This feels like such a tough book to review. The premise and structure of the book felt like they worked really well; I enjoyed the true crime podcast element and the way that the murderer got revealed was well done. I found the writing--especially the dialogue--tough to hang with. There was a lot of info dumping and repetition of the same information (first in dialogue and then in exposition, or vice versa) that made the story drag.

The book's format is unlike any I've seen before. Instead of the characters narrating the events, the readers are placed in the position of a motel witness observing the happenings. The story contains podcasts, flashback to events and ldifferent points of view. Despite this unconventional format, the book is a page-turner that leaves the reader wanting to know what happened to the girls. It's a story that draws you in and makes you feel the stress of the characters. The writer's storytelling ability is the standout feature of the book. It's perfect for anyone who enjoys plot twists that catch them off guard. If you're looking for a book to read, this is the one.

3.5 stars, rounded up

"The Lake of Lost Girls" is a dual-timeline story of two sisters, Jessica and Lindsey, one of whom went missing from Southern State University in North Carolina twenty-four years ago. The novel is meant to appeal to true crime fans as present-day Lindsey attempts to unravel the mysterious cold case disappearance of her sister.

While the book kept me turning pages, I felt like it relied too heavily on exposition and "telling" me information rather than letting the characters' actions drive the story and speak for themselves. The inclusion of the podcast "Ten Seconds to Vanish," was an interesting concept, but it didn't quite hit the mark, mainly serving as a repetitive summary rather than advancing the plot or deepening the mystery. The same goes for the included "social media" posts and photos that didn't unlock any clues or offer fresh information. I have recently read several other "true-crime" fiction novels that did a far better job incorporating these modern elements, so maybe that's why they seemed to fall extra flat for me here. This, coupled with a pacing that felt slow and repetitive until an ending that seemed rushed yet overloaded with explanations, made my reading experience a mixed bag.

[see spoilers in Goodreads review]

Despite figuring out the mystery halfway through and feeling that the ending was a bit rushed and packed with too much explanation all at once, I didn't hate the journey. It was an easy and mostly enjoyable read that managed to keep my interest. But, I wish it had taken the time and shown us more instead of relying upon telling us about things.

(2.5 stars)

I wanted to like this book more than I actually did. The chapters with Jessica's POV were far and away the best; I found myself skimming a lot with Lindsey, who just seemed kind of bland to me. I did like some of the things the book delved into - how parental grief affects surviving siblings, the ghoulishness of true crime podcasts who treat it like entertainment (looking at you, Crime Junkie). But I also figured out the twist pretty much right from the beginning, and ultimately, I just didn't end up liking it that much.

holy crap!
I just finished this in one sitting. It’s currently midnight and I am blown away by this whole story. Thrillers always get me out of a slump and this was exactly what I needed.

The plot had me hooked, the almost thinking i have it figured out just for the twist to come and have me with my jaw ok the floor. Omg. What a brilliant story.

It’s 1998 and girls keep going missing at Southern State University. Jessica Fadley is watching it happen and is unable to stop it as she is on a path of destruction in her freshman year of college with her own demons she’s fighting when suddenly she becomes the 4th girl to go missing. 24 years later and her sister Lindsey is still looking for answers on where her sister went. Told in a dual timeline alternating between Jessica and Lindsey, Lindsey slowly begins finding out what just happened to her big sister all those years ago. But the truth.. is something she can’t unlearn and may turn her own life upside down.

The Lake of Lost Girls was such a fast paced read that leaves you guessing until the very end with a twist I’m certain you won’t see coming. The author throws in little social media/podcast clips which I thought was such a fun way to loop in how quickly stories can catch the attention of millions and how twisted things can get along the way. I will say the alternating chapters, Lindsey and Jessica feel very similar and are written similarly so it was a little hard to remember who was who at times and the chapters are so long (i’m a short chapter girl) but overall the development of the plot isn’t too slow and leaves you wanting to keep reading. With that said, I’ll give this a 4/5⭐️ and say this one is definitely worth checking out when it releases in November! Thank you to netgalley for the ARC!

Lindsey Fadley has lived in her sister's shadow her whole life, even now, after twenty-four years since her disappearance. The case of the missing girl, who joined the other three from the same Southern State University in North Carolina was never solved and seemed as if it would never be, considering the time that passed and the ineptitude of the Mt. Randall's police. But when the bodies start emerging one after another, it seems there is more to the story than everyone originally thought. Now, Lindsey, herself, will have to find out what happened to her sister. But with the deeply buried secrets and the webs of lies of everyone around her, the truth couldn't be more disturbing.

I enjoyed this book a lot. In its own way, I enjoyed the use of different media in the book, which gave it a modern feel but also showed different perspectives, although not necessarily in the best light, although on purpose.

Quite frankly, I was hooked. Although it started a bit slowly for me, and the first chapters seemed a bit messy, the book quickly picked up and became quite impossible to put down. I found myself really engrossed in all the pages, trying to solve the mystery myself.

