Jamie Day returns with another sharply crafted thriller in The Lake Escape, a tense and atmospheric story set in an isolated vacation home where nothing—and no one—is quite what they seem.

The novel kicks off with a reunion: a group of longtime friends gathers at a picturesque lake house to relax, reconnect, and escape the chaos of their lives. But as the wine flows and memories resurface, old wounds reopen and long-buried secrets bubble to the surface. The sense of unease builds steadily, and Day plays with timelines and shifting perspectives in a way that makes every chapter feel like a clue—or a trap.

What really stands out here is Day’s command of setting. The lake is both beautiful and menacing, an ever-present force that mirrors the emotional undercurrents between the characters. There’s a creeping dread woven into the calm, like something terrible is lurking just beneath the surface. And eventually—it is.

The ensemble cast is well-drawn, with complex dynamics that feel authentic. Some characters you'll root for, others you'll suspect, and all of them have something to hide. The pacing is tight, with enough reveals to keep you hooked, even if a few of the twists felt slightly telegraphed. Still, Day balances suspense with emotional depth, creating a story that’s about more than just the next shock—it’s also about the fragility of friendship, the weight of guilt, and the lies we tell ourselves to keep going.

A perfect read for fans of locked-room-style suspense with emotional stakes, scenic dread, and enough sharp turns to keep your pulse racing until the final page.

This was a fun beach/vacation read with the story being told by multiple characters. There were lots of twists and turns in the story, and some were predictable, and others were unexpected. All the characters had secret backstories, and they weren't a particularly likeable group of people. My only real complaint is that readers are left in suspense about what happened with a couple of the characters at the end. Many thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read an advance copy of this book.

“The lake takes them.” Chilling words told on the first night of a week at the lake, as three life-long friends and their families celebrate with their annual visit. But then David’s girlfriend goes missing, his new nanny starts investigating, and decades old secrets come to light. Throw in marital and financials issues and teen relationship drama and you’ve got a page turner.

Holy cats this book is quite the rollercoaster. Ms. Day certainly knows how to write a crazy plot twist.

What starts out as an innocent lake vacation among three long-term, close friends, turns into a whirlwind of murder, a missing person and morose teens. Erika, Julia and David have been BFFs for a long time, their families sharing a trio of lake houses close together in a small town in Vermont. Their annual lake retreat starts the same as any other, complete with bonfire and a cocktail called The Lake Escape, ending in a drunken fight between David and his new trophy girl, Fiona, who up and disappears overnight.

As the investigation begins, it turns out David knows very little about his girlfriend. It takes him a while to come up with just her last name for the police. He also refuses to let them search his home, which is a glaring red flag. Erika and Julia are struggling to contemplate their friend being a murderer but past secrets of the lake houses are haunting the trio.

Enter Izzy, David's emergency hired nanny for the lake retreat. She is young, fresh and innocent and has memorized a titular nanny's ways in preparation for her role, even though she is actually at the lake under false pretenses. No spoilers.

I had to make myself stop reading this because I had to go to work the next morning, but I found myself thinking of the book and how I was excited to return to it when I got home. That doesn't happen too often for me. While I didn't particularly feel sympathy for any of the characters, they were engaging enough I had to plow through the story just to find out what happens.

This is my second Jamie Day novel and I certainly look forward to the next offering. What a rush!

Thank you to St. Martin's Press and Netgalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you NetGalley! This was a great read especially for Summer. The back and forth between the main characters helped set the scene for all the drama that unfolded. There were so many twists and turns that it kept locked in until the end

The Lake Escape is a summer thriller that promises the perfect lake vacation vibes: sun, swimming, fun, and a little bit of nostalgia. Set at a gorgeous lake in Vermont, Julia, Erika, and David, meet for their annual 2-week vacation. What they don’t anticipate is David’s girlfriend going missing. Lake Timmeny has a mysterious past – two women have disappeared 30 years apart and now another woman disappeared without a trace.

