The Lake Escape is a tense, twisty mystery set at what’s supposed to be a relaxing summer getaway but secrets, resentments, and a sudden disappearance quickly unravel the peace. The dual POVs of Julia and a mysterious nanny add layers of suspense, especially as long-standing friendships begin to fracture. The lakeside setting is both beautiful and ominous, amplifying the feeling that something’s not quite right. Jamie Day builds tension with every chapter, making this a fast, compelling read that keeps you guessing until the end. A perfect pick for fans of atmospheric thrillers.

Years of betrayals, lies, and old secrets come to light when another young woman goes missing at the lake. Julia, Erika, and David grew up together, but this year at the lake could be their last.

This was a twisting, smart, unpredictable story that I enjoyed thoroughly. So many little tendrils that all were neatly knotted together.

Thank you Netgalley and St. Martin's Press for the ARC!

I really enjoyed the first two Jamie Day books I read, The Block Party and One Big Happy Family, so I had high hopes for this one. Unfortunately, it didn’t quite hit the mark for me. The first two-thirds felt overly repetitive and a bit too simplistic. The story then took a sharp turn that just felt odd. The ending left me feeling unsatisfied. That said, I still appreciate Jamie Day's writing overall and wouldn’t hesitate to pick up another one of his books.

The Lake Escape was an engaging read with a beautiful setting and plenty of intrigue. Jamie Day does a great job building atmosphere and weaving together the relationships between the characters. I found myself drawn in at the start and really enjoyed the pacing for much of the book.

That said, I struggled with the ending—it felt a little too out there for me. The monologue confession also did not work for me. I also thought there were almost too many characters to keep track of, which sometimes made it harder to stay connected to the main storyline.

Overall, it’s a solid summer read with strong writing and an immersive backdrop, but it didn’t completely blow me away in the end. A fun read though!

I liked this book. Some good twists. Not many very likable characters. Some of it was a bit far fetched.

This book had an interesting premise. Izzy takes a job as a nanny at a lakehouse for two weeks because she has an alternative agenda investigating human remains that recently surfaced in the area that may be related to her own personal family history. David, Julia, and Erika have been vacationing at the lake since they were kids. They each have their own lives now but have always stayed in contact. When they were younger, a girl went missing. 30 years before that, another woman was missing. It's 30 years later, and David's girlfriend goes missing. What happened to her? What are the connections? What happened to Izzy's aunt?

This story has so many layers to it. It's hard to explain without giving anything away. There is something going on with each of the characters and a backstory for everything. It's very well rounded in that way, but everything is connected and eventually explained. It is a tad bit unrealistic but was still a decent read.

A great summer mystery by Jamie Day.

Summer starts with three long time friends gathering at their houses on the lake - but this summer so much has changed, but the past is being dragged up, too. Lake lore - every 30 years a girl from the lake area goes missing and this year is the same. There are a lot of moving parts in this book and a lot of characters to keep straight. The story kept me intrigued until the end.

Thank you to NetGalley, the author and publisher for a temporary, digital ARC in return for my review.

The Lake Escape is the story of a group of neighbors with vacation homes on a lake in Vermont. They grew up together and continue to return to the lake as adults regularly until a girlfriend disappears and secrets of prior mysteries of the lake emerge. Lots of secrets and deceptions as they dig in to uncover past crimes and how they tie to the present. This was an edge of your seat kind of thriller but with a vacation, neighbor kind of vibe, to make it a perfect summer read. One of those books where you know you can’t trust people but you know someone in the bunch has to be the good one so you just keep guessing. So many twists and turns.

This is the type of thriller I like: lots of characters, timelines from the past woven to current, layers upon layers of secrets and deceit! I very much enjoyed this, even if there was a few moments in the middle where I was getting confused as more characters and connections were introduced. I did go back and re-read in some spots and doing so helped clear up any confusion. None of the story seemed extremely far fetched which is usually REALLY hard to accomplish in thrillers that are so multi-level. I also liked that while the cast of characters was vast, the story itself was told only from the POV of Julia and Izzy. This was my second book by this author and consider it an easy 4.5 stars because I was entertained, invested, shocked, but not annoyed at anyone's bad choices (but thought I might be for a second - I see you in your desperate moment there with David, Julia! 😂)

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read in exchange for my honest review. Definitely check this one out!
Thank you

"The Lake Escape", by Jamie Day, was a great escape from reality for me. This is Day's third novel, and may be my favorite of all three. The story begins with three childhood friends reuniting for their annual Vermont lake vacation. Julia, David, and Erika summered together for years at the lake, and now they are continuing the tradition with families (and secrets) of their own. The story really starts to heat up when David's younger and sexy new girlfriend mysteriously disappears one evening. This is odd in and of itself, but even more worrisome is that it parallels the disappearance of two young girls from years ago, when the friends were just teenagers. Those cases remain unsolved....will David's girlfriend join the rank of mysterious disappearances? More concerning...is David responsible for all three of the women vanishing?