Admittedly, my favourite part of the book were the Jess chapters, as I found them to be most compelling. I liked her character, it was built really well, she really had substance, and so did her friends and people seen from her perspective. Her parts evoked stronger emotions, incredible excitement, but also to a degree - stress, as I wondered what would finally happen. Unfortunately, with the course of the book, more likeable than initially, Lindsey's character fell a bit bland, but maybe that was the whole thing - that she was always, no matter when in the shadow of her sister.

Nearing the end of the book - I found it impossible to put it down, I couldn't wait to read and figure out what truly happened to Jessica. Truthfully, I have predicted half of the final plot twist, and the other half has actually surprised me. I found it interesting, as it didn't cross my mind, but in the end, when I became aware of it, it made sense, but I was still hoping for something more.

Overall, I think the book was very interesting, and except for the slower pace in the few moments, I think of it as a very compelling read.

4/5 stars.

THANK YOU CROOKED LANE BOOKS AND NETGALLEY FOR PROVIDING ME WITH A DIGITAL COPY OF THIS BOOK.

Thank you NetGalley, Katherine Greene, and Crooked Lane Books for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for my honest opinion.

THIS BOOK IS SO AMAZING! I was sucked in from the first chapter and couldn't put it down! Small college town, where four students go missing over their freshman year. A parent with secret, a heartbroken boyfriend, and a college professor are all thrown into the middle of the missing students in the 90s. Fast forward twenty-four years later, the younger sibling of one of the missing tries to put her sisters's mysterious disappearance to rest. I can't wait to read this author's other book!

This book 🤌🏻

You’ve got alternate timelines, podcasts, Instagram posts, police transcripts anddddddd it takes place in NC, basically this book was made for me.

I enjoyed every bit of this book, but I really enjoyed Jessica’s POV I mean, it was the 90s immediately hooked. There were so many sleazy characters, so it was hard to pin point who did it, which made it fun. Definitely mark your calendars I have a feeling this book is going to be everywhere this fall!

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫/5

Thank you @netgalley and @crookedlanebooks for the arc in exchange for my honest review. Pub date: 11/5

My first book I’ve read of this authors but I think she could become one of the popular thriller writers. This story was a twisted tale of one girls family and how they formed her and her freshmen year of college. It contains love, lies, destruction and murder. Jessica and her story is complicated not unlike many teens her age. The story offers so many plot hints but does a great job withholding the most important plot facts. The actual twist was included in my guesses but not at the top of the list. I’m impressed with how well the author kept twisting the story to keep me guessing. A reread for sure for me.

This book was so good. It kept me on my toes consistently questioning everyone involved, not knowing who it was. The author did a wonderful job of not giving away who it really was until the end. I love the fact that it was well written, wasn’t hard to understand and easy to follow who was speaking.

I would definitely recommend this book to anyone.

I have recently started to feel burnt out with true crime/mystery/thriller books. They are either poorly thought out, predictable, or just silly. This book was really good, and I was pleasantly surprised. It's about a girl who went missing and follows along with her sister years later as she tries to find out what happened. It jumps back and forth between the missing girls POV and present day with the sister. The authors did a really good job with this, and it wasn't confusing. My only complaint is that they made a comment super early in the book about the bad smell from the garage, essentially making part of the ending very predictable.

 
Thank you Crooked Lane Books and NetGalley for this ARC.

𝘼𝙡𝙩𝙚𝙧𝙣𝙖𝙩𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙩𝙞𝙢𝙚𝙡𝙞𝙣𝙚𝙨 𝙧𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙖𝙡 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙝𝙖𝙪𝙣𝙩𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙙𝙞𝙨𝙖𝙥𝙥𝙚𝙖𝙧𝙖𝙣𝙘𝙚 𝙤𝙛 𝙅𝙚𝙨𝙨𝙞𝙘𝙖 𝙁𝙖𝙙𝙡𝙚𝙮 𝙖𝙢𝙞𝙙 𝙖 𝙨𝙚𝙧𝙞𝙚𝙨 𝙤𝙛 𝙫𝙖𝙣𝙞𝙨𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙛𝙚𝙢𝙖𝙡𝙚 𝙨𝙩𝙪𝙙𝙚𝙣𝙩𝙨 𝙞𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙡𝙖𝙩𝙚 𝙣𝙞𝙣𝙚𝙩𝙚𝙚𝙣 𝙣𝙞𝙣𝙚𝙩𝙞𝙚𝙨. 𝙏𝙬𝙚𝙣𝙩𝙮-𝙛𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙮𝙚𝙖𝙧𝙨 𝙡𝙖𝙩𝙚𝙧, 𝙝𝙚𝙧 𝙨𝙞𝙨𝙩𝙚𝙧 𝙇𝙞𝙣𝙙𝙨𝙚𝙮'𝙨 𝙦𝙪𝙚𝙨𝙩 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝙩𝙧𝙪𝙩𝙝 𝙘𝙤𝙡𝙡𝙞𝙙𝙚𝙨 𝙬𝙞𝙩𝙝 𝙖 𝙜𝙧𝙞𝙥𝙥𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙩𝙧𝙪𝙚 𝙘𝙧𝙞𝙢𝙚 𝙥𝙤𝙙𝙘𝙖𝙨𝙩, 𝙪𝙣𝙧𝙖𝙫𝙚𝙡𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙖 𝙬𝙚𝙗 𝙤𝙛 𝙡𝙞𝙚𝙨 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙡𝙚𝙖𝙙𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙩𝙤 𝙖 𝙙𝙞𝙨𝙩𝙪𝙧𝙗𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙧𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙡𝙖𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣.