As the suspense builds, the story unfolds revealing secrets, lies, and jaw-dropping twists. Day skillfully uses multiple POVs to allow you to see different aspects of the story and how complex each person really is. Unfortunately, I thought this story was confusing and had too much going on. The twists seemed forced and rushed at the end. I also didn’t understand why no one was concerned about Fiona going missing. While this was an enjoyable read, the last third of the book was tough for me to get through.

Thank you Netgalley and St. Martin’s Press for my eARC!

Many thanks to Netgalley and MacMillian Publishing for this arc. I received this book in exchange for my honest review. My thoughts are entirely my own.

In this book we are following Izzy and Julia. Izzy is a recent journalism graduate and decides to head to a town in Vermont where two young women went missing thirty years apart and then a third woman goes missing. Izzy decides to apply to be a nanny for David Dunne and his girlfriend Fiona and his two five year old kids. Julia a mom whose daughter Taylor and husband Christian join her at her family’s lake house and when they arrive they find David’s glass house that covers the other two houses view of the lake. Izzy is actually the niece to Susan Welch who disappeared years ago and whose bones are discovered that causes the chain of events that take place over several days at a lake in Vermont. Izzy befriends Taylor and Lucas who are close to her age. Izzy finds out that David may have killed her aunt after finding a letter from the girl who disappeared prior to her (her aunt). Izzy confides in both Taylor and Lucas about her aunt and finds out the truth. Erika and Rick, Lucas’s parents were the ones that killed Susan all those years ago but apparently David was the one who loaded the gun with the bullet but he disappears after making bail and nobody knows if he disappeared or if the mob got him. David worked for Erika’s father who was in the mob and Fiona wants out of that life so they fake her disappearance. This book was great

I received an arc of this title from NetGalley for an honest review. A fun read that kept me guessing who actually did it until the very end.

3⭐️


This was just okay for me. I did like the family drama and the history of a woman going missing from the lake every 30 years. I liked that there were only two POVs even though there were so many characters. It made it a lot easier to follow the story that way. I also appreciated how many girls girls were included in this story and how supportive they were of each other.

There were a lot of tropes used in this that almost felt overused. We're told in the summary of the book that the nanny has a hidden agenda but her motive was so obvious that it didn't feel like a surprise once it was revealed. One character felt like such a scumbag that it wasn't surprising when he was a scumbag. Even what happened to the girlfriend wasn't as shocking as it should have been. There's a way to do these well known tropes without them becoming predictable and unfortunately I don't think this book succeeded in that.

Thanks Netgalley and St. Martin's Press for providing this ARC to me!

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Four-Star Review for The Lake Escape by Jamie Day

Jamie Day does it again with The Lake Escape—a suspenseful, tightly-woven mystery that delivers the kind of atmospheric tension and emotional twists fans have come to expect. The setting is perfectly eerie, the pacing brisk, and the characters layered just enough to keep you second-guessing their motives. While a few plot points felt slightly predictable, the execution was strong enough that it didn’t take away from the enjoyment.

Day continues to be one of my go-to authors for smart, engaging thrillers. If you enjoy lakeside secrets, slow burns with satisfying payoffs, and a strong sense of place, this one is well worth the read.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

The Lake Escape
By Jamie Day
Publish Date July 15, 2025
4.00

Description:

JULIA, DAVID, AND ERIKA grew up together spending summers at their idyllic Vermont lake homes for as long as they can remember. Now adults— with their own sullen teens, endless mortgages, and low-voltage sex lives— the three friends have amassed secrets over the years.

This summer, David is eager to show off his newly renovated home—which now blocks his friends’ cherished lake views—and his much-younger girlfriend. He also, unwittingly, brings a nanny with a hidden agenda. What could possibly go wrong?

When David’s girlfriend mysteriously vanishes after a shouting match, Julia and Erika wonder just how well they know their lifelong friend. The lake harbors a harrowing past: two young women, with no known connection, vanished without a trace thirty years ago. Did the lake take another?

