, thriller, crime, romance, history, etc. I found myself rooting for (some of!) the characters and eagerly turning the pages in search of answers right alongside Abigail and others that she enlists to help along the way.

TreeTop Kills.

In Midnight in Soap Lake by Mathew Sullivan, which I received early from Net Galley, a local legend haunts a small town with a magical lake and a deadly past. A mystery springs up when a local woman who moved away comes back only to get killed and leave behind her son. Abigail, who just moved into town, finds the boy and then gets curious about who killed his mother. She finds out more than she bargained for…

The mystery at the forefront of Midnight in Soap Lake is interesting, though the book itself takes forever to get going. The pieces of the puzzles are slow laid out, with a ton of flashbacks and current day stuff that doesn’t add up till much later. It took me awhile to get into this book. I even stopped reading it for awhile and read something else. Finally I went back to Midnight and kept reading. Till I got to about 60 or 70% complete on this book, Midnight At Soap Lake was a real slog.

The pacing in this book felt very off. The writing was good, the characters were interesting, but the mystery took forever to grab me and not let go. Once the book finally had me, I couldn’t stop reading.

Midnight At Soap Lake is a good book. You just have to be patient with this one.

It was also interesting to read that Soap Lake and its magical lake are real. Even the Lava Lamp that never came to be is real. TreeTop, however, is not real. Well, we hope he isn’t.

Midnight at Soap Lake comes out on April 15, 2025. Thank you to the publisher and Net Galley for providing an early digital copy of this book for review.

This was a wonderful book that did the multiple POV concept correctly. The characters were great and the writing was well polished. The mystery element kept me guessing throughout the book. Great job!

I was pleasantly surprised by how good this book was. The story was unique and interesting. Tree Top is such a cool, and spooky, idea. The dual POV I loved, despite at first thinking I wouldn’t care about Esme’s story, I quickly changed my mind and loved it.

Thank you NetGalley and Matthew Sullivan. #MidnightinSoapLake