This whole book ended up being just a little too simple for me. I really enjoyed the beginning, but after the first 5-8 chapters it all started to feel a bit repetitive.
We had multiple points of view that included past and present tense. We had Lindsey's POV which was present, and then everything that followed was a follow up to what we already knew from the previous chapter.
I liked the social media elements. Those always add a little extra fun in a book and give us more visual.
I felt like there were plenty of times in the book where I had some stuff figured out. The author included many details and points that gave away one part of the ending or the "twist". I did not expect the overall twist we ended up getting.

I feel this book kept dragging on. I feel like a lot of things could have been skipped and felt like filler. I don't think the ending was shocking enough to endure all of the detail I read.
I ended up being consistently frustrated with the characters. I think the relationship between Jess and her dad was a bit strange... I didn't quite get their infatuation with each other. I also think there were too many characters added to give the reader "suspicions" on a suspect. The characters were kind of bland and I feel they didn't have any personality.

Thank you to NetGalley and Crooked Lane Books for providing me with this Arc. All opinions are my own.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for an ARC of this book!

I read this in a day. I have to say, I didn't really like any of the characters but I keep turning pages to find out what happened. The ending was better than I expected but not that surprising. This book was just ok for me but I probably would read another by this author.

This book was a slog to get through. The writing was plodding. The characters unlikable. The addition of the podcasts/blog did not add anything to the story. The two podcasters were so annoying …. And this plot device was used in a lazy way to move the story along. This is used in other books I’ve read in a much more creative way.
The male characters are quick to anger and grab women’s arms… just very one dimensional.
I will say the big revelation near the end was unexpected…too bad getting there was such a mess. I found myself skimming over many passages.
Thanks net galley for giving me the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review.

“The Lake of Lost Girls” by Katherine Greene is a mystery novel set in small-town North Carolina where girls are missing and men are…well…acting like gross men. I am always afraid going into mystery novels because I fear of predicting the whole mystery within just a few chapters, but I didn’t have that problem with this book. Jumping from podcast clips, to blog posts, to college life in the 90’s and to the modern day, we follow the story of what REALLY happened to the ‘Lost Girls’ is Southern State University.

Thank you for the ARC!
This book was amazing ! I couldn’t put it down. Loved the characters and the story. It definitely flowed and I had to keep reading to find out the end. When you think you know who did it , it changes up ! Definitely 5 stars !

Thank you Netgalley and Crooked Lane Books for this early copy!!

I liked the multiple timeline and POV. I also really enjoyed the use of podcast clips and twitter excerpts. I thought that was fun!

I honestly wan not a fan of the “insta love” the main character had with the reporter, and I disliked how she was very against talking to him but she did anyway. I didn’t find the characters likable honestly, however, I was interested in solving the mystery… which I will say I didn’t expect the reveal. So I enjoyed it nonetheless.

I think I liked this more in the first half than the second. It's told via multiple POVs, mostly in modern time through the eyes of a 30 year old woman whose big sister went missing when she was 7 and through the eyes of big sister back in 1998. There are also some blog posts, IG posts and transcripts of a cringey true crime podcast about the disappearances by two horrible women who make it into something cutesy and titillating to drink wine to.

There are definite feminist threads throughout but it felt a little heavy handed and like they missed a lot of opportunities to make it more realistic and darker. The romance angle was also just creepy and unhealthy, and I did not care for it in either timeline. Can we stop romanticizing relationships with good looking men who have anger issues, act controlling, lie, obsess over women and can't take no for an answer?

I did guess at almost everything, but I also guessed at some darker stuff that I think would have made it more believable.

This author is apparently two different authors who work together under this pen name, though "they" answer questions on goodreads as a singular person. I'm a little confused by every aspect of that.

Overall, I read this in just over a day and I did think it was written well in terms of easy to read and get caught up in, but I'm less satisfied with the ending and how G rated the whole thing felt for such a dark premise.

I read a digital ARC of this book via NetGalley.

4.5 stars! I read this one so quickly, it kept me hooked! I really enjoyed the two timelines getting both sisters' perspectives. The ending was incredible, not the same old ending a lot of thrillers have. I could have easily done without the podcast portions of the story, especially because the hosts had nothing to do with the story other than being a podcast that talked about the case. I did have one unanswered question as well about a certain relationship in the story. Still such a great thriller and I will be recommending!