This book checks off all of the boxes for a good summer beach read......murder, missing women, drama, sex.....it really was a fun read for me, and while it wasn't rocket science, I thoroughly enjoyed every second of it. Secrets are revealed, friendships are unraveled, and lives are forever changed. If you are looking for a late summer/Labor Day read, this is your book!

A lake, three missing people, three friends returning for vacation, and a pretend nanny make for a compelling read. This is another wonderful page turner of a mystery from Jamie Day. Told in alternating chapters between Julia, a long-time vacationer at Lake Timmeny, and Izzy the nanny for one of Julia’s lake friends, secrets are revealed after another woman goes “missing”. Thank you NetGalley for providing the ARC.

This was a great read for the summertime. Surrounding three old friends, secrets, and lies, this one is full of all the necessary drama to make a book bingeworthy. This took the old question, "How well do you really know someone?" and made it its own. Full of family dynamics and layered secrets, the tension was high throughout. The twists were shocking, and the delivery was perfect. This was an entertaining, page-turning read, and I give it four stars.

Thank you, Netgalley and St. Martin's Press for this ARC.

A slow-boiling mystery of tantalizing intrigue and juicy scandals, The Lake Escape took me into a deliciously dark world of secrets and lies. From the camouflaged motives to the complex group dynamics within this small band of friends, Day certainly got my attention from the very beginning. After all, the dual POVs kept me puzzled about what could really be going on. And let me tell you, almost right away, my spidey-senses started tingling thanks to a sinister vibe that ran just below the idyllic surface of this lakeside setting. I mean, I was suspicious of everyone and everything throughout this summer read.

This was where my issues took over, however. You see, the middle of the book felt far too drawn out and slow for my liking. Alongside of that was the huge cast of characters, which made the whole story just a little bit overwhelming at times. Were they all really needed? Or could they, as well as the plot, have been edited down? I’ll leave it to you to find out when you pick up this novel. After all, while I did have to overlook some flaws, this book’s nostalgic feel, twist-filled last third, and gradually building tension means that I still recommend it as long as you love domestic suspense as much as yours truly.

All said and done, thanks in part to the layers of eerie vibes and the atmospheric feel, I fell head over heels for the storyline—as well as the drama. Besides, by the time I got to the wild rollercoaster ride at the end, it was all I could do to hold on for dear life. Twist after twist delivered in spades as my jaw hung open in complete and utter shock and surprise. Did it require me to suspend disbelief just a tad? Well…yes. But I didn’t mind it in the least. After all, the mystery wrapped up in a way that, despite looking obvious in hindsight, totally evaded my sleuthing until all was eventually revealed. Rating of 3.5 stars.

Thank you to Jamie Day, St. Martin’s Press, and NetGalley for my complimentary copy. All opinions are my own.

Jaime Day does such a good job of creating adult characters that are a hot mess and that do not have their shhh together. The Lake Escape has those kind of characters.

The story is told from multiple POVs and the plot is twisty. The only reason that I dropped this one down on stars for my rating is that while I liked the character of the nanny, Izzy, and her storyline, I did not like the way her dialogue was written. She is supposed to be a graduating senior on her way to college, but she comes off as incredibly young. Her character reads more like a middle school babysitter, than an 18 year old. If you can overlook this flaw and really want to read a murder mystery with extremely flawed characters, then I would recommend giving this book a shot.

I read both of Jamie Day’s previous novels, The Block Party and One Big Happy Family.

Both novels were gripping, suspenseful character-driven domestic thrillers. They dealt with complicated relationships, family, dynamics, long hidden secrets, betrayal, and all the messy sometimes heartbreaking parts of being human.

After enjoying both of the authors previous novels, I had high hopes for The Lake Escape, and it didn’t disappoint.

Julia, Erika, and David were childhood friends who spent their summers together in Vermont. Now adults with teenagers of their own, they return to the lake. All are carrying the weight of bills, strained marriages, and long-buried secrets.

But then someone goes missing and their seemingly peaceful getaway turns into something more unsettling. As old tensions, resentments and buried secrets resurface they start to question just how well they really know each other.
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I found The Lake Escape to be another slow-burning suspenseful story with well-developed characters and a moody, atmospheric setting. It took its time in parts and occasionally felt a bit over-the-top, but overall, I really enjoyed it.

I’m really looking forward to reading more from Jamie Day.

#SueShelfSuspense | #RedReviews4You | #SummerThriller

This book surprised me in the best way. From the moment I saw the cover—a lone life ring floating on a still lake, distant homes glowing on the shore—I felt the tension. And Jamie Day delivers on that promise. The atmosphere is thick with unease, and the characters are so well drawn that their shared history feels like a living, breathing thing.

