this was a great premise. l,but didn't hit the mark fully. there were a lot of repetitive parts each time the narrator changed. I really liked the actual twists but the characters are all pretty loathsome. hard to feel any real attachment to any of them.thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

A very good mystery/thriller that was a quick read. I very much enjoyed the storyline, friends/frenemies drama and some (but definitely not all) of the characters. Great way to spend a day curled up with your beverage of choice and your favorite blanket.

This was my second book by this author, and it didn't disappoint. There was a full cast of characters, all with their own secrets to hide. The story takes place in an idyllic lake house community where friends have gathered to vacation for many years. But is it really an escape when all of your problems follow you there too? The tension grew throughout the book as we are given a backstory to the main characters, In the present someone disappears, and each character seems to have a good reason for wanting this person gone. I had preconceived ideas as to what was happening, but I was so wrong. I love when this happens because I will devour a book like this in one sitting to find out what happens. At times it was a little confusing as to who did what and when because there were a lot of characters to keep track of, but I think this is what keeps then story interesting. I loved Izzy the nanny and thought she was really wise beyond her years and seemed to handle things better than the adults in the story. Overall, a riveting and entertaining read.

Ah, summer at the lake—where the wine is chilled, the vibes are tense, and the drama is as deep as the water. Jamie Day serves up a juicy cocktail of passive-aggressive lakefront neighbors, generational secrets, and one seriously inconvenient missing girlfriend. Add a shady nanny, blocked lake views, and the ghosts of summers past, and you've got the messiest reunion since your last group chat imploded. The Lake Escape is like Big Little Lies in boat shoes—sharp, twisty, and soaked in scandal. Pack this one in your beach bag… but maybe keep an eye on the water.

Thank you Jamie Day, St. Martin's Press, Macmillan Audio, and Netgalley for the advanced copy!

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I finished this is two days. I couldn’t stop listening. So many characters and so many secrets and surprises each of them hold. Interesting characters, some likable and others not at all (like David). This is told from multiple points of view and by the end everything merges together. I really enjoyed this book and I thought it was well written. Narration was also great.

How well do you know your oldest friends…in this book not very well!

Julia, David and Erika grew up spending summers together, one summer two young women disappear and that mystery remains unsolved.
30 years later at that same lake David’s girlfriend disappears.. Is history repeating itself!

I enjoyed this book and I recommend it!

This book has a lot of lies and secrets. It has some intense moments. Some characters are likable and some are not. It centers around a lake community in Vermont. The description of the lake and the houses made me feel as though I was there. Jamie Day is a good storyteller. I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced free copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own. I received a copy from the publisher through NetGalley.

Julia, David, and Erika, grew up spending their summers at their lake homes in Vermont. Now adults, they continue the traditions at the lake that harbors secrets. Two young women vanished without a trace thirty years ago. The cases remain unsolved.

Currently, there’s tension among the friends when David builds a house of glass, which blocks his friends’ view of the lake. He arrives with a new girlfriend and the nanny for his two young children.

Then David’s girlfriend disappears. Is history repeating itself?

Unsurprisingly, there are secrets that will be revealed….

But less is more. This had everything but the kitchen sink thrown in and the last 20% of the book was so ridiculous that at one point I actually laughed out loud. Plus a monologue confession. They are the worst! Add in twist after ridiculous twist, and the mob (lol) and that was it for me. Sadly, this was one huge disappointment.

Fabulously twisty plot and every twist turns the story on its head! What should be a relaxing two week vacation at the lake quickly becomes anything but. Brilliantly written and highly recommended! I enjoyed this book and am looking forward to many more from this author. I received a complimentary copy of this book and chose to write a voluntary, unbiased review.

The Lake Escape was a story of how some of the longest friends you’ve had could still be strangers. Told of two different POVs: Julia a mother struggling with her teenage daughter and her crumbling, marriage and business who has grown up going to the lake every summer and Izzy, a young woman who goes to the lake under mysterious circumstances. There is tension and drama among the old friends who grew up going to the lake. The nostalgia of their childhood summers is not present in the current day. What really sets off the drama and starts the friends questioning each other is when one of the friends new girlfriend goes missing.
This is a hard book to rate. Well, I did enjoy trying to peace together the mystery I didn’t care for any of the characters. I also felt that most of the relationships were very superficial and didn’t feel like these people knew each other since childhood. Slightly predictable with a questionable ending making you wonder if justice was served.

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC for review purposes.

I thoroughly enjoyed this novel, the characters were just the right mix of despicable and sympathetic, the story was captivating and the ending did not disappoint.

This was not my first Jamie Day novel and it will not be my last.

Not everyone has a perfect life…. But it seems the Lake Houses help keep everyone’s secrets until David builds his glass house and everyone can finally start to see the truths they have kept buried. The three families lives unravel as one teenager’s deception is uncovered as being someone she isn’t. But who can blame her when all the adults at the lake are withholding truths that will destroy everything

I have to say that I was pleasantly surprised with this one! The lake house setting really gave it a perfect summer thriller atmosphere. I also was surprised by quite a few of the twists. I didn't think that they were super far fetched like how some twists can be. I was also surprised by how everyone was connected in the book. I thought that the multiple point of views helped with the pacing of the storyline. This was well done, and a refreshing read for me after being disappointed by some other thrillers this year! I'm excited to read more from this author.

