Into The Lake
L.K. Chapman
Natalie was a model until she was in an automobile accident that left her with facial scars. She gave up modeling and began working with her sister-in-law doing wedding planning and writes a Vlog. She hesitated to go to her class reunion because she is self-conscious of her scars. She and Josh become re-acquainted at the reunion. While they attended school together, they didn’t really know each other. They were drawn to each other and became inseparable. After only a few weeks of dating Josh popped the question, “will you marry me?”. Natalie didn’t hesitate to say, “yes.”
Someone started sending vile messages to her Vlog. They begin by accusing Josh of murder then they begin to attack Natalie. Many years ago, Josh was with a teenage girl that drowned. The water was icy cold, although he tried to save her, he could not. There were speculations that he murdered her. Natalie is determined to find the truth behind the girl’s death. She places herself in harm’s way to clear Josh’s name.
Natalie is a strong lead character; you can’t help but like her. Josh is a weak character. . Josh is very depressed and begins to doubt himself. Could he have murdered the girl? There are several interesting secondary characters in this tale. Josh’s stepbrother, Toby, is a terrible bully. Toward the end of the book, we discover why he is such a bully. But even bullies have redeeming qualities. Garth is Josh’s best friend; he appears to be very protective of Josh. The characters have complex personalities. The plot is intricate with twist and turns woven throughout. This is a thriller you don’t want to miss.

Please note trigger warnings for multiple social and mental disabilities. They are intertwined beautifully. The focus is on the mystery with the people having issues that the author does not try to fix or pass judgement.

There are multiple people and really only one relationship did I have a problem with. The married couple and their cheesy storyline is old and overdone for me. This is a small part in the book and still Into the Lake keeps its four stars. There is profanity (one star loss). Given my usual criteria this would be a 3 star book. However, the author's use of real issues seamlessly written in, keep this a solid four.

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Natalie is a former model who has scars from an accident and is hesitant to go to a school reunion because she doesn’t want to face everybody and have to deal with her scars, but she goes anyway. While at the reunion, she is reunited with a former classmate, Josh, and the two fall head over heels for each other and get engaged. There’s just one little problem, social media warns Natalie that she may be marrying a murderer.

I read the audio version of this book and it was a long one! There were flashbacks to when the characters were younger and I definitely liked those parts of the book better than the present day. The book may have been a four star book for me if it was just written about the past. I think this book was labeled as a mystery/thriller and I kept wondering when it would be suspenseful, and then when the time came, it did NOT disappoint. I was pretty sure I had figured out the big mystery, and I was partially right. The author threw a little curve ball in there which I was not expecting.

The narrator was not my favorite, and I should have listened to the audio excerpt before requesting it, so that’s my fault. I like to listen to books on 2X and it was difficult to do that with this one, so it took me a lot longer to get through it than it should have. I probably would have preferred to read the actual book with this one.

I’m giving it ⭐️⭐️⭐️💫


Thank you to Dreamscape Media and NetGalley for the free copy of this audiobook.

3.5 stars rounded down
I listened to the audio version of this novel.
The mystery itself was reasonably good; however, the story was muddied by the many subplots running in the background, including a romance. The romantically involved characters were primary to the mystery. The mystery focused on the woman who was being threatened/stalked on her blog after she became engaged. The troll accused her future husband of being a murdered. Thus began the mystery she set out to solve.
It seemed almost all of the characters suffered from some reasonably severe form of psychosis. Of course, this made absolutely everybody seem potentially guilty. This was probably intended to keep the reader engaged and guessing. Unfortunately, the characters also came across as pathetic and the overall story became messy. Parts of the story were interesting and suspenseful. The author seemed to be on a mission to raise awareness of the psychological issues presented throughout this novel. A list of resources was included at the end of the book. Personally, I don't think this worked. I was not reading this book to learn more about psychoses, though maybe others may.
I finished this audiobook a few days before writing this review and my memory of the book is a jumble of screwed up people and their screwed up lives with a murder mystery mixed in.
Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for an ARC of this audiobook in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to the publishers, author and NetGalley for the free copy of this audiobook.

I wanted something different from what I've been reading lately and this was a perfect change. Some good twists and pretty decent characters. I liked the forays into the past but sometimes the jumps were a little off pace. I did like the narrator for the most part as well. A good, easy listen with an unexpected ending!

A very interesting book! It's about three old classmates returning for a reunion, and each of them is scarred in a different way. Two of them pair up and fall in love. Then, strange things begin happening. Trolls start spreading nasty rumors on her vlog. He begins to have dreams about a classmate's drowning years ago--did he kill her? A moving, if somewhat disturbing tale of bullying and other psychological issues. The narration by a male, at first, seemed odd, but after awhile, I found it very fitting. A good thriller!

I enjoyed this book. It wasn't a favorite, or even one that will get a second go-around, but it was enjoyable. A nice whodunnit mystery, which I don't normally enjoy, but this one really had me guessing until the end. And, there were a few good twists that I definitely did not see coming. It gripped me right from the beginning.

