This is a hard one to review for me. Did I love the book, no. Did I enjoy it, yes. There was just so much lacking from this story. The storyline itself wasn't bad, I mean, I finished it and didn't hate it. But it felt very surface level, especially when it came to the characters. 

You get most of the story through the eyes of Tracy who is a divorced mom who meets Tod Norman who everyone thinks killed his wife, but was never found guilty. The rest of the story we get through other characters. While I enjoy stories from an outside point of view, I honestly just didn't see the point of Tracy. For me, she didn't add a lot to the story besides providing an alibi and showing the side of Tod everyone refused to see. I would have liked to see more from Tod's perspective. 

This was a 2.5 Stars for me. I may check out other books from this author to see if I get more from another story of theirs. 

Thank you the Netgalley and Polis Books for a copy of this title in exchange for an honest review

Thank you to #Netgalley and #Polisbooks for the opportunity to read and review "The Lakehouse" by Joe Clifford. I have read other novels by Mr. Clifford and looked forward to this one, but I have to admit I found it a trifle disappointing.

While it is still a good story, the plot seems a bit light.

Todd Norman has returned to Covenant, after being found not guilty of the murder of his wife, April; and he's building a lake house because of the promise he made to his late wife when they moved back to this small town from New York. But the locals are not happy, as they all believe him to be guilty and having escaped justice.

But Chief Sobczak has other problems on his hands: disappearing young women, all of whom were friends with the deceased woman, as well as his daughter. They all seem to have slipped through the cracks after troubled teenage years.

Then Tracy Somerset, a young divorcee with a child, meets a handsome man at the late night Walmart and begins a relationship with Todd Norman; Tracy grew up in Covenant, married her high school sweetheart (who subsequently wrecked their marriage) and was also friends with April (Abbott) Norman as well as the chief's daughter and at least one of the other missing girls.

Throw into the mix a backwoods preacher 'Uncle Bob',who runs a non-denominational 'church' on the outskirts of town, and the town psychiatrist whose work with a number of the girls is somehow linked to their current situation, as well as April's father who is adamant that his former son-in-law is a murderer and you get a semi-Peyton Place of twisted personalities and secrets.

The book is a decent read, but the resolution to the cases did leave me hanging.

Special thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an electronic ARC of this novel received in exchange for an honest review. 

Clifford’s trademark voice is as strong and gritty as ever with his newest novel, which I’d call more a psychological thriller. Unlike a lot of thrillers I’ve read, Clifford really digs into his characters and their motivations, thus the characters feel like living, breathing people. This is the highest praise I can give an author because a good story means nothing without characters I can care about. And I did care about single mom Tracy and police chief Sobczak. 

This was a satisfying read. Highly recommend!

In The Lakehouse by Joe Clifford we are introduced to Chief Sobczak, a small town cop, in a little place called Covenant. He is called to the scene of a dead woman found near the lake. She just so happens to be found dead near the house of Greg Norman, a man widely believed to have murdered his wife. Norman was acquitted but everyone thinks he is guilty, especially Sobczak. He is determined to prove Norman is guilty of this crime. 
The chapters alternate between the viewpoints of Sobczak, Tracy ( a young, single mom), and Dr. Bakshir (a psychiatrist ) and I was excited to find out how their stories merged into one. What do these three people have in common and how are their lives entertwined? You will have to read this book to find out. This was a thrilling mystery and I thought everyone was guilty at one time or another. Joe Clifford has mastered the feel of the small New England town. I really enjoy reading his books because his descriptions are so good that I feel like I've been to this town and know the people. Definitely do NOT pass this book by! Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the advanced copy of this book. All opinions are my own.

I enjoyed this one! 

I really appreciated how Clifford fleshed out his characters enough to give you the small town vibe he was going for without being tedious to learn. 

This book has tons of questionable characters existing on the fringes of the small town, and created a number of plausible villains. Ultimately, the end was surprising and believable. I definitely look forward to more from this author.

Excellent novel about Chief Sobczak and the murder he is trying to solve in his small town.  The story revolves around a few story lines. Tracy and Todd, Todd's  previously deceased wife, the chief's daughter Amanda and her husband who also works for the Chief . Story kept me on the edge of my seat, I did not want to put the book down. Lots of twists and turns, There are many characters but I found it easy to keep all of them straight And how they related to each other. This is a first book from this author that I have read, and highly recommend. I will read more of his books .
Tracy meets Todd one night at a Walmart, and is instantly attractive , she has recently separated from her husband Brett. Todd lost his wife a few years ago and has come back to town to finish building a massive home on the Lake. However Todd was a suspect in her death. He was cleared but there are those who still think he did it. The story evolves from there as the chief of police Heads now been thrown into reinvestigating Todd for the murder.
This was a really great story and I would read more by this aurhor

This book is well written and has good character development I just couldn’t personally get into the story and found it a little bit of a struggle to keep reading. In the end it does wrap up everything and answers the questions you have, just left a little lacking for me personally. I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

This one took me a while to get through, and usually this genre is easy breezy for me. The writing style was a little choppy for my liking, I had to reread to refresh more times than I like to admit, and I really didn't like any of the characters. The premise is solid = guy once accused of murder returns to small town to build a dream house, more murders start happening, he is natural suspect while he is also falling in love with local gal who knew many of the missing/dead women herself. It was just scattered and while I was guessing who the actual murderer was, I never really found out the why which was disappointing. Thankful for the ARC.

