Thanks to NetGalley and Crooked Lane Books for the ARC. "The Lake of Lost Girls" blends true crime and podcasts, focusing on college coeds' disappearances in the '90s. The story jumps between timelines and POVs, highlighting the struggles of Lindsey, whose sister vanished. While the slow first half and redundant dialogue tested my patience, the pace picks up later. Despite flaws, the book offers twists and a compelling mystery. Trigger warnings apply.

Thank you to NetGalley and Crooked Lane Books for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.
If you love true crime and podcasts, you may enjoy this mystery/thriller. The Lake of Lost Girls focuses on the disappearance of college coeds in the 1990s and the life of. One girl’s surviving family member. Told in multiple timelines and POVs, the story bounces between current day and the campus of Southern State U. in the 1990s.
I struggled with first half of this book, because it felt like many early scenes dragged on longer than needed. The conversations between two main characters were often redundant, and I found myself skimming pages.
Around the halfway mark, the pace picks up. The premise and plot are both strong, but the delivery was lacking. I enjoy a fast-paced thriller and found this book to be rather slow burn for the first half. And while I’m a fan of mixed-media books, the podcasters in this story were very light-hearted and disrespectful, almost to the point of feeling farcical. I think I would have rated this 4 stars if not for the very slow and repetitive first half.
However, the book offered red herrings and misleads and was a fun, interesting mystery with twists and I’m glad I decided to finish reading.

Thank you to #NetGalley and #CrookedLaneBooks for sending this book for review consideration through NetGalley. All opinions are my own.

The book contains trigger warnings and complex themes that may be unsettling to some readers. Aside from murder, the novel is rife with depictions of objectification of women, grooming, infidelity, predatory behavior, police incompetence, psychological dynamics of toxic familial and teacher-student relationships, and trauma.

One of the maddest plot twists I've read since "Sharp Objects."

Mystery novels infused with the intrigue of true crime podcasts are currently all the rave. I may have read more than five books using this trope as a framework, yet it's far from being overdone. There's more to unpack from this method of storytelling to introduce the murder mystery narrative, offering a unique blend of realism and social commentary that retains reader engagement.

When a true crime podcast creates a buzz about the unearthing of human remains in Doll's Eye Lake, the people of Mt. Randall speculate that the remains were of Jess Fadley, who vanished twenty-four years ago. Jess's sister, Lindsey, was just a six-year-old then, and she's been struggling with the void of her sister's absence ever since. When Ryan, a determined journalist, seeks the help of Lindsey to uncover the truth behind Jess' disappearance, more bodies have surfaced in the lake. In this dysfunctional madhouse of a thriller, Greene takes us into a small town's dark secrets that will blow your sanity away.

"The Lake of Lost Girls" swirls as an intriguing whodunit that starts with a slow build, but halfway to the end, the plot finally heads in the right direction. But despite a seemingly ascending trajectory, the tension ebbs and flows. It wasn't until the final pages that everything started falling into place. The alternating chapters offer evidence of the murder in the present while responding to previous chapters' cliffhangers by narrating what transpired in the past as it happens. I can't help but gush at how the authors structured the narrative by LINEARLY laying down the pool of suspects and highlighting their relevance to the plot in individual chapters. The author cleverly executed the narrative flow, preventing me from going back and forth between chapters to analyze specific characters.

If there's one thing that would make me remember this book, it is the brilliance of including news articles, clippings, and social media posts within the narrative. Such visual elements blur the barrier between fiction and reality as readers partake in the immersive journey.

I would have given this book five stars in a heartbeat, but I cannot deny I was on the verge of abandoning it due to its tedious nature and the repetitive stream of consciousness from Lindsey and Jess. Additionally, most of the characters were downright toxic and unlikable, except for a few decent ones. Misgivings aside, the unexpected twist stunned me. I've run through possible outcomes in my head, but the jaw-dropping moment threw me for a loop.

"The Lake of Lost Girls" is a sad tale brought upon by traumatic experiences and society's ills. It gnaws on your skin until nothing is left. The aftermath left me in grief-stricken astonishment, all while confronting moral ambiguity. Murder mysteries are genres I've come to love for the thrill, but no matter how fictional most of the narrative is, its foundation is rooted in reality. And it is damn terrifying.

A small town college.
4 missing girls from the same campus.

A sister who was young when Jessica, her sister, went missing.
Parents who never spoke of it.
Until, 24 years later, they were forced to deal with the past and their part in it.

