Bailey Lamar's Reviews > The Lake of Lost Girls

Thank you NetGalley and Crooked Lane Books for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

(Spoilers at the end if that's your thing, but none throughout my review.)

The Lake of Lost Girls is a mystery thriller centered around the disappearance of several coeds at a North Carolina college in 1998. Twenty-four years later, the body of a girl is found, a true crime podcast is started, and the sister of one of the missing girls is drawn into a decades old mystery that started, and ended, at Doll's Eye Lake.

While the premise and plot is strong, the writing itself is a bit... eh. I don't know if it's because I got an ARC, but the writing is a bit clunky and awkward. There was a lot of description of exactly how our main characters are feeling, and a lot of bland descriptions about hotels and towns, but none of it made me really feel connected to the characters.

I did first guess the ending at the 5% mark, then thought: there's no way I guessed it so fast... Then around 38%, I was like yep, I know exactly what happened.

I'm also not sure the author understood what a small town was like. Somehow its a tiny small town, but also has a huge fancy hotel with a Michelin star chef and a giant park outside with food stalls lining the street.

Finally - for a book that claims to be about the "examination of sisterhood and the culture of true crime" I personally feel like there was zero reflection on these topics aside from some very surface level thoughts in the beginning of the book that never really impacted the overall tone of the story. It was a lot of "women are being murdered, true crime is so gross, my sister can do no wrong because we loved each other" with zero critical thinking sprinkled in.

All in all, there's a lot of great mysteries that reflect on sisterhood, and a lot of great mysteries that tackle true crime. I do not feel like this was one of them, and can't really recommend you read this unless you're bored and just want an easy book to tackle, because admittedly, I did finish it in one sitting.

Below, you will find spoilers if you don't want to finish this but want to know the ending.

(view spoiler)[ In a twist that surprises no one, Mr. Fadley, Jess and Lindsay's father, killed Jess. And why, pray tell, did he do that? Because our amazing, beautiful, perfect Jess was the one MURDERING ALL HER FRIENDS. Because of... I don't know. She hates women who sleep with married men I guess? Somehow, that's the fault of a bunch of young women who were TAKEN ADVANTAGE OF? I feel like the author thought this was a thought provoking twist, but all I took from this twist was that the author does not really respect women or understand men taking advantage of young girls, because despite Mr. Fadley going to prison for the murders of all the women, I don't feel like the story really conveyed that what Jess did was wrong. In the end, Mr. Fadley tells Lindsay that her sister was not a monster, she was a good person, and her memory should be remembered that way.... and Lindsay and Ryan agree. Despite the fact that she brutally murdered 3 different 19 year olds whose only faults were that they were preyed upon by creepy disgusting old men. Fabulous feminism, really.

Also, am I the only one that thought Mr. Fadley was a creep and it was going to be revealed he was a pedo toward his own kids? Yeah? Ok. That's it. I dislike this book. (hide spoiler)]