I knew I wanted to read a mystery-thriller during October – a.k.a. spooky month – and I’ve had this ARC languishing on my Kindle for a while. In 1998 North Carolina, freshman Jessica Fadley suddenly disappears. 24 years later, Jess Fadley is a missing person, and she leaves behind a grieving family including sister Lindsey, plus plenty of fodder for a true crime podcast. Through a dual-timeline narrative, we are invited in as two sisters untangle and weave a complicated web of darkness. Lindsey is unsettled as a 30-year-old living in her missing sister’s shadow, dipping into a new podcast series about said sister when a journalist appears at the hotel she works out, seeking information about the case.

I found this to be incredible readable and propulsive: it was my jetlag companion. There’s a warm humanity to Lindsey’s chapters that opens up a conversation about the culture of true crime. As a true crime fan myself, it definitely left a lurch in my stomach. I appreciated the focus on sisterhood (above family) here for many reasons, and the short commentary into misogynistic approaches to police investigation. Greene reaches deep into human compassion and emotion to propel her story forwards. And, in terms of the ‘whodunnit?’ element, I felt pleasantly surprised that I did go back and forth on who I thought was the culprit. There’s enough suspense to keep you turning the page for more, just a true crime podcast.

Thank you Crooked Lane Book for my free ARC of The Lake of Lost Girls by Katherine Greene — available Nov 5!

» SYNOPSIS «
In the late 90s, several young women suddenly go missing from a North Carolina university, including Jessica Fadley, whose sister Lindsey is still grieving her 24 years later. When a new podcast starts digging into the disappearances, Lindsey finds herself involved in the investigation, which starts to feel too real when bodies of the missing women are discovered in a nearby lake. Will Jessica be the next body to be found? Or is something even more dangerous going on?

» REVIEW «
This was just okay for me; I enjoyed the story for the most part but I felt the resolution was a bit rushed and eye-rolly. The men in this book are all terrible, but I guessed the main "culprit" almost immediately — though there is some nuance and twistiness to this so I can't claim to have truly guessed the ending. I found the characters to be a little flat but itf you're looking for a popcorn thriller that will hold your attention, give this one a go!

⭐️⭐️⭐️

Told in alternative timelines, The Lake of Lost Girls, follows sisters Lindsey and Jessica. It's been 24 years since Jessica went missing, and Lindsey who was only a child at the time, has let her disappearance control her life since then. Lindsey along with a reporter start to dive deeper into the events that lead to Jessica's disappearance, including investigating a string of other missing girls from the local college. With the discovery of a young girl's remains are found though, what was once a cold case is heating up, as a popular true crime podcasts chronicles in real time what the police are finding.

I love a good mixed media book, and especially when a podcast is involved. Which is strange considering I hardly ever listen to podcasts, but I digress. Greene was able to sprinkle in podcast episodes and social media posts, that enhanced the story perfectly. I enjoyed the podcast commentary, and the fact that Greene is drawing attention to societies morbid fascination with True Crime, and how it's all too easy to forget that these were real people's lives being impacted. Reading the way Lindsey let this impact her life really reminds us to be mindful when consuming True Crime.

Character depth and development is where I took a star away though. Each of our characters lacked any emotional awareness and all of them tended to share similar traits. It was hard to distinguish our characters from each other, as they all tended to fall into the same 'stereotypes'. While this made guessing the murderer more difficult, it did make the characters seem a bit flat for me. However, with the alternating POVs and timelines, Greene was still able to generate an atmosphere of suspense that had me staying up late to finish this book.

With a gripping story line, a claustrophobic small-town feel, and plenty of red herrings, Greene will keep you guessing until the final pages. If you enjoy thrillers and true crime podcasts, then this book is perfect for you.

The Lake of Lost Girls comes out November 5, 2024. Thank you to Crooked Lane Books for my advanced copy in exchange for my review. If you liked this review, please let me know either by commenting below or by visiting
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This book was fantastically gripping from start to finish.

There were the perfect number of suspects in the disappearances of several college girls, each with their own secrets to hide, and it kept me guessing until the very end. There were some plot twists that completely blew me away with how horrifying the answer to the mystery was.

I recommend this one to anyone who likes books with family secrets, murder podcasts and serial killers.

Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher, and Katherine Greene for an advanced copy of "The Lake of Lost Girls" in exchange for my review.

This fits the bill as a binge-worthy thriller! I am usually someone that is able to guess fairly quickly who the culprit is but Greene was able to make this a story that I had trouble unraveling! "The Lake of Lost Girls" definitely kept me guessing and compulsively reading because the story was extremely well done. I was in desperate need of a good thriller after a string of predictable stories, and this delivered.

🛶Book Review🛶
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Summary- It’s 1998, and female students are going missing at Southern State University in North Carolina, but freshman Jessica Fadley, once a bright and responsible student, is going through her own struggles. Just as her life seems to be careening dangerously out of control, she suddenly disappears.

Twenty-four years later, Jessica’s sister Lindsey is desperately searching for answers and uses the momentum of a new chart-topping true crime podcast that focuses on cold cases to guide her own investigation. Soon, interest reaches fever pitch when the bodies of the long-missing women begin turning up at a local lake, which leads Lindsey down a disturbing road of discovery.

