The Orphanage by the Lake has a great premise—an investigator looking into a missing girl at a creepy orphanage—but it falls flat in execution. The main character is frustratingly unprofessional, the writing feels basic and full of clichés, and the mystery itself isn’t compelling enough to make up for it. The ending is rushed and unsatisfying, making the whole book feel like a letdown.

This was a decent thriller but my gosh, what an unlikeable main character. Hazel was really hard to connect with. The beginning was really strong but my interest fizzled about halfway in. Pacing picked up for the ending though and the ending was solid.

Wow Just Wow … this is my first book by this author & I will definitely be checking out others by him! As I was reading I kept thinking oh they are sketchy then I’d change my mind and opinion on them and kept thinking I had it figured out but by the end my jaw was on the floor ( super shocking ) and crazy makes you think! I love a good suspense thriller & this was Great! Thank you NetGalley!

Thank you for the ARC. This book gave me Taken (the movie) vibes. I did predict one art of the book but I didn’t guess who were the bad guys. This was a quick and twisty read. I like the female PI angle. In another life I would be some sort of investigator as I find that work so interesting.

Ｅｂｏｏｋ Ｒｅｖｉｅｗ
3.5 ☆
Hazel wants a new life. She is thirty years old, single, and her private investigation business is months away from folding. Her luck changes when Madeline Hemsley, a mysterious socialite, visits with an offer too enticing to resist. An orphan girl has disappeared from a children's home—The Orphanage by the Lake, as the locals call it—and Madeline wants Hazel to find her.

Now, this book cover and premise are what made me super interested in this story. A missing Black, biracial girl missing from an orphanage. Sign me up! This book definitely gave me Frieda McFadden vibes, in a good way. It was a super quick and easy read. It doesn't drag on and pretty much gets straight to the point. Once you hit the 40% mark, the book falls into place and becomes predictable, in a good way. I enjoyed it.

Thank you, Netgellay, and Poisoned Pen Press for the Ebook in exchange for my honest review.

Ok wow. I devoured this entire book in one day! It was so easy to read. Sure there were some things the main character did that were annoying like show up late for work, get drunk and go dates while supposedly working but clearly she didn’t have her life together. That’s what makes this book believable! This book follows a female Private Investigator who is about to go broke in NYC. A difficult client offers her a huge sum of money to find her goddaughter who went missing from an orphanage. She desperately needs the money but the deal comes with a short and firm deadline. We see the PI struggle with her past, the expectations of her family, her relationship with her male roommate and her romantic life while trying to solve the case that will likely make or break her career. 10/10 recommend for an easy and suspenseful thriller!! **trigger warning for Sexual Assault**

The main character, Hazel, is a private investigator who was hired to find a girl who went missing from an orphanage. As Hazel digs into the missing girl, she uncovers so much more than she bargained for.

Hazel was a cross between a smart bad-ass and an overly trusting, gullible woman. The latter almost cost Hazel her life.

This book was a fairly easy read that definitely captured my attention from the first page.

Thank you to NetGalley for the opportunity to read this ARC in exchange for my honest opinion/review.

This cover drew me in. Hauntingly large mansion by the lake, atmospheric vibes, throw in an orphanage, and I am cracking that cover open. Even though most of the twists and turns and who done it were predictable, I still devoured this read. The main character Hazel was likable and yet I was yelling at her throughout our time together. She is stubborn, wants to get to the bottom of the mystery. Yet you throw a halfway handsome man in her way, and she is done for. Forgets she is investigating them, forgets they could cause her harm, forgets everything!

Hazel has gone against all her parents' wishes and has become a PI. She is proud of her office and what she has accomplished. She is still riding right on the red. If she does not get a new case, she will not be able to pay rent or pay any of her bills. When the elegant and pretentious Madeline Hemsley blows into her office. Her Goddaughter has gone missing, and the police are not investigating. Madeline throws money at hazel, gives her a tight deadline, and a car to sweeten the deal. Hazel cannot say no and dives headfirst into investigating Mia and the orphanage she has grown up in. There are so many questions and suspects to hunt down and so little time.

The descriptions of Korean food left my mouth watering. I could smell the crisp fall air and visualize Lake George in all of its glory. Even though Hazel is a little naive and tends to get waylaid I was still entertained throughout the book. Thank you to Daniel G. Miller and Houndstooth Books for my gifted copy.

It's not often that I take a detour away from my usual nonfiction, especially for the sake of actual review. However, once in awhile, a cover grabs my eye or a title intrigues or word-of-mouth grabs hold and I put some fiction before my eyes.

