A review by thereadingraccoon
The Lake of Lost Girls by Katherine Greene

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No

2.0

The Lake of Lost Girls is a thriller about a series of college co-ed disappearances in 1998 that remain unsolved—until a popular true crime podcast reignites interest in the case.

Lindsey Fadley was six years old when her older sister, Jessica, disappeared from in front of their family home. Jessica was the fourth female college student from “Southern State University” to go missing, yet the police never investigate obvious suspects, like the married professor and frat boy connected to all the women. Lindsey begins to question the few details she’s been told over the past twenty-four years and uncovers the truth about her sister and the other missing girls.

This book is primarily told through alternating first-person POVs between Jessica and Lindsey, along with transcripts from the podcast. Unfortunately, neither Jessica nor Lindsey comes across as a smart, relatable, or enjoyable character to follow. They make terrible decisions regarding the men in their lives, and every single male character is awful. Lindsey has no friends, and the last twenty-four years of her life are entirely absent from the page. We know nothing about her except that she lives with her parents and works at a hotel—she’s a complete blank slate. Jessica, on the other hand, is a mess, lacking any backbone until she becomes petulant and bratty, only to revert to being a miserable sap again. The rest of the characters feel like cardboard cutouts, existing just to fill space and cast suspicion on various suspects. The dialogue is unnatural, and there is no atmosphere or world-building around this small North Carolina college town.

Overall, this was an unsatisfying thriller. The clues about the “whodunnit” weren’t breadcrumbs but giant loaves, and I figured it out right away.

Disclaimer: an advanced copy of The Lake of Lost Girls was provided by the publisher for review purposes. All thoughts and opinions are my own.