Wow! This is a very twisted read. Lindsey has been in suspense for twenty four years what happened to her beloved sister, Jessica. Jess disappeared on Lindsey’s sixth birthday when she went to her car to retrieve the cake from her trunk. Strangely enough three other women also disappeared a few months prior to her sister’s disappearance. Remains are found and the police are finally digging into the disappearance of all four women. Very twisted read. I was given an advanced reader copy of this book by NetGalley and I am freely sharing my review.

The links to true crime stories and the way the articles and podcasts switched forms were both incredibly interesting to me. While I preferred Jess' point of view, the alternate timeframes actually worked incredibly well and were both plenty suspenseful on their own. I devoured this in one sitting because of the strong writing and quick pacing. In some ways, everything felt very surface-level, especially in light of Jess's point of view and what transpired there. What I wanted was a little more depth. I was hoping for a bit more blood and guts. Additionally, I believe that things became a little confusing near the conclusion. Perhaps more effort should have been spent crafting the ending rather than explaining everything at first.

The Lake of Lost Girls not only takes readers through the ride that is discovering what happened to Jessica Fadley and the three other students that went “missing” from Southern State University in North Carolina, it sheds a small light on the impact that True Crime fascination has on the people closely involved in the cases.

Although The Lake of Lost Girls started out slow, once I got the hang of the alternating timelines, I was hooked. I was drawn in through the various forms of storytelling. I thoroughly enjoyed the addition of scripts from the True Crime Podcast that attempts to sleuth their way through this cold case.

A unique prose, twisty turns, excellent pace, I highly recommend The Lake of Lost Girls for thriller and true crime fans.

Using suspenseful podcast clips to weave a twisty tale of a missing student and her sister who is desperate for answers, The Lake of Lost Girls is perfect for fans of I Have Some Questions for You.

This was really good. Well written with good characters and strong plot twists. I very much enjoyed it!

𝐈𝐟 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐞𝐧𝐣𝐨𝐲 𝐚𝐧 𝐞𝐝𝐠𝐞-𝐨𝐟-𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫-𝐬𝐞𝐚𝐭 𝐬𝐮𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐧𝐬𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐫𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐫 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐦𝐮𝐥𝐭𝐢𝐩𝐥𝐞 𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐬𝐮𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐬, 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐢𝐧 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐚 𝐫𝐢𝐝𝐞 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝑳𝒂𝒌𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝑳𝒐𝒔𝒕 𝑮𝒊𝒓𝒍𝒔! 𝐓𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐲 𝐢𝐬 𝐮𝐧𝐢𝐪𝐮𝐞𝐥𝐲 𝐭𝐨𝐥𝐝 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡 𝐚𝐥𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐧𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐬, 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐚𝐥𝐬𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡 𝐚 𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐞 𝐜𝐫𝐢𝐦𝐞 𝐩𝐨𝐝𝐜𝐚𝐬𝐭, 𝐚𝐝𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚 𝐟𝐮𝐧 𝐦𝐨𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐧 𝐭𝐰𝐢𝐬𝐭. 𝐈𝐭’𝐬 𝐝𝐞𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐭𝐞𝐥𝐲 𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐬𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐤𝐞𝐞𝐩𝐬 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐠𝐨𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐛𝐚𝐜𝐤 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐡 𝐨𝐧 𝐰𝐡𝐨 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝’𝐯𝐞 𝐝𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐢𝐭 𝐝𝐨𝐞𝐬 𝐚𝐧 𝐞𝐱𝐜𝐞𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐣𝐨𝐛 𝐚𝐭 𝐫𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐞𝐧𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡—𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐭𝐨𝐨 𝐦𝐮𝐜𝐡—𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐞𝐚𝐜𝐡 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫.

𝐓𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡 𝐈 𝐝𝐢𝐝 𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐝𝐢𝐜𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲 𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐥𝐲 𝐨𝐧 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐛𝐨𝐨𝐤, 𝐈 𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐞𝐧𝐣𝐨𝐲𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝! 𝐈𝐭 𝐞𝐝𝐠𝐞𝐬 𝐨𝐧 𝐝𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐛𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐛𝐞𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐥𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐥𝐲 𝐬𝐨 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐡𝐚𝐬 𝐚 𝐬𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐬𝐟𝐲𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐨𝐥𝐮𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧. 𝐖𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐛𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐲 𝐦𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐚𝐧 𝐞𝐱𝐜𝐞𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐚𝐮𝐝𝐢𝐨𝐛𝐨𝐨𝐤—𝐈’𝐦 𝐡𝐨𝐩𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐧 𝐚𝐮𝐝𝐢𝐨 𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐢𝐬 𝐫𝐞𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐞𝐝!