Daniel G. Miller's "The Orphanage By the Lake" grabbed my eye, due equal parts to an intriguing cover, a great title, and a story centered around a mysterious institution and missing kids.

It's a set-up that sounds tailor-made for a great mystery and eventual late-night television watching.

This story centers around Hazel Cho, a 30-year-old Korean-American P.I. working out of New York City's Chinatown area.

The P.I.s in this type of story are either whip-smart with quirks galore tackling harrowing mysteries or filled with personal flows yet somehow always capable of revealing the answer that no one else has managed to discover. Our Cho leans toward the latter, her vulnerability on full display from scene one and her sense of burnout for this exciting career that has left her on the verge of financial ruin leaving her in tatters mentally, physically, and financially. I thought to myself more than once that she was coming off as the Barney Fife of investigators.

On a day when she's already had one unpleasant encounter, Cho's luck begins to change when she meets Madeline Hemsley, a mysterious socialite offering up a substantial reward for Cho's time-sensitive work on a girl's disappearance from a nearby children's home - The Orphanage By The Lake. For readers of mysteries and thrillers, this children's home is the perfect setting for an intriguing, heart-driven mystery surrounding the home's children and its easily suspect staff of antiquated yet ambitious souls.

It won't surprise anyone that each character presented will hold inside them unrevealed suspicions and a potential for guilt. It won't surprise anyone that our seemingly inept P.I. will prove more than able at discovering truths both the police and past investigators have left behind, however, Miller does a nice job of keeping final truths in the background even if you're figuring out those secrets along the way and wondering how he's going to wind this all to a conclusion.

For fans of Karin Slaughter or Freida McFadden, "The Orphanage By The Lake" will resonate as a competently constructed, engaging thriller with satisfying amounts of action, especially toward the book's end, and compellingly drawn characters. However, for fans of the late Andrew Vachss, a mystery/thriller whose stories nearly always centered around children in peril and the evils that men (and women) do, "The Orphanage By The Lake" will likely lack that authors grittiness and willingness to bare all (though at least once Miller comes close).

Ultimately, "The Orphanage By The Lake" is a mid-level, maybe somewhat above mid-level, thriller for me with the strong foundations for an immersive story that never quite immerses me in its world or in its characters. I can easily see this book becoming an indie cinematic thriller where these characters would have a little more room to brief, however, as presented here I really wanted to get more of a sense of who they are and why they do what they do. I wanted to spend more time in the orphanage and I wanted to feel this mystery in my bones - this would have helped the emotional impact of a somewhat expected yet powerful ending.

This one's likely more of a 3.5 for me, however, I'm skewing toward the mid-range as I can't help but feel like there's an abundance of potential for mystery and thrills left behind.

📅 Out 18 March 2025
⭐ 3.5/5

Private investigator Hazel Cho is no stranger to cases involving cheating spouses and insurance fraud, but when Madeline Hemsley, a wealthy socialite, walks into her office with a six-month-old missing person case, Hazel knows this one is different. A girl named Mia vanished from a children’s home known as The Orphanage by the Lake, and Madeline gives Hazel just two weeks to find her. The deeper she digs, the more unsettling the case becomes—cryptic symbols, unexplained blood stains, and shadowy figures watching her every move. Hazel has seen her fair share of deception, but the secrets hidden within the orphanage—and within Madeline herself—may be more dangerous than she ever imagined.

I enjoyed this book, particularly the atmospheric tension and suspense that built steadily throughout. Hazel is a capable, sharp investigator, and her frustration with the mundane side of her job makes her an intriguing protagonist. However, I struggled at times with her character. While she’s clearly intelligent, she occasionally ignores her own instincts in ways that seem out of step with her experience. Her dynamic with Kenny, her childhood best friend and a police recruit, also frustrated me—she knowingly risks his career by involving him in questionable situations without fully considering the consequences. For a lifelong friend, this felt a little careless.

Despite these gripes, this is the first in a series, and I’m invested enough to continue. There’s something compelling about Hazel, flaws and all, and I’m curious to see how she develops in future books.

✨ Thank you to NetGalley and Poisoned Pen Press for the eARC in exchange for an honest review!

#TheOrphanageByTheLake #DanielGMiller #NetGalley #MysteryThriller #HazelChoPI #PoisonedPenPress #BookReview #CrimeFiction #Bookstagram #ReadersOfInstagram

Very quick thriller! I was hooked from the beginning! The twists just kept coming. And of course none of my guesses were completely correct. This book read like a Frieda novel! I finishing in less than 24 hours.