2.5 STARS

After being cleared of his wife’s murder, Todd Norman returns to her small Connecticut hometown in order to finish building their dream house by the lake. He is eager to restart his life and cast aside any remaining suspicious...but all of that is dashed when a young woman’s body washes up on the beach next door.

.
.
.

Okay, regardless of my low(ish) rating I do have to credit THE LAKEHOUSE for getting me out of a reading slump. I read this book over one weekend and enjoyed it, even if it wasn't super memorable. 

Personally I found there to be too many story lines and not enough character development. No spoilers here, but one of the bigger twists didn't even seem related to the main plot - and seemed way more interesting! I wish that the book had been more focused on that part than Todd and Tracy's budding relationship. That ending hit it out of the park, however, but again seemed to hint at another side plot. All in all, I was left confused and off-kilter. Not really a stellar combination!

Thank you to Netgalley, the author and publisher for my ARC copy. THE LAKEHOUSE is out now.

DNF.

The first chapter was the most interesting part of the book. Soon after, it became dull and uninteresting, and though the premise still felt interesting, I didn't have the time or energy to invest more of myself in the book. The writing style was choppy and didn't engage me either.

Very intriguing until the end,  I felt like it didn’t really end.  Lots of questions not answered, the characters didn’t seem to fit at the end

Creepy good and almost predictable! I loved the twists and turns! I was fighting for Mr Norman! I loved it! I rate this book 3.7! Thanks Netgalley !

Overall, this was an excellent mystery. I was invested in the story and the characters. I didn't love the writing style, though. This is subjective, of course, but I found it to have too many awkward tangents. However, the ending had me on the edge of my seat.

This novel is told from the perspectives of both Tracy, a divorced single mother, and her new love interst Greg. Greg was suspected of a murder and found not guilty of the charges. Greg moves back to his hometown and is thrust back into the spotlight when murders begin to happen again. Everyone is conviced Greg is guilty accept for Tracy who is hell bent on prooving his innocence. 

I loved the story being told from both perspectives and it definately kept my interests. It times the story felt a little choppy and long but the meat of the story wa still good enought to keep my intersts. 

Loved Cliffords writing style and would reccomend to others!

The ending was extremely rushed with the climax going so quick it barely happened and then a whole bunch of summary/explanation. It felt like the author was late for his deadline so he just put the rest of his outline into sentences. A shame, because I did like this up until that last 10%.

Thank you to the publisher for a free digital galley via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to Net Galley for the chance to read this ARC in exchange for an honest review. 

This book was better than I was expecting. This book is set in a small town and is a mystery surrounding the death of a local woman. The book delves into the depths of the history of a couple girls when they were back in high school and the mystery of deaths and disappearances. This is the first book I have read by this author and I really liked it.

The Lakehouse was an interesting book. My biggest compliment is that the book had many twists and turns and a couple of red herrings. I never would've guessed the actual ending of this book, which I find impressing. My biggest complaint is that the middle of the book is very slow moving and the author seems to repeat things over and over again. Tracy is a likable and relatable character, while the others seem more like caricatures or tropes. Overall it was a decent book, and I am glad I read it!

Solid and competent, this novel lacked the je ne sais quoi that more engaging mysteries exhibit.  Some of the characters fell flat and the pacing felt disjointed at points.

The author’s writing portrays the darker side of some we think we know, but might not truly. He paints these characters’ flaws in stark realism while adding in bits of a character you just might recognize. (And that may be even more disturbing.) I was really gobsmacked by the ending, but I should have known Joe Clifford could find a way to do that.

This book had such a great start and amazing setting and I was so excited and then... it became boring, aimless, ridiculous at some points. I had to force myself to read it, and god, was it a chore. I didn’t think I would actually finish it, to be honest. 
The characters are oh so plain, one-dimensional, and flat. We have multiples POV but we don’t really get to know anyone except maybe Sobczak, a little bit. We are supposed to be awry about Todd Norman, but I don’t know ONE thing about that character. We are supposed to feel sympathetic about Tracy, but she’s just insufferable. Doctor Bakshir was all over the place all the time and they wanted him to be suspicious, but they never got it right. All the back story that we are given in little pieces are supposed to make up for the flat, question-stocked ending, and it just didn’t work for me. 
An excellent setting with insipid characters and an intermittent plot, with an ending with more questions than answers, that’s my view of this book.