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3.59 AVERAGE
3.59 AVERAGE
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
dark
mysterious
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
N/A
I started The Orphanage By The Lake with high hopes, because I love a good private eye mystery case! Hazel Cho, 30 year old private investigator from Manhattan, is hired by a mysterious WASPy woman from upstate whose goddaughter has gone missing from an all girls orphanage. Hazel has 8 days to do what 6 private detectives before her failed to do and find the missing Mia.
Yeah, so I got about half a page into this book and immediately hated the writing style. I should have known better, but I decided to power through! Sometimes books that aren't to my usual taste still end up being great, ya know?
...Not this one. It became painfully clear within a chapter or two that there is absolutely no way a grown woman wrote this. I looked, expecting this was a teen's writing, and instead found another perfectly good explanation: a middle aged man is the author. Don't get me wrong, I fully don't think that automatically is a bad thing! Writing outside of your own perspective is great... if it's done in a way that isn't painfully clear that it was written by someone with absolutely zero concept of the point of view of the person they write.
Everything Hazel does in this story is the antithesis of what an adult woman would do. She has no survival instincts at all. She's supposed to be a private detective, but she doesn't even have the natural fear of men that any woman over the age of like 20 has, nonetheless one that's intimately aware how dangerous bad men can be to a woman. She has a tazer that she never has her hands on except when it's not needed, she constantly follows strange men into solitary situations where nobody would know if something happened to her, and she isn't suspicious of any women even though she as a detective should know damn well that there's almost always a woman involved in trafficking little girls.
Every single detail ended up being predictable. I don't try to guess the endings, I hate guessing the endings, but this one telegraphed every single 'twist' along the way. The only reason I'm giving this a 2* instead of 1* is because it wasn't absolutely terrible. I think that a teen girl would probably really like this. It's not marketed to teens, but I think it would work well. This is not disparaging teen girls' reading habits, this is speaking as a former teen girl who knows I would have totally been fine with this book when I was about 14.
Yeah, so I got about half a page into this book and immediately hated the writing style. I should have known better, but I decided to power through! Sometimes books that aren't to my usual taste still end up being great, ya know?
...Not this one. It became painfully clear within a chapter or two that there is absolutely no way a grown woman wrote this. I looked, expecting this was a teen's writing, and instead found another perfectly good explanation: a middle aged man is the author. Don't get me wrong, I fully don't think that automatically is a bad thing! Writing outside of your own perspective is great... if it's done in a way that isn't painfully clear that it was written by someone with absolutely zero concept of the point of view of the person they write.
Everything Hazel does in this story is the antithesis of what an adult woman would do. She has no survival instincts at all. She's supposed to be a private detective, but she doesn't even have the natural fear of men that any woman over the age of like 20 has, nonetheless one that's intimately aware how dangerous bad men can be to a woman. She has a tazer that she never has her hands on except when it's not needed, she constantly follows strange men into solitary situations where nobody would know if something happened to her, and she isn't suspicious of any women even though she as a detective should know damn well that there's almost always a woman involved in trafficking little girls.
Every single detail ended up being predictable. I don't try to guess the endings, I hate guessing the endings, but this one telegraphed every single 'twist' along the way. The only reason I'm giving this a 2* instead of 1* is because it wasn't absolutely terrible. I think that a teen girl would probably really like this. It's not marketed to teens, but I think it would work well. This is not disparaging teen girls' reading habits, this is speaking as a former teen girl who knows I would have totally been fine with this book when I was about 14.
Thank you to NetGalley & the publisher for the arc of this book!
I wanted to like this because I love a good, twisty thriller. This had potential. The writing was pretty simplistic, along with the characters. Everything was so condensed and happened so fast, to the point where sometimes it just didn't make sense. Like everything with Andrew - the FMC knew this guy for like 2 seconds and she's already sleeping over? It was weird for me. There was so much missed potential with Sonia, too. She kind of fell off the face of the earth and ended up being crucial to the investigation.
Overall, this had the entertainment factor. It was formulaic, but a quick and easy read. Just fine.
I wanted to like this because I love a good, twisty thriller. This had potential. The writing was pretty simplistic, along with the characters. Everything was so condensed and happened so fast, to the point where sometimes it just didn't make sense. Like everything with Andrew - the FMC knew this guy for like 2 seconds and she's already sleeping over? It was weird for me. There was so much missed potential with Sonia, too. She kind of fell off the face of the earth and ended up being crucial to the investigation.
Overall, this had the entertainment factor. It was formulaic, but a quick and easy read. Just fine.
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
very entertaining with witty writing. Definitely keeps you interested the entire time.
SPOILER: I figured the plot out early on which is why I’m only giving it 3.5.
SPOILER: I figured the plot out early on which is why I’m only giving it 3.5.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Pedophilia, Racism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Trafficking
adventurous
dark
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
While I didn’t love how the main character was written, I did like the pacing and plot of this book overall.
adventurous
dark
mysterious
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
I was looking forward to this read from the change of pace from the fantasy and romance books I have been reading lately. I love a good thriller. Have to say I was disappointed. There were some areas of the book that I liked and some areas I wasn’t crazy about. It has really good potential but I would have liked it more with a change in some of the delivery.
What I liked: I liked the setting of the orphanage in the beginning is creepy and gives off a suspenseful feeling. I liked when the FMC, Hazel was finally portrayed as though she could do her job as a PI - which wasn’t often enough. I really liked the plot of the story.
What I would change - I really didn’t connect or find the FMC believeable as an Asian woman with how the author portrayed her to be or how he tried to write from her POV. Some of the lines he would have her say made her look incompetent, unprofessional, comes off dumb and flighty. What really ruffled me - not so much as to having the FMC becoming PI due to her past sexual assault, because sometimes people do choose to go into the field to help others who suffer from the trauma; what I didn’t like was how he portrayed how she handled the trauma. Insensitive. It shows he doesn’t relate to a woman, much less an Asian woman. It would have been better if the main character for this author was male and wrote from that POV. Also what Private Detective doesn’t carry, or at least have some weapon on them, and no self defense training?!?
I really was looking forward to this read especially by the description of what was to come, however it wasn’t near as good as I hoped it would be.
adventurous
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
The build up was a little slow but once she really gets into the investigations things start flowing. There were obvious predictions I had on who looked good for the missing girls but it could have also gone anywhere which I liked in the beginning. Was able to narrow it down and then it all started connecting. The ending came really quick and was a predictable but some of the people involved did surprise me! Definitely would say this is more of a younger adult mystery book. As someone from Upstate NY and only 4 hrs from Lake George it was nice having that connection! I think it was a good book but could have done some things different to make to great!
adventurous
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No