Into the Lake begins with our protagonist, Natalie attending a high school reunion, where she runs into an old classmate, Josh, and sparks fly. Josh and Natalie are swept up in a whirlwind romance. They are quickly engaged and planning a wedding when Natalie, a popular vlogger, begins receiving messages and comments on her videos accusing Josh of murdering a fellow classmate, McKayla, back in highschool.

There are many viewpoints throughout this story and everyone is keeping secrets and telling lies. This story does a fantastic job of making you question every single character and their motives. Every last character is an unreliable narrator. I loved the way the author had me guessing and second guessing throughout the entire book. It was well written with a few flaws, but nothing that ruined the story in any way. Good book. 3.75 stars.

⭐⭐⭐

I must weigh in on the audio, however. It was flat out terrible. If the book hadn't gripped me as quickly as it did, I would have given up. This was probably the worst narrator I've ever listened to. His voices for everyone were terrible, but his voices for Josh and Natalie were the worst. I can safely say that I will never listen to another book narrated by this guy. Skip the audiobook and pick up the physical copy for this one.

Great idea for a book. That is the best thing I can say about Into the Lake by L.K. Chapman.

Natalie, Josh, Gareth and Toby are the main characters. Every single one of them is – not flawed, like real human beings, rather they are grotesque images of a single characteristic. Natalie is a reasonable character for slightly more than half the book. Then she seems struck by a special sort of stupid. She takes a job knowing it would put her in danger, lying about the man she supposedly loves, trashing him to anyone who would listen and looking for evidence of a 20-year-old murder which could not possibly exist. Josh is a whiny, useless, dedicated victim who makes one want to shack him until his brain starts working. Gareth is nothing but a pompous know-it-all and Toby is a jerk who is entirely one dimensional. All were disappointing. Every character seems to have some kind of psychological issue. It almost seemed like a heavy handed manual on “People with Issues for dummies”.

The story starts out well, begins to drag and then just turns incredibly unbelievable. Suspension of disbelief? To suffer this story one would need suspension of all reason and intelligence. It is, simply, horrible. The ending was predictable – that is to say who the villain was; the ending itself was a natural follow on assuming you combine the horrible characters with the plot development. The only surprises lay in the complete left-turns the author took with her characters. There was absolutely nothing about the characters that was realistic. Chapman bangs on, trying to “highlight” the features of a character to try to make the reader think one thing, but it is so heavy handed it becomes obvious, draining all sense of anticipation from the story.

What a great premise! How disappointing that the author could not do something better with it.

I give the audiobook version of this one 3.5 stars. Had I read the book, I likely would have rated it higher.

Re-meeting at a high school reunion, Josh and Natalie quickly find themselves deeply in love. But, how well does Natalie really know Josh?
Is he a murderer like the comments on her vlog suggest? And what's with the drama between Josh and his step brother? Josh and his best friend?

I listened to the audio book version of this book and I think that may have ruined my experience of the story a bit. The narrator sounded bored and blah through much of it. His narration didn't make the characters come alive for me, like I hope for in an audio book. especially a story full of so much drama and suspense.

The story itself is well written, a thriller full of twists and turns and secrets kept. There is a lot of drama throughout the plot. A lot. At times it felt a little too much, but overall I enjoyed this book and I did not see that ending coming!

Being a lover of thrillers, I will definitely read more from this author! Thank you to the author and NetGalley for the advanced copy of this audio book in exchange for my honest review.

*same review posted to Amazon and B&N, however, they have not yet been approved.

3.5 Stars

Natalie and Josh both went to the same school but ran in different crowds so there paths never really crossed. Then when a invite for a school reunion comes up they both end up going and connecting. Natalie was reluctant to go because she had gotten into a car accident and it ended her modeling career and left a scar on her face. She didn't want to face the stares and questions. But from that hard time in her life she started working for her sister in law as a wedding planner and has a blog giving advice and helping people out.

Her and Josh become close and start dating and soon into there relationship he asks her to marry him and it feels right and they start to plan there life together and she tells her followers she's engaged and someone starts leaving nasty messages saying she can do better and he's a murder. Now she has to figure out what's going on.


Natalie was a strong character, after everything she went through in her past and present you can tell she's a fighter.
You get flashbacks from Josh's childhood and everything he goes through. BUT he's spends the most of the story feeling sorry for himself. I don't know if it was just because of the audio but he whined a lot to me. and by the end of it I was kind of over him.

You know when you read a thriller and they are taking you on the path of who everything thinks knows/ or is guilty well this one had a convincing way of thinking they were leading you down the right path. But almost half way I had a hunch and it turned out right. Juts not the why part until the end. So I enjoyed that. Like all Thrillers I've read you don't want to give anything away because that's the best part of a thriller is the chase of the story.

The audio was well done and I enjoyed the narrator I think I docked it half a star because by the end of it Josh's whinny got to be to much. I know that's part of it but I just excepted by the end but Natalie was a SUPER strong charter I really enjoyed her.

Thanks to NetGalley and Dreamscape Audio. I received an advance reader copy in exchange for an honest review.