𝒯𝒽𝒶𝓃𝓀 𝓎𝑜𝓊 𝓉𝑜 𝒦𝒶𝓉𝒽𝑒𝓇𝒾𝓃𝑒 𝒢𝓇𝑒𝑒𝓃𝑒, 𝒞𝓇𝑜𝑜𝓀𝑒𝒹 𝐿𝒶𝓃𝑒 𝐵𝑜𝑜𝓀𝓈, & 𝒩𝑒𝓉𝒢𝒶𝓁𝓁𝑒𝓎 𝒻𝑜𝓇 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝒜𝑅𝒞! 𝒜𝓁𝓁 𝑜𝓅𝒾𝓃𝒾𝑜𝓃𝓈 𝒶𝓇𝑒 𝓂𝓎 𝑜𝓌𝓃.

Four young women disappeared from the campus of Southern State University 24 years ago. A lackluster police response lead to the case going cold but now things are coming to the surface. Told in alternating time lines this twisted tale will leave you guessing right until the very end. Peppered in are transcripts from a true crime podcast covering the cold case as it warms back up.

I ate this book up in two sittings. As a reformed true crime podcast listener I loved the podcast aspect and how the family reacted to being covered in this way. Full of red herrings and twists I couldn’t get my theory’s of whodunit straight!

Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher and the author for the eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Katherine Greene's novel, The Lake of Lost Girls, offers an intriguing premise and a dual storyline that holds promise. Alternating between different perspectives, the narrative provides a multifaceted view of the mystery at its core. Despite my general aversion to books featuring podcasts, I found the storylines engaging at times, even if the two girls central to the podcast subplot were somewhat grating.

The college setting, while well-rendered, skewed too young adult for my personal taste, making it harder for me to connect with the characters and their experiences. Although the writing itself was competent and the storyline had potential, it ultimately failed to sustain my interest throughout.

I would like to thank NetGalley for providing an advance copy in exchange for this honest review.

Amazing! this book is so well written, it has it all! a lot of suspicion, sadness, intrigue, but the ending was the piece de resistance! i did not see that coming! i was trying to guess all the way through but was way off- amazing book please write more!

Woah.

🤯

Thank you to Katherine Greene, NetGalley and Crooked Lane Books for providing this ARC as an ebook. I read this one in 2 sittings.

Jess has disappeared. It only took a few seconds for her to vanish. Her little sister Lindsey was waiting impatiently at the window for her much older sister to return with her surprise from the trunk of her car. Something distracted her 6 year old self and when she returned to the window, Jessica was gone. Her trunk was wide open and no one was to be seen.

The police did such a shoddy job trying to find her kidnapper. They never tied together that the 3 other girls that went missing from Southern State were connected. Or were they?

Throughout the read I think the mom was the only person I didn’t suspect of getting rid of Jess. And yet, the ending was still a shock.

The story is told with different timelines and multiple media sources, including new articles, Instagram posts, and a podcast that quickly goes viral with its rehashing of the crime. Those additions really bring you into the story, making it seem as though you are living through it also.

Holy cow! I was not expecting that and I absolutely loved it so much. I need it for myself. I love me some thriller that keeps you on your toes the whole book and this is that.

Set in the past and present, The Lake of the Lost Girls takes us through Jessica's last days along with the present search to find her. She attends Southern State University just up the hill from her childhood home. While attending, Jessica along with three other girls who seem to all have relations to each other go missing! New evidence and remains found prompt law enforcement to reevaluate everything. With her younger sister stating she only looked away for 10 seconds, we find her, Lindsay, in the midst of the search.

I truly did enjoy this book and it kept me on the edge of my seat! I raced to finish this book and I am so glad I was able to read it! I will say there are a lot of twists and turns, sometimes getting me a little confused. However, I was thoroughly surprised by the ending (which I love in a physiological thriller btw!!!). The different aspects of the story were interesting, including the past and present aspect and the podcast being included!

Just honestly losing one star because of the confusion at times and how frustrated I got with some of the characters lol.

Anyway, thank you so so so much to NetGalley and Katherine Greene for allowing me to read an advanced reader copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

Thank you to NetGalley and Crooked Lane Books for my unbiased review in exchange for my copy.

"The Lake of Lost Girls" by Katherine Greene is a mystery told in the past and in the present. In 1998, Southern State University freshman, Jessica Fadley, is a once golden girl struggling through her first year of college and independence. Along with three other female students, Jessica disappears. Over two decades later, remains are found prompting the search for Jessica and the three other missing girls to begin anew and Jessica's younger sister, Lindsey, gets caught up in the momentum.