As a search is mounted, an intricate web of lies, deceits, and betrayals spanning generations starts to surface, and everyone finds themselves in danger of becoming the next victim. Of the lake, or something darker.

Review:


The Lake Escape is something we would all love to have, a summer home to go and relax at. This is what Julia, David, and Erika have had since they were little. They are all too well with drama and it starts when Julia shows up to see how big the rebuild is that David did. What they didn’t expect was David’s girlfriend disappears and it brings up the past… where two other women disappeared without a trace 30 years ago. 30 years to be exact!

Jamie Day doesn’t disappoint with anything! I really enjoyed all the different point of views and the twist that happen.

Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for the advance reader.

I thought this was a great summer thriller beach read! I liked how three generations were tied together by tragedy at the Lake. I liked the dual alternating viewpoints. It kept the book interesting providing two entirely different perspectives and timelines.

We all have places that hold a special kind of nostalgia, those small towns filled with childhood memories and sometimes it is a cabin by the lake. But what happens when that charming lakeside town harbors a dark pattern, and every 30 years, a woman vanishes without a trace, and locals whisper that “the lake takes them”? In The Lake Escape, history seems to be repeating itself, and one has to wonder, is this idyllic place truly safe?

The Lake Escape is the perfect summer read, blending the eerie atmosphere of a classic mystery with a modern twist. While most of the characters are flawed and not always likeable, they’re written in a way that still feels relatable. I'll be adding Day's next novel to my TBR list for sure!

While this novel does have an interesting mystery at its heart, it didn't work super well for me.
The author tried to include too many elements, resulting in a clunky second half of the book as she tried to weave those threads together.
I also found the resolutions for the two main characters to be very heavy handed, as they each had a chapter were they summarized what they learned through the story.

OMG! This is definitely one of those books I won't easily forget and will have me ruminating for quite some time! It's a tale of three childhood friends who decide to get together and spend the summer at David's lake house getting reacquainted. There is a disappearance and questions about where she went and many more questions about how well they all actually know these 'friends' who are truly strangers because of the passage of time!

Usually I am a huge Jamie Day fan, but this one didn't quite hit for me. I thought the twists at the end with the nanny was nicely done, but it was anti-climatic for me.

Jamie Day’s The Lake Escape is thriller that masterfully blends each character’s story with nostalgic moments. The story follows Julia, Erika, and David—longtime friends who return to their lakeside homes each summer. But this year, their retreat take a sinister turn when David’s girlfriend vanishes.

For me, multiple perspectives of the characters helped to solve this thriller layer by layer.The tension is incredibly intense, packed with jaw-dropping twists that will leave you on edge.

But overall, when I was reading the second part of the book I felt like a few relationships and backstories could have been better but Still, it was kinda enjoyable. The Lake Escape is a slow-burning mystery that delivers plenty of intrigue, deception, and eerie vibes.

The Lake Escape is like your favorite summer getaway—if that getaway came with shady secrets, a missing girlfriend, and enough drama to keep you hooked all night. Jamie Day nails the slow-burn suspense, weaving multiple perspectives that slowly peel back layers of lies, jealousy, and old wounds. The vibe is moody and atmospheric, perfect for anyone who loves a lakeside mystery with a dark twist.

Sure, the cast can feel a bit crowded at times, and I wanted to know more about some of the characters’ backstories, but honestly, the tension and jaw-dropping turns more than make up for it. If you want a thriller that’s equal parts creepy and captivating, this one’s a must-read for your summer TBR.

Jamie Day does a fantastic job in writing this type of book, it had that suspenseful atmosphere that I was looking for and enjoyed getting into this story. The characters were everything that I was hoping for and everything worked well overall in the genre.

4.5/5

I have been lucky enough to be an ARC reader for all three of Jamie Day's books, and I have loved every one of them. There are so many intertwining story lines here, and I was interested in every one of them. Each character has something different pulling you in. There is enough going on that I didn't have time to try and come up with a theory of my own. I did not want to put this down, and I highly recommend it!

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.