3.75 ⭐️ - I liked this one. It’s a classic whodunnit and twists and turns I didn’t see coming. I have been very over the podcast storyline but I really liked it in this as it wasn’t overdone and over used. It has some morally icky characters, so if you’re not a fan of that, i’d stay away. Overall it was a quick, engaging read.

This audiobook was so good! There’s mixed media, so I loved having the physical book to look through while I was listening. The narrators did a great job bringing the podcast element to life 🎙️

I think the authors did a great job making the reader question who the suspect was. I kept jumping around with different theories and was definitely surprised by the ending!

THE LAKE OF LOST GIRLS is a captivating thriller and I can’t recommend it enough!

As always, I had a great time discussing this one with @thrillersbythebookclub.MKE, and we’re excited to zoom with the authors on Sunday 💚

5 stars! Alternating timelines and podcast clips in between - this one hooked me! I’ve been in a bit of a book slump but this one had me powering through because I needed to know what happened. Building suspense and about halfway in things took a turn and I just hoped it wasn’t going where I thought it was. My mind kept changing until the end when things clicked into place and 🤯 I ended up listening to the audio version and loved it.

This one was great as an audiobook. Full cast of characters with a podcast element, I feel this was the way this one was meant to be absorbed.

If you are a fan of unsolved mysteries or cold cases revisited, this one is for you. When a podcast dives into a list of women that all disappeared from the same area, one of the missing women's sisters gets pulled back in time, to revisit the memories she has, along with the things she never knew about her long-lost sibling. When the bodies start to pile up, that's when things get really interesting.

Family drama, creepy professors, and unreliable investigators will keep you quickly moving through the story with great interest. The ineptitude of the police involved angered me to no end. About a third of the way in, I was a little worried I would be disappointed in the end, thinking I had figured out every twist. I was pleasantly surprised that I was left with one bigger aha moment, that made it all worth it for me in the end.

My only real disappointment was that I missed my book club discussion of this one.

🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

The Lake of Lost Girls by Katherine Greene is a masterpiece of suspense that intertwines dark academia with domestic thriller elements, delivering a story as compelling as it is chilling. Using podcast episodes and dual timelines, the novel unravels a mystery that spans decades and explores themes of sisterhood, true crime culture, and the ripple effects of unresolved tragedy.

The story begins in 1998, with the disappearance of Jessica Fadley, a bright freshman at Southern State University whose life had started to spiral out of control. Twenty-four years later, Jessica’s sister Lindsey is determined to uncover the truth about her sister’s fate, especially as bodies of the long-missing girls start turning up at a local lake. Fueled by the momentum of a hit true crime podcast, Ten Seconds to Vanish, Lindsey teams up with a journalist to follow a trail of lies and secrets that lead to a shocking revelation.

What I loved most about this book was its fresh and dynamic format. From podcast transcripts to social media posts and alternating perspectives, every chapter felt like a puzzle piece falling into place. The dual timelines—the past detailing Jessica’s experiences and the present following Lindsey’s investigation—added a rich layer of tension.

While the podcast trope is becoming increasingly common, it was skillfully used here as a minor but impactful element. It also raised poignant questions about how these true crime podcasts, often detached in tone, can deeply affect the loved ones of victims. The audio-style storytelling, paired with richly developed characters and a vividly depicted small-town setting, made for an immersive experience.

The red herrings scattered throughout kept my mind racing, and just when I thought I had it all figured out, the final twist hit like a punch to the gut. It’s rare to find a thriller that manages to be both unpredictable and entirely plausible, but Greene nails it here. That said, I would have liked Lindsey to feel a bit more consistent as a character; her behavior occasionally felt at odds with her motivations.

From start to finish, The Lake of Lost Girls kept me hooked, blending suspense and emotion seamlessly. The dark academia vibe, combined with the tension of a cold-case mystery, made it one of my top five reads of the year.

Thank you to Katherine Greene, Crooked Lane Publishing, and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this incredible ARC.