I had little to no idea what this was about when.I went into this book, but it was a pretty decent read.
It was your pretty basic thriller, childhood friends, a new relationship and a dark secret that threatens to surface.
There were plenty of red herrings to throw you off the trail of the real culprit, but I have to say that I saw the end coming a couple of miles off, and thats okay because it was a fun ride, though it did lack atmosphere a bit.
I think that it was a little longer than it had to be, it could have done with a little more editing I think, because there were points where it felt like it was dragging a bit.
The audio quality and the narrator were good, I enjoyed my listening experience.
Another cool feature was the fact that in the course of the book, they did do discuss some heavier things, like suicide, bully/cyberbullying, etc and there were actually resources for those things listed at the end of the audiobook for both US and UK readers. I thought that was a particularly nice touch, since some things discussed could be triggering for some readers. Really well done.
Overall it was enjoyable. I would recommend this to someone who wanted to read something quick and easy on vacation or something.

This was a very interesting read. The audio version was great. I was really shocked at the end!!! This is worth the read.

4 stars

This one was pretty good. I didn’t figure out the ultimate twist until close to its actual reveal (although in hindsight, I maybe missed a couple clues). I liked that, once the true “bad guy” was revealed, the writer still spent time unpacking the motive and background there; I can’t stand when a book reveals the villain and then just kind of ends. I like to have a bit more story at that point. This one was a good, suspenseful thriller.

This one just couldn’t hold my attention. I liked the overall plot fine, but the details to get from one place to the next didn’t keep me wanting to read. It was fine but not one I’m interested in reading again.

This story is a very well told suspense mystery with an in depth look into the complexity of human nature. Natalie goes to a high school reunion and ends up talking with Josh. He was a boy she didn't hang out with in school so she is meeting him for the first time. They connect well through conversation and begin dating, soon they are engaged and Natalie has never been happier. Then everything rapidly begins to fall apart when anonymous comments online bring up painful memories of the most difficult time in Josh's childhood. A girl he had a crush on, drowned during a camp out at a lake. As Josh spirals into a depressive state Natalie is determined to find out what happened then and who is gaslighting Josh now. There is good and bad in everyone and it is hard to really understand why a person may do certain things. The people in Josh's life that he thought he knew as being bad or being trustworthy may not fall so simply into those roles. The ending of this tale was a surprise to me and I really enjoyed it.
The narrator was good at conveying the suspense of the story and kept my attention. Thank you to Netgalley and Dreamscape Media for the opportunity to listen to thie e-ARC of Into the Lake and I look forward to more stories from L.K. Chapman.

A couple meets at a high school reunion only to fall madly in love. In her engagement announcement online, Natalie receives messages that her fiancé is involved in a murder from back when they are in high school. It could be. Eva use I listened to the audiobook, but I felt like this book took long to build to interesting parts. I found the end to be predictable. Josh wasn’t a very strong character and really wasn’t even concerned if he was guilty or not.

This was an eye-opening account of the most violent uprising in a New York state prison. In September of 1971 prisoners revolted and took control of Attica Correctional Facility in upstate New York, killing one of the prison guards and taking other guards and staff hostage. They had a list of demands including better living conditions and basic civil rights. Four days later with peaceful negotiations stalling, New York state authorities and armed forces responded with a hail of gunfire that killed dozens of prisoners and staff alike.

This is a retelling from the point of view of the daughter of William Quinn, the prison guard killed by the prisoners. It is a personal and compelling account of the mistakes, the coverups, the lies, the devastation and the utter lack of justice for families of those killed in the historic raid at Attica. Told with great compassion and emotion, it tells the story of the Forgotten Victims of Attica, the men who were taken hostage and the widows and the families who were left behind who drew no support or compensation from the State of New York for decades. Unbelievable but true. A fascinating read.

Thank you Dreamscape Media and L.K. Chapman for the ALC and the opportunity to leave an honest review.

The narrator was a miss for me. I did not care for his voice and he couldn’t keep my interest. I tried to give it the benefit of the doubt. I didn't want to base the book off the audio, I did appreciate the plot. Just unfortunate that I couldn't get into the story. Possibly if I read the book instead I would have a different outcome.

Thank you Dreamscape Media and L.K. Chapman for the ARC and the opportunity to leave an honest review.

I really wanted to like this. However, the narrator was horrible and tough to understand at times. It didn't keep me interested at all. I tried to give it the benefit of the doubt because I didn't want to base the book off the audio. But, I couldn't listen passed 31%. Perhaps if I had the physical copy of the book, it'd be better. The plot seemed really great. Just unfortunate that I couldn't get into the story at all. It was boring for me.

Thank you to Dreamscape Media for my ALC of Into the Lake! When Natalie starts dating former classmate Josh, social media trolls claim he is a murderer. She takes it upon herself to investigate an event from their childhood - a girl drowned at the lake, or did she?!

If you want a dark thriller, take a look at this one! Narrator Peter Noble nails the creepy narration, especially when doing the voice of Toby, Josh's stepbrother and childhood bully. I guessed half of the twist, but the ending was still satisfying due to some additional surprises. The twin mysteries of the lake and the present day trolling make this a good spooky fall listen!