This was a great mystery/thriller. I really enjoyed the characters and absolutely loved the setting of the lodge. I felt like the main character was a very relatable character. Even thought it was a slow burning mystery is still had me invested and turning the pages quickly.

I think this story had so much potential but something was just lacking for me a bit.

The magnitude of what was happening was too much for the length and that one of the twists needed to be cut. I don’t think all the issues got enough to be completed well.

This was a good read, with all the elements needed for a good thriller: secluded location, women separated previously by tragedy. a reunion, hurt feelings, sign me up!

A slow tale, this had mystery and suspense in it along with some elements of paranormal. Sarah was quite an interesting character. There were a lot of subplots happening in the middle, then it got streamlined, and the mystery came to a smooth finish. overall, an enjoyable read, I liked the eerieness of the premises..

I liked some part of this book but others were very predictable and dragged a bit. At times it almost felt like two different book as the family history wasn't really connected to the murder aside from the dream. Overall it was a fun read but I wanted a little bit more.

*I received a free copy of this in exchange for my honest opinions.

This was an interesting listen. It kept you wondering what the back story was and how all the characters were connected. Things from the past keep coming forward to the present that keep them from letting the past go. Sarah has come home to heal and has reconnected with her friends, but things don't work as hoped.

This was a very slow book which made it a bit boring. In saying that it was still well written and had an interesting plot. I didnt really connect with the characters.

I was upset that I wasn't able to finish this book. From the description, I had such high hopes going into this one. But by the middle of the book, I just felt like it fell short. There were parts in here that reminded me of the 90s horror films but in the end it just was not for me.

I really wanted to like this book. The description was intriguing, the cover is dark yet beautiful. It has all the makings of a good thriller, but it just fell flat for me. It was such a slow build with not enough action.
I received an advance review copy for free through Netgalley, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

Twenty-five years ago a weekend turned deadly and ripped Sarah McCaskill Carter and her closest friends worlds apart, including her sister's. At that time, Sarah had a dream that could have changed the weekend’s outcome and this still haunts her. When Sarah's husband dies of cancer, she returns to Bitterroot Lake as her mother who lost her husband a few years ago, now wants to sell the family's childhood home, a large lakeside estate.

Bitterroot Lake was suspenseful and dark and the characters well-drawn, particularly Sarah, whom I found relatable. There was a fantastic flow to Alicia Beckman’s writing which was extremely appealing. The steady pacing allowed me to fully appreciate the story with no dips in concentration. It drew me in as the author painted a picture of a glorious setting in Montana though tainted with secrets. The mystery itself was interesting with its multiple strands, highlighting some issues including overcoming loss and dealing with pain and tragedy. A compulsively readable thriller and I await the next by Alicia Beckman.

I received a complimentary copy of this novel at my request from Crooked Lane Books via NetGalley. This review is my own unbiased opinion.

Bitterroot Lake by Alicia Beckman takes place for the most part at Whitehall Lodge in Montana, a property owned by McCaskills for many generations. Sarah McCaskill, recently widowed, goes back to the lodge from Seattle to quietly grieve for her husband. She soon realizes her sister and two old friends have also arrived at the lodge only to be told that a local lawyer who was a member of their group of friends twenty-five years ago has been murdered. The story takes the reader from the present day, to a quarter-century earlier, to many decades ago as well. Did the previous generations have secrets that will affect future descendants? What were these secrets? Who murdered the local lawyer? Will Sarah remain at the lodge for good or will she return to her home? Bitterroot Lake is a novel about secrets and they are revealed one by one, peeling back each layer ever so slowly. This is a wonderfully suspenseful mystery. Highly recommended. Thank you to Crooked Lane Books, NetGalley and the author for the e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I loved the cover of this book. It definitely drew me to it and once I read the summary I couldn't wait to read this book! This book had me from the beginning and the narrator was fantastic. I loved the Montana setting of Whitetail Lodge on the lake and the history of the lodge and the family that was uncovered over the course of the story. The main mystery was twisty because the motive was hard to decide on and there were many suspects and there was a secondary mystery also which was interesting to solve. I hope that this author has another book coming out soon!

I received a complimentary copy of this audiobook from the publisher through NetGalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

This book is a slow burn. Does not pick up or get interesting until at least 40% in. But once you get to that point it is great! The story covered so many topics from attempted rape to murder and mending friendships. There were many different suspects and ways that the story could have turned and I like that in a thriller as it keeps you engaged.