Thank you to Net Galley for the ARC copy of this title.

The way I FLEW through this book was something I haven’t been able to do in awhile with reading. I thought I knew what happened to Mia about halfway through the book, and though I had part of it right, I missed the key piece and it was such a good read. Thank you for the advanced copy of the book!

I was just approved for this book yesterday, and then both started AND finished it in one day.

Hazel, our main character, went through a traumatizing experience that led to her deciding to become a private investigator. One day she is approached by a woman claiming she needs help to find her goddaughter who went missing from a children's home and she's willing to pay her an absurd amount of money if hazel can find her, and quickly.

This book hooked my attention right from the start, and left me wondering who the actually bad guy was throughout the whole novel. I loved the main character, and good or bad I found all the other characters interesting as well.

I can't wait for the next book in this series to come out in July!

Thank you to netgalley and the publisher for an advanced review copy.

Not the usual book that I would go for but glad I was lucky enough to get access to this as it was a very intriguing read!

Not really a book I was into, I don’t want to give anything away. It wasn’t horrible but wasn’t great in my opinion. Just a book for you to be the judge of.

Daniel G. Miller’s The Orphanage By The Lake is a gripping psychological thriller that keeps readers on the edge of their seats. The story follows private investigator Hazel Cho, who is hired to find a missing girl from a mysterious orphanage. As she delves deeper, Hazel uncovers dark secrets and faces unexpected twists that challenge her at every turn. Miller masterfully weaves suspense and intrigue, making this novel a must-read for thriller enthusiasts.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing an advance reader copy of this compelling book.

3.25 stars
I loved that the main character is a female, asian and a private investigator. The story starts off strong with her being hired to find a missing girl. As the story unfolds she discovers it is much bigger then one girl.
About half way through the plot becomes pretty predictable, the female character makes questionable choices that don't seem realistic. She also easily trust the new man she meets, and this makes her seem less kick a**. A few more twists would have really elevated this story for me.

This book gripped my attention but unfortunately it failed to keep hold. It was very much a predictable ending with little suspense. The main character is insufferable bordering annoying. Its a shame because this book has potential but just feels rushed and not really thought through. Sad to say only willpower made me finish it.
📚I was able to read an advanced copy of title thanks to NetGalley, Daniel G Miller and Poisoned Pen Press📚
📚All reviews and opinions are entirely my own📚

Thank you for allowing me to read this book as an ARC!
I absolutely loved this book. As soon as I started, it kept me engaged and interested. The characters in the story and especially the protagonist, were well developed and described. The protagonist was likeable and at times I wanted to 'yell' at her for watching out and not doing certain things that ended up being a great outcome though.
This is the first book that I read by this author. He definitely knows how to keep a captive audience. The story especially is very fitting and relevant for what goes on in the world and is a big problem in many countries (not wanting to give away any spoilers so I won't go into detail here). A big thank you for bringing the spotlight on it so it awakens more awareness!
I thoroughly enjoyed this book despite some disturbing topics. It was definitely a 5 star read for me!
I also just realized that there will be a 2nd book coming out to this, I will most definitely also read that one!

While I was attracted to the premise of the story, I could not connect to Hazel, the FMC. I found her to be annoying and incompetent. Instead of being an intrepid private investigator, Hazel seemed to be constantly fearful and suspicious even of her close friends. Granted she had a horrible attack when she was in college, but to be an independent, self-employed PI, Hazel had to be dauntless.

I don’t begrudge Hazel of having a private life, but given the tight timeframe for her to find answers and being on the cusp of being homeless and broke, her having romantic (yet sexless) interludes seemed out of place. The author also spent an inordinate amount of time mentioning Hazel’s eating and weight.

Maybe I’m being picky, but I felt there were small details that were missing. When the reader is first introduced to Hazel, she is getting dressed in a pencil skirt and blouse. The author even goes into detail as to her makeup. But no info on her footwear. Does Hazel lean into her femininity with her pencil skirt and makeup and wear high heels? Or is she more practical minded and wear flats or sneakers? This seemed a missed opportunity in developing her personality.

There is another scene where the bouncer is going through Hazel’s purse. He removes a Taser and her phone yet somehow misses a switchblade????

Hazel is having dinner with her boyfriend, Andrew. She observes that the lingering doubts that were plaguing her all day are finally subsiding with him being there. Yet, as they leave the restaurant, “I can’t ignore the gnawing unease that lingers….” Which is it?

Given Hazel’s Asian background, I was surprised to read about her walking around her apartment wearing shoes. Wearing shoes in the house is not a typical Asian practice. At least in my experience.