The Deepest Lake is a mystery. The main character’s daughter has disappeared near Lake Atitilán in Guatemala. But it’s much more intense than the traditional mystery form. It’s really an examination of self and relationships.

Most of the story is told in the voice of Rose, the mother who has gone looking for her daughter because she is not satisfied with what everyone else has done. She goes to Guatemala under the guise of registering for a workshop by a famous memoirist using her maiden name. Her daughter Jules worked for the memoirist, Eva, at least for a short time.

We're really learning about three women in this novel. Rose, the mother, is stuck in tradition. Jules, the daughter, is try to break out from convention but has t really found her voice yet. Eva, the writer, uses intimidation to cover her own insecurities. I'm finding it quite a fascinating study of human behavior. And I'm learning just a little bit about writing along the way. It's a well written novel.

2.5 ⭐️

This wasn’t a bad book but for me it felt to drag on a bit. I was only slightly attached to one character but that wasn’t enough to hold my attention for long and at times I had to force myself to pick it up which isn’t what I wanted. Again, it wasn’t bad. The writing style was good and the story seemed interesting so maybe it just wasn’t for me and that’s alright.

I've lost track of how many thrillers I've read where a family member travels to an isolated retreat to uncover what really happened to a loved one. It's a common plotline and one that I tend to enjoy. The Deepest Lake is one of the best. By the time that Rose applies for the memoir writing retreat under her maiden name, she's already done everything she could to find out what really happened to her daughter. There was a police investigation. She hired a private investigator. Chapters alternate between Rose's search for information and Jules' experiences when she was on the property a few months earlier. I love the way the author contrasts mother and daughter's approaches to travel in a foreign country. They're both likeable characters and as the plot unfolded I got more and more worried about them. It's a suspenseful, enjoyable read that I definitely recommend.

The Deepest Lake
by Andromeda Romano-Lax
Pub Date: May 07 2024

The story is told from two points of view, the mother and daughter's. The story is very quick to follow, I feel it is more of a mystery than a thriller. A story about a relationship between a mother and a daughter.

Book Synopsis: The Deepest Lake is about an atmospheric thriller set at a luxury memoir-writing workshop on the shores of Lake Atitlán, Guatemala, where a grieving mother goes undercover to investigate her daughter’s mysterious death.

Many thanks to #SohoPress, #NetGalley and #TheDeepestLake for providing me with an E-ARC of this book.

The Deepest Lake by Andromeda Romano-Lax was a crazy ride from beginning to end.
The author drew me into the story within the first few chapters and kept me hooked till the very end.
It was an exciting and suspenseful very well-written and thrilling story.
This was an easy, entertaining read, I really enjoyed this and found myself absorbed in the story.

Thank You NetGalley and Publisher for your generosity and gifting me a copy of this amazing eARC!

I was lead to this book by the mystery/thriller aspect of the story and in that regard I was disappointed. THE DEEPEST LAKE follows a mother's quest for answers regarding what happened to her daughter. Jules left home on an adventure to Guatemala hoping to link up with her favorite author who lives in a remote village there and offers writing seminars. As a budding author, Jules felt that would be more useful than seeking an advanced degree in writing. Partway through her adventure all communication ended between her and her mother Rose. When officials investigated the disappearance she was declared missing and presumed dead. She had last been seen swimming alone in a very deep lake near the writer's compound. When the case was closed, Rose decided to travel to the writer's compound herself, take the seminar, and use the time to do her own investigation.

For me, neither the mystery nor the suspense aspect of the story panned out. Instead, the first half of the book seemed to drag with little to move the story other than to display the mother's angst. Along the way, the story split into two narratives. The first was Rose's journey and fears for her daughter. The second tells the tale of Jules's trip to Guatemala and what happened to her--good and bad. The book did display more of the mystery element as the book worked its way to the conclusion with a very mild thriller at the very end.

I appreciated the opportunity to read and review this book, though I must say that it did not live up to my hopes and expectations.