When the first body is found, a journalist shows up at Lindsey's place of business.
He has investigated the disappearance of her sister Jessica since the day she disappeared.
Lindsey senses something is "off" about him.
She decides it is time for her to learn more about her long lost older sister on her own.

Told through the voices of both sisters in the past and the present, the author does a great job of building characters, not only of the sisters, but touching on the interaction between Jessica and the other missing girls on campus.

I enjoyed this book.
The story held my interest.
I, too, wanted to know what happened to Jessica and her peers.

I struggled a little with Jessica's behavior since some of her actions were the exact actions of someone she dearly loved that negatively affected her.
When she started going down the same path, I was tempted to set this one aside as unbelievable.
I am glad I pressed on, as the reasons behind her choices helped the whole story come together in the end.

I did think the shoddy police work piece of the story was a bit excessive.
No police officer, even in a small college town, could get it THAT wrong. Be THAT incompetent.

Another thing I want to mention is the True Crime Podcast that intermittently pops in.
While it wasn't annoying, it didn't add anything at all to the story.
As far as I could tell, its only purpose in the book was to open the door for a sequel.

Overall, this one was a good read that I would recommend.

Thank you to Netgalley and Crooked Lane Books for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Loved it!

Pros: Engaging storyline, loved all the plot twists, likeable characters. There wasn’t just one suspect and I was guessing until the end. Fast paced. I personally like the FB posts and little things interspersed throughout.

Cons: This is the 3rd or 4th recent book centered on a new true crime podcast, although this was well done and written, the concept is well used now

Rating:
4 stars/B+

Thanks to NetGalley and Crooked Lane Books for this ARC! The Lake of Lost Girls is a thriller set in a small college town where four college girls went missing 24 years ago. The main character is Lindsey, one of the missing girl’s little sister. The case is re-opened when a body is found in a local lake. Lindsey begins to look deeper into her sister’s disappearance and her life at college. She discovers a side to her sister she didn’t know and uncovers complicated family secrets while she’s at it. The story jumps back and forth in the timeline and several of the chapters are from different characters’ points of view. There is an added element of a true crime podcast that brings attention to the case but honestly seems unnecessary in the development of the story. With the multiple points of views, podcast, and timeline jumps it’s hard to stay focused. The story was intriguing but the “big twist” was pretty predictable. Again, the premise was intriguing and the true crime podcast element was something new I hadn’t seen an author employ before but I did not enjoy this book as much as I thought I would

It’s been a long time since a thriller book kept me on the edge of my seat from beginning to end and that it blew my mind.
“The lake of lost girls” introduces us to the missing cases of 4 women which were never found, and the investigations turned cold. The weird aspect of these cases was that the girls were connected between each other, but the police never took that into consideration.
24 years had passed and one of the girls’ bodies is found and the investigation is back to uncover secrets, where Lindsay Fadley (sister to one of the missing girls) wants to find answers and her way she is finding people from her sister’s past, in addition to a murder podcast which shines the light to all of these girls.
There is so much to say about this book, but I don’t want to reveal too much because it was journey and I want you to experience it for yourself. It is written in two-line times which makes it a friendly story to keep up and you’re never lost between story lines.
This book leaves in evidence the lack of work of the police and how the little attention to those who seem to be the guilty ones and the power that a “good reputation” can have to overlook a clearly bad behavior.
The story is so well written that everyone seems guilty, and you don’t know who to trust and who is telling the truth. Each chapter ends in a cliffhanger which makes you not let go of the book, and the tension build to reach the ending was magnificent and the ending even better. MINDBLOWING.
If you are going to read the book, please consider the following trigger warning: murder, infidelity, predator behavior, dysfunctional family, teacher-student relationship, trauma.

Katherine Greene's "The Lake of Lost Girls" is a suspense-packed thriller and enables the reader to feel like part of the puzzle while the mystery unfolds. Told from the dual perspective of two sisters, this cold-case mystery is captivating from the very first chapter.

Author Katherine Greene takes her readers back in time to 1998, following the disappearance of four female Southern State University students. Lindsay Fadley, the younger sibling whose older sister Jessica disappeared without a trace the same year as the other female students, is still consumed with uncovering what happened all those years ago.

There was a botched police investigation paired with multiple suspects, including a professor, a boyfriend and someone in the sister’s own family.