In the present, one sister searches to untangle a complicated web of lies.

In the past, the other descends ever deeper into a darkness that will lead to her ultimate fate.
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Rating- ⭐️⭐️⭐️
*
My thoughts- Thank you so much @netgalley and @crookedlanebooks for the advanced copy. I was so excited for this one but it was a bit of a let down. I enjoyed the overall idea of this but there were some major issues. It’s told through alternating timelines and a separate podcast. The podcast didn’t have a purpose or move the story forward, I’m not really sure why it was included. The main issue was the bizarre inappropriate relationship between the father and the missing daughter, it made me so uncomfortable. This was a good but not great thriller.
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QOTD- what are you currently reading or listening to ?
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This was a great whodunnit thriller, with lots of different elements we gather information from. Podcasts, social media posts and police transcripts and a handful of POV’s, and some are completely unreliable.

Four girls went missing from Southern State University in the late 1990's. There never seemed to be much of an investigation at the time. But a new podcast and the discovery of a body brings the Police back in to solve the mystery. When finding the remains in Doll's Eye Lake, the people of Mt. Randall, North Carolina speculate that they are the remains of Jess Fadley, who vanished twenty-four years ago. Lindsey's sister Jessica is one of the missing girls and we follow her quest, along with Journalist Ryan Mackay to discover the truth. Now more bodies start to surface in the lake.

This one was a slow burn for me in the beginning of the book, but by the middle of it…hang on tight. When the plot thickens, the author creates such an atmospheric blanket that engulfs you, you feel like you are in the book with these characters. The twists that we take, and the unknown perpetrator is not revealed until the last few pages, and it was well worth the wait.

I would recommend this one to all thriller readers who love multimedia and unreliable POV’s and characters. For me this was a solid 4 star read.

I had the honor of reading this ARC thanks to Netgalley, the author, Katherine Greene and the publisher Crooked Lane Books.

This suspenseful tale is perfect for fans of the genre. I've been enjoying the true crime podcast mystery books and this is one of the best I've read. The characters are complex and interesting. I didn't guess the reveal before the author gave it to us. Katherine Greene has moved to the top of my must read authors with this story!

This was such an page turning thriller. It was well written, perfectly paced and very intriguing.

I loved how we had a lot of suspects throughout the book, but I didn't like the plot twist and the reveal at the end. The actual killer and their motive didn't make any sense for me.

However I would still recommend it and I'm definitely interested in reading more from the author!

3.5 stars rounded to 4. When female students disappear from a university in North Carolina, the police and everyone else presume they've just run off. However, Jessica's family is certain that isn't what happened to their daughter, who disappeared while fetching her sister's birthday cake from the car, leaving the trunk open.
Twenty-four years on, Jessica's younger sister Lindsey is desperate for answers. When a podcast named "Ten Seconds to Vanish" spotlights her sister's disappearance, Lindsey finds herself compelled to listen, despite it feeling like a violation of her family's privacy. As bodies start to surface in a nearby lake, each discovery sends the family into a state of dread, fearing it might be their beloved Jessica.
Honestly, though? I think you'll be able to figure this one out.

*Special thanks to NetGalley and Crooked Lane Books for this e-arc.*

Lindsey has been living in the shadow of her missing sister, Jess, for 24 years. Jess was one of four girls to go missing from her college all those years ago, and now that a body has been found in the lake the case is reopened and it becomes clear to everyone how poorly the case was handled. Was it the boyfriend? The college professor who was known to have affairs with students? A local serial killer? Or someone entirely different?

I really enjoyed this book. I am a sucker for mixed POV and alternating timelines in stories and this one was no different. It really helped the flow and the pacing of the story. I also loved how realistic the characters felt.

Thank you NetGalley for an arc of this book in exchange for my honest review.

This is a well plotted and good paced story of four girls who went missing 24 years earlier. Told from the present by one of the girl’s, Jess’s younger sister and then chapters told from Jess’s pov 24 yours previously. We are pointed in three directions to discover who was involved and my enjoyment of this book was that I was being pulled in different directions throughout. The main characters are well drawn, even if I struggled with their motivations. I was surprised to find out that the book was a collaboration between two writers as it read seemlessly.

I really enjoyed reading this! The plot was interesting and I liked the twist at the end. Fun, quick read for Halloween time!

🔥 M U S T R E A D M O N D A Y review 🔥 featuring “The Lake of Lost Girls” by Katherine Greene!

BOOK REVIEW: 🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤/5

In 1998, Jessica Fadley left home to attend her first year at Southern State University in North Carolina. Although it was only 15 minutes away from her childhood home and parents, the need to be on her own had never been so needed. Jessica started out as a straight A student with a responsible head on her shoulders, but this quickly changed and she started to party too much and spiral out of control.

Female students at the university started to go missing … all of them linked in one way or another to a Professor with a predator reputation. Jessica included … and she also went missing without a trace like the other girls.

