Scan barcode
alissacoopermiles's review
3.0
Charlie Tyler created a story on the backbone of what many trauma survivors know: sometimes what you’ve believed to be your truth turns out to be a lie. We are dropped into a kitchen, a young girl named Lily returning home. It seems like any other teenager’s life; the parent asking where the young girl has been, telling her she’s late. But what we find out from the first page is that Lily is not the average teenager and Grace, who is pretending to be her mother, has murdered a young girl.
This thriller is uniquely told from multiple points of view. We know who the killers are, but the real mystery lies in why and how they plan to get away with it. Because it opens this way, it feels dangerous, as if Grace will turn around and realize we’re there, too, witnessing the crime like a fly on the wall.
There were moments I questioned the validity of trauma. Perhaps not the trauma itself, but how it is portrayed through the writing. I don’t claim to be a psychiatrist or therapist of any kind, but I did stop at several points and wonder how someone with extreme trauma could suddenly be thinking clearly after a major triggering episode. There are moments of unnecessary exposition, and times where I felt like the character Grace especially didn’t sound as smart and calculating as I wanted her to be.
While I did have issues with the way phobias are described and felt like the overall plot to frame another character seemed thin, I did think the points of view were creative and I wanted to know more about Lily’s character and what actually happened to her as a child. Tyler did a great job of creating suspense and keeping me engaged in the story.
This thriller is uniquely told from multiple points of view. We know who the killers are, but the real mystery lies in why and how they plan to get away with it. Because it opens this way, it feels dangerous, as if Grace will turn around and realize we’re there, too, witnessing the crime like a fly on the wall.
There were moments I questioned the validity of trauma. Perhaps not the trauma itself, but how it is portrayed through the writing. I don’t claim to be a psychiatrist or therapist of any kind, but I did stop at several points and wonder how someone with extreme trauma could suddenly be thinking clearly after a major triggering episode. There are moments of unnecessary exposition, and times where I felt like the character Grace especially didn’t sound as smart and calculating as I wanted her to be.
While I did have issues with the way phobias are described and felt like the overall plot to frame another character seemed thin, I did think the points of view were creative and I wanted to know more about Lily’s character and what actually happened to her as a child. Tyler did a great job of creating suspense and keeping me engaged in the story.
sophiemartin's review
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Animal death, Blood, Body horror, Confinement, Self harm, Grief, Medical content, Cursing, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Death, Forced institutionalization, Gaslighting, Homophobia, Infertility, Mental illness, Murder, Vomit, Sexual assault, Pedophilia, Gore, Incest, Kidnapping, Torture, Suicide, Rape, Addiction, Domestic abuse, Toxic relationship, Physical abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Body shaming, Emotional abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Abandonment, Bullying, Child abuse, Fatphobia, Violence, Stalking, and Sexual violence
yvo_about_books's review
2.0
Finished reading: July 7th 2020
"Experience had taught me how to play this game. The rules were always changing, but the skill required to partake remained the same: buckets of patience."
*** A copy of this book was kindly provided to me by Netgalley and Crooked Cat Books in exchange for an honest review. Thank you! ***
Spoiler
I admit that it was cover love at first sight when I first saw The Cry Of The Lake, but I was intrigued by the blurb as well and I just couldn't resist giving it a go. I was looking forward to this story, but somehow sadly I wasn't all too impressed by what I found. I'm having a hard time pinpointing exactly what went wrong for me, but I'll try to explain which elements didn't work for me below.
The first thing that stands out is the structure of the plot. The Cry Of The Lake has a multiple POV structure and is divided into three different POVs following the three most present female characters: Grace, Lily and Flo. This kind of structure can really spice up a story, but sadly I didn't think they actually complemented each other and ended up being distracting instead. The POV switches only further interrupted an already quite erratic pace and made it considerably harder to stay focused on the story itself... The fact that the characters themselves didn't feel realistic and were hard to like didn't really help either. I'm not sure if it was lack of development or simply the way they were represented and acted, but none of them actually convinced me and this always turns the story in that much more of a struggle.