The book was told from two POV and honestly, the Rose parts didn't inspire me at all. Jules... Her POV was better. There was urgency and excitement there. Rose... boring.

The ending was good which earned it a half star extra. 3.5 stars

I loved this thrilling and twist filled read! Eva, Rose and Jules were such complex and fascinating characters. The isolation of the setting really helped to increase suspense. This is a book that you won't be able to put down.

Rose's twentysomething daughter Jules went missing in Lake Atitlan, Guatemala while traveling alone. Rose's ex went to investigate and came up with nothing more than that Jules drowned. Rose doesn't believe it, and since Jules was working as a Girl Friday for a famous memoirist, Rose decides to sign up for one of the memoirist's writing retreats to do some digging. With no investigative background, Rose is somewhat out of her depth navigating a small tourist town with secrets of its own and a group of women at a writer's retreat struggling with their own issues.

About midway through the book, we start reading Jules's POV from when she arrived in Guatemala which answers some questions but leaves the reader with more. As we continue reading, we find out what drew her to the memoirist and tension builds. It took a turn toward the end that was a little odd, but very reminiscent of Nine Perfect Strangers by Liane Moriarity.

Overall, a solid, psychologically tense story about a mother's love for her daughter. Thanks to Netgalley and Soho Press for the ARC.

The book opens with a tragic prologue and we later learn what it means. We move forward three months though to Rose's arrival in Guatemala to attend a writing retreat with well-known memoirist Eva Marshall. She introduces us to some of her fellow wannabe writers - so I expected some nefarious characters whose motivation later becomes obvious - but we soon discover Rose is there under false pretences as her daughter Jules had been working for Eva when she disappeared.

Rose has too many questions about her daughter's disappearance that haven't been answered - local police believing she drowned with rumours of alcohol and drugs being involved. Eva's seemingly indifferent to Jules's fate stating the pair had barely spoken but Rose learns that's not the case and tries to unpick Jules' brief time in Eva's employ.

Part-way through chapters are also told from Jules' point of view following her arrival in Guatemala. She's idolised Eva but starts to realise her potential mentor is far from the woman she'd wanted her to be. Tension builds in the past which finally takes us back to the prologue.... and into the final third of the book.

I can't say much more without giving away major spoilers but I was initially quite intrigued by the unfolding story. Possibly because I'm also interested in the craft of writing. (And psychology.)

Where Romano-Lax however takes this however, felt a little too far-fetched. Too unhinged... which perhaps is the point but it became less of a mystery or edge-of-your-seat psychological thriller and a bit more fantastical which just didn't gel with me. That being said, others might be more convinced.

This was an unexpected read. Set in Guatemala on the shores of Lake Atitlán, the story follows the drowning death of young Jules. The way into the story is through her mother, Rose’s, unfathomable grief at the loss of her daughter. The lake is deeper than Lake Michigan (to put it in context) and Jules’ body has not been found. Her father went first to search, and with his military training and willingness to work with local law enforcement he gets a certain number of facts, but Rose wants to somehow live into the place where her daughter was last seen and feel her way into a solution. It’s almost a perfect split of the stereotypical male and female ways of approaching a problem.

Jules was working for her writing idol at her exclusive Guatemalan writing retreat where women pay $6000 for a 10 day stay of workshopping their possible future memoirs with the writer, Eva, whose most famous book was about losing a much longed for child borne in late middle age. Rose signs up for a workshop, using her maiden name – she’s been emailing questions to Eva with little response – and assumes the mantle of an aspiring memoirist. The women in her group come many backgrounds and many of them are traumatized in some way and see writing a memoir as a way to move through their trauma and hopefully, past it.

Eva turns out to be imperious, fascinating, charismatic and a bit dangerous. Her personality infects the story like a tea bag in a mug of hot water – it spreads and darkens throughout the book. The narrative also goes back to Jules’ time with Eva. She’d been hired as a sort of personal assistant, and though she’d hoped to find a writing mentor, she finds instead a capricious boss who is affectionate one moment and dismissive the next. Eva’s personality is really the crux of the mystery.