The story unfolds slowly, carefully, with layers of secrets and betrayals that span generations. I loved the way the emotional tension mirrored the physical setting: a lake that holds memories, mysteries, and maybe something darker. It’s hard to say more without giving away key twists, but I found the narrative so tightly interwoven that even a stray comment might be a spoiler.

If you’re looking for the perfect end-of-summer read—something to keep vacation time in your mind while being thankful sweater season is coming—this is the book that will have you close and lock the summer door with a smile.

The Lake Escape by Jamie Day is a summer suspense novel set in an idyllic Vermont lakeside community where lifelong friendships unravel under the weight of secrets, betrayals, and a chilling disappearance. With emotionally complex characters, slow-burn tension, and a setting that pulses with mystery, this book is perfect for fans of domestic thrillers, atmospheric fiction, and stories that explore the dark undercurrents beneath picture-perfect facades. A perfect transition read for those ready to trade beach towels for blankets and mystery for memory. #SueShelfSuspense #RedReviews4You #SummerThriller #LakeMystery #JamieDay #DomesticSuspense #AtmosphericReads #Bookstagram #QuietThriller #BooksWithSecrets #EndOfSummerReads #SummerReads #BeachReads

I really enjoyed this one overall. I was around 3.5 star, so this rating is rounded up.

The book centers around three adult friends who all grew spending summers on the lake together, and now they are back with their own families. Each has their own dark secrets. In the background is the lore of the lake where a woman has gone missing every 30 years, and suddenly it is happening again.

There were a lot of characters in this book, but only two POVs, which made it incredibly easy to follow and get a grip on who everyone was. The POVs are Julia, who was one of the original friends, and Izzy, the teenage nanny who comes along with one of the families and has secrets of her own.

One of my particular pet peeves is when a ton of the chapters ends with something along the lines of, "and no one knew the secret I was hiding," or some variation of that, which happened more times than I could count with Izzy's chapters. If a narrator wants to keep secrets, fine, but it just irks me and feels juvenile when they tell the reader they have a secret they aren't sharing. This might not be an issue for others.

The book had some pretty good twists; some I saw coming and some I did not.

I enjoyed it, I would recommend it, but it isn't one that will stick with me for a long time.

This was a little slow for me at first but picked up around the 75-100 page mark. I love novels where there are mysteries set within cottages/lake houses and that type of thing. Plus I found Jamie Day on Netgalley and they were one of my first approved ARCs so they have a special place in my reading heart!

Childhood friends return to the lake houses they spent their summers in while growing up. Two women have disappeared, and one of their own disappears on this trip. A person connected to one of the missing women comes along as a nanny to the children and she is determined to find out what happened. Many twists and an ending you don't see coming make this a great read. Thank you to Net Galley and St, martin's press for the advance copy.

Put a lifejacket on before diving into Jamie Day's new thriller, The Lake Escape! It's a haunting story of loss, mystery and murder which spans decades. Follow a trio of best friends from childhood now adults with their own children who take their annual vacation together at their lake houses which have been passed on to them from their parents. But when something unexpectedly happens which will reek havoc on all their lives forever, what can they do to save themselves? The lake knows...

Julia, David and Erica grew up coming to their family's vacation houses on a lake in Vermont since childhood. They have kept that tradition alive with their own families. Over the years their lives have changed both for the good and bad. They have also all grown up with secrets not shared with each other. That is about to change.

This vacation is different right from the start because David who has come into money has decided to expand his lake house and unfortunately Julia and her husband's view of the lake is impeded. Erica, a lawyer decides to stay out of this fight.

Joining the friends are their children and David's new nanny, Izzy who was extremely eager to get the position and come to the lake. Also, there is David's new girlfriend, Fiona a young spitfire no one can figure out.

But after a night of heavy drinking (and other things) they awake to find Fiona missing. David is not too concerned but the others know the secrets of the lake. For the past thirty years every ten years someone has disappeared with no trace. Folklore is that the lake who hungers satisfies itself by taking someone. Is it a coincidence it is exactly 10 years since the last victim?

As the search begins for Fiona, we see the real personalities of the friends who all have secrets, some dark. Their facades and relationships begin to explode in front of our very eyes.

Once the pieces of the puzzles begin to surface like sludge from the deep lake they have always enjoyed, they begin to discover no one really knew the other and the one thing they all seem to have in common is death.

The Lake Escape is as exhausting as swimming in the water for a long period of time, but as exhilarating as well as the shocking outcome will roll over the reader like a wave!

Thank you #Netgalley #St.Martin'sPress # JamieDay #TheLakeEscape for the advanced copy.