As for the plot itself... I felt it was just too chaotic and over the top; both the plot development and plot twists seemed unrealistic and weren't able to convince me. And as much as I love a puzzle and lots of question marks in my thrillers, I think in the case of The Cry Of The Lake there were just too many riddles and the lack of information was actually confusing and rather frustrating instead of it adding the intended dose of suspense. This might just have been a personal reaction, but it is what it is I guess... On top of this, I wasn't able to warm up to the writing either; up to the point that I was starting to feel the urge to skimread... And this is of course never a good sign. All in all it wasn't the reading experience I was hoping for, although I do seem to be in the minority so this might just not have been the right story for me at the moment.
P.S. Find more of my reviews here.
whatemsreadingx's review
4.0
This book was not at all what I expected, even reading the synopsis could not have prepared me for what I was about to embark upon... The opening of this book grabbed my attention from the start.
The writing is excellent, Charlie Tyler weaves this perfect web of lies and deception that have us questioning every single person and every turn of the page. I didn't know who to trust or what was going on.
Each chapter was from a different perspective and character POV, which I do feel helped to really build up the story. However, at points it did get quite confusing, and it felt as though some chapters weren't quite fitting in with the rest of the story.
4 stars rounded up from 3.5
At points I really struggled to connect to the characters, I felt like I couldn't form a proper opinion on them throughout the book as we just didn't have enough from them. Which was really disappointing for me as I loved the way the author wrote the book from their different perspectives.
Once everything started to unravel I was hooked. I couldn't stop reading because I needed to know how it ended. I was sucked in and when I completed the book I wanted to applaud the author for weaving such a clever web of lies!
That being said, I did feel at points like I was walking through treacle trying to read this book, some paragraphs were just way too long and I could feel myself skim reading them because they were taking too long.
On the whole, I have really mixed feelings about this book. There is no doubt that it was very cleverly written and that Charlie Tyler has a talent and I was gripped from the outset, there were just a couple of things that knocked this book down for me.
I did enjoyed it and would recommend it to anyone who was interested in this genre!
The writing is excellent, Charlie Tyler weaves this perfect web of lies and deception that have us questioning every single person and every turn of the page. I didn't know who to trust or what was going on.
Each chapter was from a different perspective and character POV, which I do feel helped to really build up the story. However, at points it did get quite confusing, and it felt as though some chapters weren't quite fitting in with the rest of the story.
4 stars rounded up from 3.5
At points I really struggled to connect to the characters, I felt like I couldn't form a proper opinion on them throughout the book as we just didn't have enough from them. Which was really disappointing for me as I loved the way the author wrote the book from their different perspectives.
Once everything started to unravel I was hooked. I couldn't stop reading because I needed to know how it ended. I was sucked in and when I completed the book I wanted to applaud the author for weaving such a clever web of lies!
That being said, I did feel at points like I was walking through treacle trying to read this book, some paragraphs were just way too long and I could feel myself skim reading them because they were taking too long.
On the whole, I have really mixed feelings about this book. There is no doubt that it was very cleverly written and that Charlie Tyler has a talent and I was gripped from the outset, there were just a couple of things that knocked this book down for me.
I did enjoyed it and would recommend it to anyone who was interested in this genre!
roseythelibbyn's review
4.0
[Disclaimer: I received an advanced review copy for free, and am leaving this review voluntarily.]
[Disclaimer: This review can also be found on my blog: Rosey Reviews]
Charlie Tyler has written an engrossing tale in her debut novel, The Cry of the Lake, though at the beginning the switching of character POV can be overwhelming. As the story moves along though, Tyler clearly knew that all character POVs were needed to allow the most detail to be given for the final reveal. Without them, the ending would not have made sense. At the same time, however, I wonder if an omniscient third-person narrator or even a limited one would have quelled the confusion. There is evidence though that Tyler switched narrator POV as in some areas there is missed third person language rather than the first person the book is told in. If that makes sense.
I enjoyed reading Tyler’s novel after the confusion of the switching POV was settled. I do have one complaint: after page 129, the story seems to jump pace rapidly. Until this point, the pace was filled with suspense, slow and calculating, while after, it seemed as if Tyler just wanted to finish the story. If the pace would have continued at what it was, I feel that the book would have been more enjoyable at the end with a satisfying release of suspense at the end. It would also have been nice to know more of Emily’s story though I guess that does give room for a legacy sequal. I would not recommend a direct sequal for Tyler though; Lily’s story is wrapped up quite nicely.
