The Lake Escape is a story built around generational lies and deceit and I love that theme! I am always going to read books where you can't trust your friends. No matter how many times I read that trope it never gets old for me.

I truthfully wasn't expecting all of the twists. If I am honest some of them were a little bit too far fetched for me, which is the main reason I am only giving it 4*.

I loved the lake setting and the mystery/ lore around that lake itself! That was probably the highlight of the story for me. It kind of gave off true crime vibes.

I really enjoyed this and can definitely see myself reading some more from Jamie Day.

This book was marvelous! Like wow’! So intense and you think you know who did it, but guarantee it, you’ll be wrong. It was fantastic!

Unfortunately, this was a disappointment for me. Some people might enjoy this as a beach read, but I was bored with it. And the ending just seemed odd to me. Thanks to NetGalley for an advanced copy.

A pleasant enough escape to the lake, The Lake Escape by Jamie Day delivers on its promise of a relaxing read with a dash of "who knows what". It's a quick, easy dive into lakeside drama and secrets that unfolds predictability. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this early copy in advance in exchange for my honest review. To be published July 15, 2025.

This is my second Jamie Day book but it won't be my last. This is a family drama with mysterious disappearances that grabbed me from the first page. The vividly drawn characters jumped off the page and the well paced plot kept me reading late into the night. Highly recommended

Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for an advanced reader copy

🎣 T W I S T E D T U E S D A Y review 🎣 featuring “The Lake Escape” by Jamie Day!

Julia, Erika and David grew up spending summers on the lake of Vermont. Each family owns a summerhouse there and they dedicate 2 weeks every July to meet up at their lake escape all together.

But this summer is different, as David has turned his once modest summer house into a glass three story monstrosity that blocks Julia and Erika’s views of the lake. He has also shown up with a new nanny and a much younger girlfriend and has zero shame in showing it all off!

Shortly after their arrival and some drunken bonfire shenanigans, David and his girlfriend are last seen in an argument. The next day the girlfriend is nowhere to be found and the group becomes nervous. There is a legend around here that “the lake takes them” which is referring to the two teenaged girls who disappeared from Lake Timmeny 30 years apart. They both went missing without a trace, with zero evidence and no apparent motive ever found. Now it’s been exactly 30 years since the last girl disappeared … has the lake claimed one more??

“The surface of the lake glistens, rejoicing in the warmth of the summer sun, while the depths remain cold, dark, foreboding. Beware all who wade too far, who underestimate its power. All life must feed. And the water lives, it breathes, it takes …”

I love how multi layered this book is and the mysterious folklore that is constantly looming around the lake! This friendship trio goes way back and is bound together by a twisted web of secrets, lies and betrayals!

Thank you kindly to @jamiedaybooks @stmartinspress @netgalley for my #gifted advanced digital copy in exchange for my honest review. This book releases on July 15, 2025!

Friends travel to their lake buses each year to spend time together. This years trip takes a whole new twists…or rather a couple of twists.

The kids have grown up, the adults are as crazy as ever…the secrets they all are hiding will come out and shock them all.

A fast paced thriller filled with complex characters and fantastic twists! I binge read this in one day.

Thank you NetGalley and St.Martin’s Press for the complimentary copy.

Jamie has never disappointed me and this one lived up to her previous books. She always writes the best summer reads. I loved the mystery behind the cursed lake and the fact that a girl goes missing every 30 years. The suspense was great with a fast moving plot and enough twists to keep you wanting to know exactly where the book was headed and where these missing girls were going. I loved the way the ending tied everything together. I just love Jamie's books and look forward to the next one!

Special thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for a free, electronic ARC of this novel received in exchange for an honest review.
Expected publication date: July 15, 2025
“The Lake Escape” is the third novel by novelist Jamie Day. Following hot on the heels of Day’s other works, “The Block Party” and “One Big Happy Family”, “Escape” is a red-hot, suspense novel that invokes summer campfires, drinks with friends and relaxing vacations at a family cottage. Although in this case, there is also three missing women, uncovered human bones as well as deep. dark secrets between three childhood friends.
Erika, David and Julia have been coming to the idyllic vacation community right on the beautiful Vermont lake, since childhood. All three have gone their separate ways throughout their lives but they always reunite for summers together at their individual, neighbouring, lakeside homes. This year is no different and the three make the journey with their kids and spouses in toe, hoping for a relaxing getaway. Then, David’s new, and much younger, girlfriend, goes missing and Erika and Julia are reminded of two other women who disappeared at this same lake decades ago. Could it be that the urban legend is true and that “the lake” itself was responsible for the women’s disappearance? Or is David not the person either woman thought he was?
“Lake” is narrated by two protagonists, Julia and young Izzy, who has come to the lake under the guise of being a nanny for David’s twins, but has a secret ulterior motive. The chapters rotate, for the most part, which each woman taking over, which makes sense since both Izzy and Julia seem to be the only characters not caught up in the slew of dirty deeds. Julia and Izzy are both charming and likable, each carrying their own flaws and traumas that they are struggling to overcome. It is quite obvious that neither woman plays a role in what transpired, but they team up to solve the mystery and I was cheering for both of them from the jump.
The plot gets a little messy, when secret familial connections are uncovered and the Irish mob is introduced, but it all comes together at the end, to ensure a cohesive, well-thought-out ending. Day ensures a satisfying conclusion, with all the boxes checked and questions answered and, of course, there is the right amount of unexpected surprise with the final reveal.
With his flowing storylines and complex yet relatable characters, Day has created the ideal summer read with “The Lake Escape”.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5

• summer suspense/drama
• multiple POV
• atmospheric

The Vermont lake setting, the mystery, the secrets... There are a lot of layers, and it felt like solving a puzzle. The final act seemed a bit rushed to me, but it was still fun! The two audiobook narrators captured each of her characters perfectly.

🗣 Thank you to netgalley and macmillan.audio for the opportunity to read and review this book via both gifted eARC and audio! All opinions are honest and my own.

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.