5/5 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
The Lake of Lost Girls
Author: Katherine Greene
Thriller

Thank you so much Netgalley, and Crooked Land Books for this ARC! This was one of the best thrillers I have read this year! This story is about two sisters, one that went missing twenty four years earlier. We read alternating POVs from one sister in the present, and the missing sister in the past. The reason this is all being brought up again in the present timeline, is because the case was picked up by a podcast. Also, she is not the only girl that went missing, and bodies are starting to turn up in the lake. It was super creepy, and very twisty. I was super invested the whole time! We also know how much I love podcast thriller books! Also, the author included fun images throughout the book of news clippings, Instagram posts, etc. I highly reccomend you give this a shot if you love thriller reads. I will definitely be picking up a copy of her other book, The Woods are Waiting!

I really enjoyed Lake of Lost Girls by Katherine Greene! From the very first chapter, the book captured my attention with its atmospheric setting and intriguing premise. The mysterious disappearance of a young woman near a small, tight-knit town kept me hooked as the plot unraveled. Greene's writing is engaging, and she does a great job creating suspense and building tension.

However, while the story kept me invested, I did find the twists and turns a bit predictable. I could see where things were heading long before the big reveals, which took away some of the excitement. That said, the characters were well-developed, and the emotional depth in the story really added to its impact.

Overall, Lake of Lost Girls is a solid, fast-paced thriller that will appeal to fans of atmospheric mysteries, even if it’s not as unpredictable as I’d hoped. Definitely worth a read if you're into character-driven suspense!

* I received an advanced reader’s copy of this book from NetGalley and Crooked Lane Books in exchange for my honest review

Ten Seconds to Vanish is a true crime podcast that is diving into a missing person’s case 20+ years old. One of the suspects who went missing was Lindsey’s sister, Jessica, she also happened to be the last person to see her alive. The case reached heightened awareness when bodies of missing girls are found in a lake.

Going between past (Jess freshmen year of college) and present (Lindsey searching for the truth) with clips of the podcast weaving facts in between, this was a fast paced thriller !

Audiobook was dual narration- and the characters are podcasters so those scenes where they’re recording are done in that style. If you do audiobooks, I recommend doing audio for this !

5 stars for keeping me engaged, guessing and the way the past present and all of the podcasts were woven together- very well done !

Thanks to NetGalley and Crooked Lane Books for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Twist after twist, I could not put this book down!

Lindsey's sister Jessica disappears into thin air while visiting home from college on Lindsey's 6th birthday. Fast forward twenty four years and a new podcast starts digging up the past when a body is found that may be connected to Jessica's disappearance. The Lake of Lost Girls uses multiple perspectives on different timelines as Lindsey searches for answers and Jessica navigates her way through freshman year of college. Secrets and lies weave a story with an ending that you won't see coming.

I definitely enjoyed this one! This story is about the search for answers regarding 4 young ladies who went missing from their college in a small town about 24 years ago. It’s told in dual timelines with multiple points of view, including a cold case podcast. You’ll find yourself bouncing between multiple people that you suspect to be the abductor and won’t know for sure until the last 5-10 percent of the book. The only issue I had was that on my Kindle it was hard to read some of the “pictures” like social media posts and a newspaper article because I couldn’t enlarge the font for those. It definitely didn’t take away from the story, but I’d recommend the printed version because of it.

Thank you to NetGalley and Crooked Lane Books for the complimentary copy of this book. As always, the opinions expressed within this review are completely my own.

The Lake of Lost Girls was SO good and I'd recommend this book to true crime junkies or someone looking for something in the dark academia / domestic suspense genre. Told from multiple POVs during alternating timelines, The Lake of Lost Girls follows the story of a missing college student and her sister who is trying to unravel what really happened 24 years ago in their small town. As any true crime lover, I enjoy mixed media books, so I appreciated the podcast transcripts, news articles, and police interviews throughout. And while I was able to figure out the reveals along the way, I was still suspicious of many of the characters throughout and found the final reveal to be well-executed.

Overall, I think this was much more than just a domestic suspense. The Lake of Lost Girls explores the bonds of sisterhood, family dynamics, and the effect that true crime culture has on society. It's a reminder to us all that podcasts aren't just entertaining stories, they're about real people's lives and we should show respect to the victims, survivors, and their families.