[Disclaimer: This review can also be found on my blog: Rosey Reviews]
Charlie Tyler has written an engrossing tale in her debut novel, The Cry of the Lake, though at the beginning the switching of character POV can be overwhelming. As the story moves along though, Tyler clearly knew that all character POVs were needed to allow the most detail to be given for the final reveal. Without them, the ending would not have made sense. At the same time, however, I wonder if an omniscient third-person narrator or even a limited one would have quelled the confusion. There is evidence though that Tyler switched narrator POV as in some areas there is missed third person language rather than the first person the book is told in. If that makes sense.
I enjoyed reading Tyler’s novel after the confusion of the switching POV was settled. I do have one complaint: after page 129, the story seems to jump pace rapidly. Until this point, the pace was filled with suspense, slow and calculating, while after, it seemed as if Tyler just wanted to finish the story. If the pace would have continued at what it was, I feel that the book would have been more enjoyable at the end with a satisfying release of suspense at the end. It would also have been nice to know more of Emily’s story though I guess that does give room for a legacy sequal. I would not recommend a direct sequal for Tyler though; Lily’s story is wrapped up quite nicely.
jenrichards570's review
4.0
This was an amazing book that I began reading thinking was about a crime and soon realized was about sisters, family, and the trauma that forms who we are and the decisions that we make. The story was truly horrifying in how a persons trauma can completely corrupt their morals and actions but also beautiful in the hope that one can find despite being exposed to so much evil. The two sisters in this story create a yin and yang of good and evil. The crime at the center of this novel is perfectly interwoven into the story of their relationship and is as gripping as their unraveling background, not always an easy feat for an author.
Beautifully developed, realistically scary, and as fast-paced as the best thrillers, I could not recommend this book enough.
Beautifully developed, realistically scary, and as fast-paced as the best thrillers, I could not recommend this book enough.
b00kgrl's review
4.0
Wow! This book had so many plot twists. It took me a little bit to really get into it but once I did, I didn't want to stop!
reading_my_life_away's review
2.0
thanks to book sirens and the publisher for this ARC in exchange of an honest review
The book started so strong with Lily telling the story of how her and her sister, Grace, killed Amelie, i liked how Lily's perspective was written because it showed that she had mental issues but at the same time, she didn't approve of what her sister was doing.
The first Grace chapter was also a good entry to show how much she was disturbed.
For me i didn't like Flo's chapters, she didn't add much to the story.
After the 1/4 of the story ended, it just went into a downward spiral, the writing became over descriptive that it was a little bit boring.
The twists were so forced and the delivery wasn't good of all of them.
Didn't like the ending, it was just kind of there!!
Overall, it shows 100% that it's a debut novel.
The book started so strong with Lily telling the story of how her and her sister, Grace, killed Amelie, i liked how Lily's perspective was written because it showed that she had mental issues but at the same time, she didn't approve of what her sister was doing.
The first Grace chapter was also a good entry to show how much she was disturbed.
For me i didn't like Flo's chapters, she didn't add much to the story.
After the 1/4 of the story ended, it just went into a downward spiral, the writing became over descriptive that it was a little bit boring.
The twists were so forced and the delivery wasn't good of all of them.
Didn't like the ending, it was just kind of there!!
Overall, it shows 100% that it's a debut novel.
leahrochelle's review
5.0
What a thriller!! I was hooked from the first line “Death smells of macaroons.”
It was so unpredictable and left me guessing until the end. It also had me feeling sympathy for murderers which is indicative of some amazing writing and character work. Grace is despicable and I hated her but also felt terribly sorry for her. And poor Lily as well.
I loved the twists and turns in Cry of the Lake. I also admired how Charlie Tyler turned the classic murder mystery thriller on its head by showing us right away who the murderer is! I can’t wait to read more from Charlie Tyler!
It was so unpredictable and left me guessing until the end. It also had me feeling sympathy for murderers which is indicative of some amazing writing and character work. Grace is despicable and I hated her but also felt terribly sorry for her. And poor Lily as well.
I loved the twists and turns in Cry of the Lake. I also admired how Charlie Tyler turned the classic murder mystery thriller on its head by showing us right away who the murderer is! I can’t wait to read more from Charlie Tyler!