This was an overall enjoyable read. There is, as with mysteries, a twist and while I did end up guessing the twist like 40% in, I still thought it was enjoyable. I did kind of find Lindsey's perspective to be grating. Despite all of her traumas, I just found her so arrested and annoying to read. I felt kind of similarly when reading Jessica's perspective as well, but I felt more sympathy considering she is supposed to still be a teenager for the most part. I think for a quick summer read, this is a good one to have on hand. It's quick, it isn't too complicated, and for the most part, I think that people will enjoy connecting the dots. You will however, find yourself frustrated with the ineptitude of practically everybody in this. I mean, everyone just seemed comically obtuse. It was wild. Despite that, I pushed through and had a fine time reading.

This isn't a work of art or a masterpiece, but again, it's fairly enjoyable. Just middle of the road as far as mysteries go.

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.

It would seem I’m reading a few stories at the moment that use the true crime podcast premise to explore and unravel stories. And I don’t hate it!

This is a great psychological thriller that unpacks a rang of different stories. While I actually found the podcast sections somewhat irrelevant to what was happening in the story (I skimmed these sections by the end), I found the writing style and the way each murder was unpacked really interesting. With a few characters bought in as potential suspects, you did find yourself unsure who it would be, which I always enjoy!

What. The. Heck.
I truly didn’t see that coming at all. This book kept me on the edge of my seat the whole time. I was convinced I knew who did it. Even being partially right, I was somehow still completely off. Loved the mixed media aspect.

I love that this book had both podcast transcripts, interviews, and two timelines. It was wonderfully layered and kept me entertained and guessing until the end. This is my first book from Katherine Greene and it will not be my last book that I read.

This is great for anyone that enjoy true crime and true crime podcasts

The Lake of Lost Girls was a letdown. The timeline, bouncing back and forth between the past and the present, felt redundant at times. The podcast element seemed unnecessary and did nothing to advance the story. The character development was lacking, making the big reveal unbelievable. I struggled to get through this book and considered not finishing it multiple times. While the premise of the story seemed interesting, the final result was lackluster.

This was a fast paced story line with a mysterious series of events plaguing a small town. The reader is constantly running through potential scenarios as they seek answers to their local mysteries, but can never quite put their finger on the true outcome. It is a good story, enjoyable, with the potential to build in the future through more novels from the author.

The Lake of Lost Girls is about several female students who have gone missing at Southern State University in NC. Jess, a SSU student who is also a member of the small town’s community, is the focus of a true crime podcast. The podcast takes its name from a quote from Lindsey, Jess’ sister, who had been watching out the window and had just gotten distracted and looked away for 10 seconds. Lindsey, who was celebrating her 6th birthday at the time, is now a 30 year old woman whose life has been overshadowed by being the sister of a missing girl. She still lives at home with an incredibly overprotective mother and a distant father.

The story is told from multiple POVs, including the past tense of Jess. It also has transcripts of the podcast and snips of their social media postings. I like this format as you got a bit of the story from the podcast and then it would focus on a POV to get you the story of what was happening at that time as well as Lindsey working to put together what had happened. There are a lot of people lying as to be expected in a story about murder. I went back and forth on my suspicions for a great deal of the book. I did find Lindsey to be a very flat character, but I also believe, based on the author’s early description of her, that was intentional. It was an easy read and I had a hard time putting it down because I wanted to know what happened.

Thanks to NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

I needed to sit with this for a minute before rating it, because I read it in a single sitting! It was super fast paced, and I liked the multimedia aspect of it a lot. If anything I wish that this book had a bit more room to breathe!
I like the main character and the flickering between all of the different POVs. The slow reveal of what's happening fills the reader with a huge sense of dread. I really enjoyed reading about the main character and I feel like her internal dialogue was really well written. Jessie's point of view is integral to the plot, but I still think I preferred Lindsey's point of view. There's a huge swell of emotion and the very end of the story hammered this home for me.
Anyone looking for a quick, thrilling read would love to see this cold case mystery unfold!

First, thank you NetGalley for the opportunity to read this story.

This was a super fast-paced thriller, with twists at every turn. I lost count how many times I thought I'd figured it out.

4 college girls go missing until a body is discovered 24 years later. This discovery kicks this cold case back into the forefront. It's made news, podcasts are being recorded, and the past is making itself heard.

You won't want to put this book down. I was driven to finish the last 60% of this book as soon as I woke this morning. I hadn't figured it out fully, but I did partially, but not until 95% way through. If you love true crime or mysteries, you will want to give this one a read. You won't be disappointed.