The unique storyline includes snippets of podcast episodes, social media posts and newspaper clippings from the time of the murder and present day. This thriller had me invested in solving the cold case and uncovering the truth behind the mystery of the missing students. I was on the edge of my seat until the very end. I can’t wait to recommend this book to all my fellow readers. It’s one of the best thriller books I’ve read this year!

Publication Date: November 5, 2024

Thank you @netgalley and @crookedlanebooks for the arc in exchange for my honest review.

Was a beri suspenseful story.
Good character development and plot twists.

I could not stop reading but I wanted something more

Thanks to NetGalley for this arc! This is a true crime mystery novel with dual timeline and dual pov about a missing girl named Jessie/Jess. Present day is from Lindsay’s pov and the past is told from Jess’s pov in college. We get to see what unfolds about Jess and what happened to her along with the aftermath from her sister’s pov in the present day which I found basic but there’s something to it that’s interesting. From Jess’s timeline it feels a little predictable to me. The story drags a little and I didn’t really like the podcast in the story but I very much enjoyed Jessica’s pov more than Lindsay’s. the twists of this story is really good if you love true crime/mystery I recommend but for me personally as I did enjoy it there was some that just didn’t go well together for me. All together a 3.75 for me.

On her 6th birthday, Lindsey turned away for just 10 seconds and her older sister disappeared, along with three other girls. Justice was never served, in fact the girls were never found. 24 years later, two strangers start a true crime podcast focusing on the disappearances and stir up a whole lot of history.

The Lake of Lost Girls is a skilfully crafted narrative full of twists and turns that keep you from ever putting the book down. I particularly adored Lindsey, the protagonist, because she felt like a fully fleshed out character with flaws but was still so relatable. The ending had my jaw on the floor, I did not have even an inkling of what was going to happen. I would highly recommend this to any lover of books about womanhood and lovers of thrillers.

3.75/5 stars

OMG! This book is so WILD! I won't go into massive spoilers here, but there is so much going on that it makes you second and third guess yourself. I highly recommend it!

I loved this book! I was pulled into it from the first page. I loved how it goes from perspectives of both sisters. I would definitely recommend this book to any suspense readers.

The Lake of Lost Girls is a unique mystery about missing college students, the audacity of men, and misdirected anger. However…

I made a prediction of exactly what happened to all 4 of the girls, who did it, and their motive at the 5% mark, and was certain of my prediction by 12%. Unfortunately, I was correct on all counts.

What didn’t work for me was that each of the “clues” that would usually be subtly mentioned throughout the story in such a way that isn’t super obvious to the reader were instead repeated and highlighted from the very beginning, hence the predictability of the mystery.

Huge thanks to the publishers for the advanced copy. WOW! What a ride this book was. Perfect for any thriller / mystery / true crime fan!

This haunting novel is a cold case mystery that will keep you on the edge of your seat. I was initially dragged in by the gripping storyline but stayed for the twists and turns. I also loved the dynamic of podcast episodes and social media posts, giving a modern but realistic feel!

This was an easy read with an interesting enough plot, I just didn’t find myself getting engaged in either the story or the characters. I did like the dual-timelines and the intrigue of trying to figure out the ‘whodunnit’ but overall, this wasn’t for me.

Wow!! I was convinced I had it all figured out but I was so wrong! What a twist! Fans of true crime podcasts will absolutely love this book! Thank you, NetGalley, for the opportunity to read and review early!!

I ate this UP! The way I was so convinced on who the killer was (and I was partly right) the whole time because it’s alwayssss the one you least expect, but DAMN!!!!! For the first time in a while I have been outsmarted on the whodunit front!

This book was fast paced and a nice easy read. Totally creepy when you read it at 1am and I’m not sure how I’ll get to sleep now, but it was well worth it.

Absolutely recommend this for anyone looking to sink their teeth into the latest true crime thrillers on the market. Well worth the read!

4/5⭐️

fans of true crime and podcasts will enjoy this one. Told with dual timelines and alternating POVs with podcast snippets, social media posts and news articles sprinkled in, it’s a captivating story of missing college coed Jessica Fadley. 20 years have passed since she vanished and her sister still wants answers. However as she digs into her sister’s past, Lindsey realizes those answers might come with a hefty price. Who was her sister and how is she connected to the difference of 3 other female students on campus? Thanks NetGalley for the advanced copy, this one comes out this fall!