I just wasn't able to connect with Bitterroot Lake, as much as I wanted to. It's well written, and the characters are likable and believable, but the plot didn't engage me, and I ultimately didn't finish.

This cover grabbed my attention right away. How could I not read it? I devoured this story from delicious page to delicious page.

I struggled with this book some, mostly with the mystery and figuring out the killer very quickly. I really enjoyed the setting and descriptions (although a little too detailed sometimes) as well as the friendships.

Dollycas’s Thoughts

Sarah lost her husband to cancer and her mother encourages her to come home to the lodge to help her make some decisions. The lodge holds a lot of heartbreaking history. Twenty-five years ago a weekend turned deadly and ripped Sarah and her closest friends including her sister apart. The fact that Sarah had a dream that could have changed the weekend’s outcome still haunts her today.

Sarah does return to the lodge and the dreams along with her friends are back too. Another person connected to that weekend is killed and one of the friends becomes a prime suspect. While trying to prove her innocence the group of women delve into the history of the lodge and the family that owns it. What they uncover changes everything. Danger lurks nearby as they try to make sense of everything they learn.

What a fabulous cover, it drew me to the book before I ever read the synopsis of the story. Learning that the author was one of my cozy mystery faves made my desire to read it even stronger.

This is a very complex mystery with a lot of threads that entwine in and out with each other. I enjoyed the bit of paranormal included within the pages as it really enhanced the story and gave it some new depth. I liked the lodge setting and all the treasures found within.

Sarah is dealing with so much and this reunion truly tests her but she needs answers. She is grieving, counting the days since her husband’s death but her visions need to be explained along with learning what she may have missed all those years ago. I was drawn to Sarah, she was very relatable and felt genuine to me. All the characters she interacted with developed nicely over the course of the story too. They all have their flaws which make them believable.

This is a story you can not just plow through to find the killer, in fact, that turns out to be a minor part of the story. There is a lot of nuance in these pages. There are situations that could be called chilling and there are situations that really drive the story forward. I found the way the author blended history with modern-day incredible and the part secrets play through both periods very intriguing. From an attempted rape to the loss of a loved one and broken friendships this book will hit readers on many levels. There were a couple of areas where I thought the text needed to be tightened up because the flow seemed a little off but these instances were few and far between.

Bitterroot Lake lets the author explore a darker mystery than she can in the cozy realm and she excelled at it. As this is a stand-alone title we will not meet these characters again but I am very interested in where Ms. Beckman takes us in the future.

This book just wasn’t for me. There were too many characters and setting descriptions that I lost the point of the story. I made myself finish the book and kept hoping the book would get better, but for me, it did t.

There’s more than a touch of the Gothic about this mystery thriller, as Sarah McCaskill Carter returns home to the small lakeside community in Montana where she grew up after her husband’s tragic passing, only to arrive on the heels of a murder. The murder of a man she despised for his actions 25 years earlier - and the friend he wronged back then found the body and might be the prime suspect.

Sarah finds herself investigating more than one mystery, as she sets to clearing a hundred years of family history from the old lodge beside Bitterroot Lake. Mysterious dreams are haunting her, similar to the ones 25 years ago which warned of coming troubles. At a crossroads in life, Sarah has to figure out a way forward for not only herself, but her troubled sister Holly and her friend Janine too.

This is fairly slow-paced, and despite the murder which kicks off the action, pretty low-stakes too, but the writing is beautifully descriptive, and I found the delving into the history of the McCaskill family and the cabin on the lake absolutely fascinating. As a mystery/thriller it might frustrate some readers because there are things which absolutely do not get explained - the mysterious pennies which appear for Sarah, and the strange dreams of the murdered servant girl which portend trouble coming - but for me that just added to the Gothic spookiness of the story. It wasn’t what I expected when I picked up the book - the blurb made me think it was something of a locked-room thriller - but I really enjoyed it anyway. Five stars for an atmospheric, clever story.

The melodrama of the first few chapters mixed in with the exhausting detail of the surrounding landscapes made this book practically unreadable. I made it 13 chapters before I had to give up from frustration of the constant allusions to past events that were directly affecting the plotline. Good stories use this tactic successfully to drive a thriller, this book only proved to irritate me with its midlife crisis histrionics and abstruseness.