24 years later, a popular true crime podcast called Ten Seconds to Vanish has decided to focus on the cold cases of the missing girls. Jessica’s younger sister Lindsey has always been desperate for answers and she uses the podcast as a guide into her own investigation. After all this time the bodies of the missing women are found in the bottom of Doll’s Eye Lake … except for Jessica. What will Lindsey discover as she untangles a disturbing web of secrets and lies about her sister??

MIC DROP!! THIS BOOK HAD ME SHOOK 🤯!!!! The twists and turns were WILD, the bread crumbs of new information throughout the investigation were GRIPPING and the ending was EXPLOSIVE!!! I was totally shocked and thrown for a loop and I will be thinking about this haunting story for a long time! Bravo 👏!!

Thank you kindly to @katherinegreeneauthor @crookedlanebooks @penguinrandomca @netgalley for my advanced digital copy in exchange for my honest review! This book releases on November 5, 2024!

The Lake of Lost Girls was such a great book! I loved the pacing and the dual timelines, it gave me the opportunity to get to know each character a bit better. Jess was surrounded by toxic or predatory men and any one of them could have been responsible for her death and the deaths of her fellow students, and I was absolutely shocked by how this book turned out! I also really appreciated the podcast element and because of that, I would highly recommend the audiobook version, though I also read the ebook when I couldn’t listen. You’ll enjoy it either way!

The Lake of Lost Girls is a mystery thriller told in two timelines interwind with snippets of a podcast and social media posts.



Lindsey’s sister disappeared when they celebrated Lindsey’s sixth birthday. She watched her getting her cake from the trunk of her car but got distracted and looked away for ten seconds. When she turned her head back Jess was gone. Twentyfour years later her life is still on hold. She went to university but went back to live with her still grieving parents. When a new podcast starts to unravel what may have happened to Jess thinks begin to move. She meets a handsome journalist who is obsessed with the case. Lindsey realized that she knows close to nothing about her sister and she has no idea what happened. And Jess was not the only girl who got missing.



The book is entertaining enough and an easy read, maybe even more if you haven’t read a ton of thrillers before like I have. The writing is quite simple and the characters are not very good developed. The men are all creepy predators and the women all have but a tragic penchant for the wrong men. The story is not very complex and you can see the twists coming and figure out easily who did what. I think it is meant to be more complex than it actually is. The reason behind it all stays murky. There is a lot of negative archetypes and a lot of creepy things are going on, especially between Jess and her father.



It is an easy read but there are too many plot holes and inconsistencies for my liking.

Many thanks to NetGalley, Crooked Lane Books, and Dreamscape Media for gifting me both a digital and audio ARC of the second thriller by the best friends writing duo known as Katherine Greene, with the audio fabulously narrated by the cast of Helen Laser, Frankie Corzo, Sara Young, Haley Taylor, and David Bendena. All opinions expressed in this review are my own - 5 stars!

It's 1998 and female students are going missing at Southern State University in North Carolina. Jessica Fadley, a promising student who began struggling, is the latest to disappear. Twenty-four years later, Jessica's sister, Lindsey, uses the interest in a new true crime podcast focusing on the case, Ten Seconds to Vanish, to help her own investigations into what happened to her sister. Then bodies of the long-missing women start turning up at a local lake.

Wow - this book was fantastic! I both read the digital version and listened to the wonderful audio, which is my favorite way to get totally immersed into a story. Having a whole cast made the audio production top notch and I couldn't put it down. The story alternates between both timelines as we follow Jessica on the lead up to her disappearance, and in the present as Lindsey tries to put all the pieces together of her sister's life. In between, we get snippets of the podcast to amp up the tension and suspense. There were plenty of suspects and creepy behavior that will keep you guessing, and the ending just totally blew my mind in the best possible way! If you like thrillers, this is an absolute must read!

This book was entertaining, fast paced, but left me wanting a little more.. i did enjoy it though

thanks netgalley and publisher. all thoughts and opinions are my own

This is my first book by this author and it was middle of the road for me. I quite enjoyed the first half, but then the second half went downhill and the author wasn’t able to pull me back in.

I liked the dual narrators, and am on the fence about the additional narrators at the end. I’m still sitting with whether they were necessary or not … I liked how the author presented Lindsay as never quite having her own life experiences, living instead in the shadow of her missing sister; Lindsay definitely made some questionable choices. Her parents were unlikeable (the mom was a piece of work), Ryan was terrible, and the only character I even remotely liked was the roommate (but only in her younger days).

As many other reviewers have noted, the podcast entries really don’t add anything to the story (except to make me reflect on how victims of crime and their families must feel knowing their experiences have provided fodder for entertainment).

I didn’t mind the pool of suspects, but I didn’t love the reveal. could get on board with who the killer was, but the reasons for the murders didn’t make sense. I don’t care for coincidences in my books, and this story had too many (all four girls being involved with all the suspects seemed a bit much. I also didn’t care for the portrayal of all men as bad / creepy / predatory / incompetent and one female character getting a pass on her bad choices because … girl power, I guess?

A satisfying thriller/mystery novel with multiple twists and red herrings. Even though I figured out most of the story before the end I was still questioning myself right up to the end.