Rose, desperate for clues, trues to ask around as best she can, and luckily she’s fluent in Spanish. Like Miss Marple before her, she’s a somewhat overlooked woman of a certain age who can question a cook or a maid and not really be noticed. She’s having a hard time finding employees who knew Jules, however, and Eva herself has insisted Jules was fired as she has too many distractions outside of work.
The setting, like all Soho Crime novels, is as much a character as anything else in the novel, with the lake, beautiful and mysterious, sitting alongside all of the action. Jules met her death in the lake, and her mother is both fascinated and repelled by it. Both mother and daughter disliked/dislike the water. The village is a character as well, as Rose makes her forays to town from the exclusive camp.

The writer’s workshop is part of the narrative, and it sounds like a painful and unpleasant experience, but the love for Eva on the part of the would be writers is cult-like. Rose is not part of the cult and perceives something off from the start. The only clues she has are Jules’s beat up, much underlined copy of Eva’s memoir, found in the backpack of a German hiker, and a mysterious drug dealer who is presently in jail. There’s a twist in the story which I had figured out but is still very effective. I wasn’t won over by the ending of the novel, but it wasn’t unsatisfying from a mystery point of view, it was unsatisfying from an emotional one.

Romano-Lax has certainly created memorable and resonant characters, and I couldn’t stop turning the pages. The story is simple and complex at the same time. It’s a book I won’t soon forget, even as I revise parts of it in my mind.

As well as there were loved parts in this book, some were equally worth of eyerolls.

The beginning is heartbreaking. Rose's daughter Jules is full of life, happy she's gotten her favorite author/idol to be her mentor while she's struggling to find what to write for her own memoir. And then she drowns in the lake, never to be found. Rose is compelled to visit the place, learn more of the last days of her daughter, and for that, she disguises herself as one of the students that same author takes once in a while.

Usually I can tell with books around where they went wrong, but I'm not even sure if this book went wrong, or if it wasn't that good and somehow it saved itself? It is an okay read. But some parts are much more than just okay. And other parts were weird, when they weren't cringe-worthy. My verdict is that I liked it after all, despite how it unrolled.

Both Rose's and Jules's parts were pleasing to read, although they tended to have a similar voice. However, I did like how those characters built, the drama part of this thriller was probably what made it good. Meanwhile, the actual events, not so much.

That said, I do want to read more of this author. There's something gripping about the way she writes that makes me want more. This book was a case of, I had a good time, but I'm aware of many reasons I wouldn't normally.


Honest review based on an ARC provided by Netgalley. Many thanks to the publisher for this opportunity.

Right from the start, this book sucked me in and held me captivated. I couldn’t put it down.

Jules, a young, carefree, world traveler is excited to work for her beloved author, Eva Marshall, at a memoir workshop in Guatemala. This is her dream job! Her parents, however, want her to finish college, so she keeps them in dark about the specifics of the job.

Rose, Jules mother is devastated when she learns her daughter has drowned in Guatemala’s Lake Aititlán. The authorities have informed her that it’s unlikely Jules’ body will be found because the lake is the deepest in Central America. Rose decides to go there and learn how this could have happened to her daughter.

The story is told from two points of view; Jules’ and Rose’s. I liked that we get to read Jules’ first person account of what happened leading up to the drowning. Her story is slowly unraveled alternating with chapters from her Mother’s investigation.

The story quickly picks up like a roller coaster and everything comes to a hair-raising ending!!

I would have given it 5 stars but the ending seemed implausible. I have so many questions! But other readers may understand it better than I did. Overall, I really liked this book and would highly recommend it!

Many thanks to Andromeda Romano-Lax and Soho Press for the ARC via NetGalley!!!

