Boy, do I love a good thriller! Set in small town New England (where I live! a plus!), lots of secrets form this story. 
The plot, characters and setting all fit together nicely.

This was the first book I have read by this author.  The book has you guessing who the killer is but you are always wrong.  Twisted characters but suspenseful and a must read.  The ending was a surprise and makes you look forward to another book by this author.

Tracy Somerset is a single mother with a young child.  When she runs out of pain medicine and heads to Wal-Mart she meets a nice guy.  What Tracy doesn't know is that people think he killed his wife.  
Women start to be found dead too and people suspect him for the killing.
This is a suspence novel, really enjoyed.

This mystery was just okay for me. The feel and writing style is a standard, detective centered small-town murder. Overall I liked the characters but wasn't wowed.

Loved it so much! This book is positively splendid.  It had amazing characters and what a twist i did not see coming

A small-town setting where old grievances and secrets still linger makes for a perfect setting for this who-done-it mystery. Twists and turns had me second-guessing throughout the book. A great cast of characters combined with old relationships gone sour along with folks who aren't who they present themselves to be made it difficult to figure out the guilty party. I really enjoyed this book!

Some people are just unfortunate and dead bodies keep appearing. I love story that has the weather as a character. This book definitely has the state as another character. I really thought it was worth a read. I wasn’t sure whether I engaged fully as it’s quite hard to accept another detective character in your life when you’re a big crime fan like I am. I’m hoping there will be more books in this series.

The story is told from the viewpoint of two of the main characters- Tracy Somerset, a young divorced mother and Dwayne Sobczak, Chief of Police of a small town Covenant.
The eponymous house is being built by Greg Norman who was acquitted of murdering his wife in New York. He has returned recently to the town and becomes involved with Tracy - despite several deaths and missing girls.
Dr Bakshir, local psychologist is involved through his previous work at a mental/rehab  facility previously where several local teenagers were admitted. He is also Tracy’s current therapist.
The book is well written, although wanders at times and for me the ending was unsatisfactory and confusing.
3 Stars.

Thank you to #NetGalley, the author, and the publisher for providing me with a digital copy of this book prior to publication in exchange for my review.  The Lakehouse by Joe Clifford is a really good mystery with enough twists and turns to hold your interest right up until the last page.  The book is set in Sleepy Lake, Connecticut, a small town in New England where Sheriff Duane Sobczak is the only policeman in town.  Todd Norman returns to Sleepy Lake to finish building his house on the lake after being cleared of his wife's murder.  It is safe to say that the locals are still convinced that he killed his wife and are not happy that he is back in town.  Shortly after he arrives back in town, the body of a young female shows up on the beach near his home.  The night prior to the young female being found, Norman happens to be shopping at the local Walmart in the middle of the night when he meets Tracey Somerset who is a divorced, single mother, shopping for a pain-reliever.   Norman strikes up a conversation with Somerset, buys her a coffee, spends a few hours talking with her and thus, she becomes his alibi.  Does he need an alibi?   Did he kill his first wife?  Did he kill the young woman who just washed up on the beach near his house?  There are so many things going on in this town and in this story, and just when you think you have everything figured out, another smokescreen pops up and sends you off on another wild goose chase.  This is a psychological thriller that you do not want to miss.

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 Lake house is a new domestic thriller from author Joe Clifford. This was my first read by the author and I quite enjoyed his writing style. 

The story is simple enough, a hot shot from New York comes back to the small town his wife is from and plans to rebuild the lakehouse. However he isn't met with a warm welcome, this has to do with the fact that he just got acquitted of his wife's murder. 

Enter Tracy a lonely divorcee who happens to fall for him before she realizes who he really is. There are many twists and turns on the road to discovering if he did in fact murder his wife, Tracy has to know if he really is the "Bank Butcher" and if not, who did kill her old friend? 

There were a few points of view through out this story and I quite enjoyed a little glimpse into each of their lives. I don't know if quarantine has gotten to me but lately I am just obsessed with these small town mysteries where everything looks perfect from the outside but of course the more you look the more secrets, dysfunction and scandal there are. 

Overall this story kept me guessing and trying to connect the pieces. Anyone who enjoys a slowburn mystery would be into the Lakehouse. 

This book was given to me via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

3.5 stars rounded up. I definitely loved this story and kept me turning but it was a little slow for me in places.  I couldn’t totally connect to the characters like I wanted to.   I definitely was guessing all the way till the end on this one and still thinking.    Overall, it was a very interesting and entertaining book.  I definitely recommend if you love a good mystery.  Thanks!

After being cleared of his wife's brutal murder, Todd Norman moves to Covenant, Connecticut to fulfill her dream of building a lake house in the town she grew up in. He is hoping for a fresh start in the town but when you're dubbed "The Banker Butcher," well, a fresh start is hard to find unless you, too, are looking for your own fresh start, as is the case with Tracey Somerset. Newly divorced and single, she also has re-located to the town to raise her 2-year-old son. She has no idea who Todd is when she casually runs into him at Walmart but soon finds herself entangled with him after it turns out that she has to serve as an alibi for his whereabouts the night a woman goes missing. Naturally, Todd is the prime suspect but did he do it?