**Thank you to Crooked Lane Books and Katherine Greene for providing an E-ARC through NetGalley! I am so looking forward to the next book written by this dynamic duo!

Even though I was able to put together the big twist at the end, I still enjoyed the ride that was this story. Creepy atmosphere, fear of the unknown, and good connections to the past vs. present.

With the podcast style book I waited for the audiobook to tandem read. I did know by the end what was going to happen but this book is more of a story of what family can make you do. More than the mystery of it all. I did enjoy all the twists and turns of lies and having Lindsey so involved.

It's hard to keep multiple timelines going but Greene makes it work. It's a very nice book and I highly recommend it. Thank you to NetGalley, the author and the publisher for the eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Lake of the Lost Girls has everything you love in a thriller. Podcast...check, sisters with huge age gap...check, dual time lines...check, dual POV...check. Jessica disappeared from college 24 years ago along with three other girls. The cases had gone cold that is until a podcast had brought them back up. Jessica's younger sister was 6 when she disappeared and now Lindsey is ready to uncover the truth and figure out what happened to her sister 24 years ago.

I loved this book, from the moment I started it. I love when books add in podcasts and facebook posts. I had a lot of theories about what happened to the girls and enjoyed changing my theory throughout the book with all the new clues and discoveries. Lake of the Lost Girls had a lot of twist and turns and I enjoyed the ride from start to finish.

Thank you Katherine Greene, Crooked Lane Books, and NetGalley for an eARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I finally finished this! I have to say I loved the whole story line. The mystery and all the twists and turns. It kept you suspecting everyone. I loved the dual timelines. Seeing how much this affected Lindsey’s life as a child and into adulthood was attention grabbing.

Lindsay is the younger sister of Jessica, who disappeared during her freshman year in college. Lindsay was six years old when Jess disappeared, and her whole life has been overshadowed by this. Even though she is now thirty and has a full time job as front desk manager at a luxury hotel, she lives at home, and is in touch with her mother several times a day. Almost a quarter century after the disappearance, remains are found at a nearby lake. They could be Jessica's, or one of the other three girls from her college that also disappeared that year.

This story is told in alternating timelines of Lindsay in the present, and Jessica the year she disappears. I love a dual timeline book, and getting to view how the timelines finally intersect. The author does a good job of giving you just enough in each timeline to want to get back to it as soon as you can! Because of this, it was a quick read. I really enjoyed the character development of Lindsay, but I felt that I didn't get to know Jessica as well, mostly because had I learned much more, it would have revealed too much too soon. I will look for this author's other work, and definitely recommend this book.

Thank you for NetGalley. the author and publisher for the advanced copy in exchange for my honest review.

So much to love about this thriller, particularly the audio production!

Mixed media, which was excellent on audio but even more fun to read along with on the digital copy
Multiple POV + full cast narration
Dual timelines done in a way that wasn't confusing at all
College campus vibes which, for me, are always perfect for fall
Lots of suspects, red herrings, twists to keep you flying through the pages

I went back and forth between audio and physical for this one and both were great, but I HIGHLY recommend on audio. I mean, who doesn't live a nice full cast??

This thriller wormed it's way into my brain, I couldn't stop thinking about it and had to keep reading. Each twist packed a punch, and while I thought I knew a few things early on, I couldn't for the life of me figure out how any of it came together. Katherine Greene did a great job of weaving this story together, and layering the mysteries. If you're looking for your next bingeable thriller, here it is!

There were a few things that held this book back for me, and that's why I couldn't rate it higher, despite really liking it. There were a few elements of the mystery that were a little too unbelievable, and a couple of plot holes or inconsistencies that took me out of the reading experience. There was also a really odd choice the author made near the end of the book regarding POVs that threw me for a loop. These things definitely impacted my overall feelings about the book, but they didn't really hinder my experience reading it, and I still recommend this one.

torn on this one because I liked the premise a lot and the split povs added to the story but the whole trusting the reporter then figuring out he dated her sister was a lot. it felt rushed in the beginning but then I wanted more in the end.