Thank you to St. Martin's Press for my free digital copy via Netgalley. All opinions are my own
3
Two narrators, 3 crimes 30 years apart, and 3 families with ties to the scene of the crimes. Annual vacations spent at Lake Timmeny from childhood to adulthood; now with families of their own, Julia, David, and Erika continue the tradition with children, spouses, and others when the next woman goes missing.
Lizzie is the outsider to the group as the nanny brought along to watch David's twins. David also brings a hot new and young girlfriend. Lizzie isn't who she says she is and it's the reader's job to figure out what she's really up to.
Julia is having problems in her marriage and it's about to blow up during vacation.
Erika is acting all indifferent to the happenings but could that be a false impression.

One never really knows what's happening in someone else's home. That and how it all ties in with the mystery of Lake Timmeny is explored in this beach or lakeside thriller.

There are so many secrets and sub-secrets, I would have liked a little less to keep the focus on the history of the crime(s). I found that as every character (minus the young twins) had something they were hiding, it was distracting. Overall, though, entertaining for a summer read.

A solid suspenseful novel that kept my interest. Occasionally the characters weren’t quite believable but overall I enjoyed it. Thanks to netgalley and the publisher for an arc in exchange for an honest review.

• The summer escape to their family homes on a Vermont lake should have been a relaxing vacation for Julia, Erica, and David, three old friends and their respective families. But, when bones are found buried nearby it brings back memories of the two young girls who went missing 60, and 30 years ago. When the girlfriend of David disappears everything changes. Told from multiple viewpoints you start learning a lot about the many characters involved and what happened 60 years ago, 30, years ago and at the present time. There are lots of secrets and lots of surprises and when childhood memories return and and bits and pieces from the past are told or remembered decisions are made that will change the lake escape forever.

Summer's Dark Waters: A Jamie Day Thriller

Jamie Day knows how to turn a peaceful lakeside retreat into your worst nightmare. Her new thriller proves she hasn't lost her touch.

Three friends—Julia, David, and Erika—have spent every summer at their Vermont lake houses since they were kids. Now they're dealing with teenage drama, mortgage payments, and marriages that have lost their spark. But this year's reunion takes a sinister turn when they uncover a pattern: two women vanished from these same shores, thirty years apart, without leaving a trace.

The lake itself becomes Day's secret weapon. Its glassy surface reflects perfect summer days and children's laughter, while something much darker lurks beneath. Like the lake, these three friends maintain a calm exterior while their own secrets threaten to pull them under.

Day excels at the slow build, letting tension seep in like water through cracks. She understands how time can both strengthen and strain friendships, especially when childhood memories clash with adult realities. The mystery unfolds at a deliberate pace, each revelation forcing these lifelong friends to question how well they really know each other.

Following The Block Party and One Big Happy Family, The Lake Escape delivers what Day does best: psychological suspense wrapped in a deep exploration of friendship. It's a summer thriller that will make you think twice about that lakeside vacation—and maybe about the secrets your oldest friends are keeping.

3.5/5 stars

This book was a little disappointing for me. There was so much drama and characters. It made it difficult for me to keep track. The big reveal at the end lacked any thrills and just seemed over the top.

Overall, this was an OK read. I did enjoy the suspense of trying to figure out and solve the mystery however I wasn’t a fan of the characters. I had a hard time connecting with them or even liking them so it felt hard to root for them or want a happy ending for them. They come across very entitled characters, but they were parts of the story that I did enjoy so overall it was an OK read, but I was hoping and wanting a little bit more.

Jamie Day has become one of my favorite authors, ever since I read his debut “The Block Party.” Having read an ARC of last year’s “One Big Happy Family” I was pleased to again be approved to read this year’s offering, entitled “The Lake Escape.”

Set in Vermont, the novel follows Julia, David, and Erika. They have been friends since childhood, who spent summers at their families’ side-by-side lake homes. They arrive this summer to spend two weeks at the lake. Julia is the first to arrive with her husband and daughter. She becomes upset immediately by renovations David made to his lake house over the winter. Among other things, his house now blocks the views she and Erika’s homes had of the lake. David arrives shortly after Julia with his twins and a newly hired nanny. David’s younger girlfriend arrives separately. Erika, her husband, and son are the last to arrive.

The first evening finds everyone sharing a meal, making snacks over the fire, and the adults drink a concoction that Erika invented years before. During the late hours, David and his girlfriend get into a fight. In hindsight the fight looks suspicious when the girlfriend has disappeared by the following morning, but her vehicle is still there.

The reader learns early on every character in this novel, except for David’s twins, has secrets. Some are larger than others, but they’re there and they get revealed. I also enjoyed the lake being a character of its own. Part of the storyline involves two women having disappeared from the lake over the past sixty years, but thirty years apart. David’s girlfriend being missing marks the third disappearance and is almost thirty years to the day since the second one.

Overall, I recommend this book. By the end, I only liked a few of the characters in this novel, but it was by design by the author. Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for my ARC.