The Deepest Lake was a captivating, intense, spooky thriller! I enjoyed reading this spiraling story as the various layers revealed the twists and turns through the two POVs. Felt it gets a bit unbelievable and unraveled at the end but is a solid story.

Thanks to NetGalley and Soho Press for the opportunity to read this ARC.

Rose's daughter, Jules, was backpacking through Central America when she went missing. Despite all the resources available to Rose and her ex-husband, the only thing they know is that she was working at a writer's retreat in Guatemala run by famous author Eva Marshall. Everyone presumes Jules dead--except Rose, who refuses to give up. She decides to register for one of Eva's retreats under a fake name, determined to figure out what happened to her daughter.

What she discovers once she arrives to Lake Atitlan, the deepest lake in the world, is more than she could have imagined. Murder, corruption, lies...Rose is confronted with all of these as she desperately searches for clues about what happened to Jules.

This book was thrilling and took me places I wasn't expecting at all. The setting was amazing, and I loved learning about a place I'd never been before. The theme of mothers and daughters ran throughout the book, which would be relatable to nearly anyone whose ever had a mother.

There were some triggers I wished I'd known about beforehand (infant death, for example), but overall I really enjoyed this book.

A slow start and took some time to set up where this was all taking place but if you give it some time it all comes together. I enjoy dual point of views and reading more to see how the pieces fit and where there stories will cross. You just have to keep going with this one and get over the slow start then it hooks you in.
Thank you NetGalley and SoHo Press for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

I enjoyed this much more than I thought I would! I sort of expected an average thriller that wouldn't knock my socks off, but I was pleasantly surprised!

I have to start by saying that I imagined Eva Marshall as Gwyneth Paltrow, which was very fun for me. I think she embodied the kind of wealthy woman who would appeal to other wealthy women wanting to stay in a luxurious place to write their own memoir.

I thought I knew where this story would go, I love it when I'm surprised. Without spoiling, I was very pleased with the way the plot progressed. It was a book that also made me want to book a plane ticket to Central America.

A small criticism for me is just that the cast of characters was too large. I couldn't keep any of the women in the writing group straight and just gave up. Luckily that didn't detract from the plot, but it was hard to keep a firm grasp on who was who.

Thank you NetGalley and Soho Press for the advanced copy in exchange for my honest review.

The Deepest Lake is a compelling mystery with a unique setting and premise. In Lake Atitlán, Guatemala, there is an elite writer’s workshop hosted by a famous author. Rose arrives at the workshop with ulterior motives, to find out what happened to her daughter Jules. Jules’s disappearance has left Rose with grief and unanswered questions. She hopes the retreat, the city, and the workshop leader hold the answers.

Told between Rose and Jules, on altering timelines, the reader gets drawn into the space, the other attendees, and the spell of writer and teacher Eva Marshall.

There is so much promise in this novel, but it left me wanting more. The setting is really compelling, but it is approached with a tourist’s lens. I didn’t get a sense of the people of Guatemala in any deep ways. Eva is a compelling character, and the elusive writer’s workshop holds a lot of potential, but the reveals didn’t satisfy. I wanted it to be darker or more flushed out.

The book is a compelling read and the audiobook is really well done.

A very good read. The story starts a little slow, setting the scene. As someone who had not heard of Lake Atitlán before reading this book, setting up the environment where the story takes place is necessary. I found myself wondering where the plot was hiding (and began to wonder why the book was categorized as a mystery, then 'BAM' there it was. From that point on, I found I was unable to put it down. I found the dual point of views the author utilized is easy to follow (some often leave gaps and the reader wondering what they are missing). The ending was exactly what I would of expected.

The formatting of this ARC was really wonky on my Kindle, as a result it is impossible to read for enjoyment or engagement. That I'm sure took away some of the enjoyment of this read for me. I loved the writing of this book. The descriptions of Guatemala and the lake were beautiful. This book just didn't grab me and I couldn't finish it. I will pick up more reads by this author though, as the author's writing style is amazing.