The novel is told through the point-of-view of Tracey, the local Sheriff, Duane Sobczak, and the town psychiatrist, Dr. Meshulum Bakshir. There's simply too much inner monologue from them, especially from Dr. Bakshir, whose actions felt largely dramatic. While the first half of the book is well-written, the second half falls apart. Tracey's motivations for defending an alleged murderer are unclear and she doesn't seem to dig deeper to learn whether or not he really committed the crime. 

The last few chapters felt like an information dump and even after re-reading them several times, I still feel like I am unsure what happened or why the villain snapped. The resolution to whether or not Todd murdered his wife is too tidy and ultimately, convenient. 

Thank you to NetGalley and Polis Books for the opportunity to read an advanced reading copy. The book is out now.

After being cleared of his wife’s murder, Greg Norman returns to her (his wife's) 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.⁣
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What I liked: Multiple perspectives, small town setting, a little bit of romance sprinkled in, troubled youth. I also liked that I didn't predict the ending!⁣
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What I didn't like: flat characters, too many perspectives(I love multiple perspectives, but this has too many that I would get confused if I set the book down and picked it back up the next day)/characters and their similar names.⁣
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Overall I enjoyed this book. I appreciated the multiple perspectives, but truthfully I felt like the psychologist's perspective wasn't really needed as it didn't add too much to the story. I also didn't really feel any connection to the characters until about the halfway point of the story, where I found myself rooting for Greg and Tracy. All the A names- Amber, Amanda, April REALLY caused me confusion that required me to flip back and reread sections which I found extremely frustrating. I also found myself having to stop and sort out the connections between this group of three girls and the group of girls that were in the group home. I did love the “misunderstood suspect” trope that it had, and throughout the book I found myself feeling sorry for Greg.⁣
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Most interesting to me was the story of the "preacher" (priest?) and the "church" he had out in the middle of nowhere. In fact, if the author chose to develop some sort of book around that I would definitely pick it up and read it.

I have read almost everything by this author and loved all of it but this book left me feeling shortchanged. After being cleared of the murder of his wife, Greg Norman returns to her hometown to fulfil his promise to her of building a lakehouse. However, he soon finds out he is not welcome at all here and when a dead woman's body turns up near that lakehouse, Greg is the prime suspect. A lot of characters (maybe a few too many) , all seemingly with past secrets gave the plot a lot of momentum and potential, but I simply can't overlook the very confusing ending. I finished the book. Sure wish the author had as well. Thanks to Net Galley, the author and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This was just an ok read for me. It read quickly so that's good, but the ending was a little lackluster and I'm still confused on the motive for why things happened the way they did. Bottom line, it wasn't terrible and it wasn't the best book I've ever read either. 

I appreciate the advanced copy. Thank you very much.

This was a quick read, though the end was unsatisfying to me and left many unanswered questions. The story centers around a guy named Todd who was acquitted of killing his wife, April, 5 years prior, and returns to her hometown to build a lakehouse that they planned on building together (though his intentions related to returning to her hometown is mentioned in the synopsis and never in the actual book). Though Todd is the main focus of the story, he is a rather underdeveloped character who we never really get to know, and the chapters alternate between the voices of Tracy, a divorcee who falls in love with Todd, Sobczak, the chief of police convinced of Todd's guilt, and Dr Backshir, the local psychologist.

There is a lot going on in this story, and a lot of tertiary characters. You see a lot of the connections between people who have spent their lives in a small town, some of which were a bit cliched but felt (for the most part) believable. I liked the chief's character and felt that he was the most developed of all of them. I had an idea of who the villain was, but felt that the story arc was incomplete even when it was revealed.

It was the end that I questioned the most- I reread the last couple chapters a couple times and I am still not sure exactly what happened- I can't decide whether the author intended it to be confusing in order to make it mysterious, or if I just missed something I should have figured out. Either way, I left the book feeling that there were a great deal of loose ends that needed to be tied up.

Overall, it was a quick read but I can't say it was super memorable for me, other than the fact that I am left with questions. I hear great things about Clifford's books and think I might try another one, but this one didn't really do it for me.

The first chapter and the synopsis had me intrigued. After, I just couldn’t get into the story. I picked It up, and put it back down a couple of times to retry, but it wasn’t doing it for me. I enjoyed Tracy’s perspective, but the rest was boring. 

Normally, a small town lake house story, is right up my alley. 

I would try another book by this author.

Solid mystery set in small-town USA.  What did happen during those high school years?  Do people change?  Unsolved until the end, or is it?

Todd Newman has been cleared of his wife’s murder in New York and returns to finish the lake house they were planning to build together in her home town. The town doesn’t think Todd is innocent and when a body is found not far from his home the sheriff and the towns people are certain he is responsible. 

Tracey Somerset is having a rough time. She and her husband are divorcing because he cheated on her. She was so wrapped up in him since high school that she doesn’t have many friends. When she gets a migraine one night and has to take her young son to the store for medicine she runs into the most charming man. They talk for hours and Tracey thinks things are looking up. She has no idea that the man she spoke with is the Todd Newman. The one who married a girl from her high school that was recently murdered. 

The book had a great storyline but it was sometimes hard to follow. The twist and turns were interesting and I liked the characters but I just had a hard time following the story  and would have to re-read to see what I missed.