The Lake of Lost Girls, initially published by Crooked Lane Books (PRH) on November 5, 2024, will give you goosebumps and leave you in suspense. Katherine Greene is the pen name for the co-authors A. Meredith Walters and Claire C. Riley. Their fascination with true crime and unsettling thrillers drove them to craft stories that will keep you on the edge. The Lake of Lost Girls is told in alternating timelines, bouncing from the past to 24 years into the present. It tells the story of a missing student and her sister’s desperate search for answers through suspenseful podcast clips.
The Lake of Lost Girls
The thriller begins in 1988 with female students going missing at Southern State University in North Carolina. Jessica Fadley, the newest student to arrive at the university, was once a vibrant and responsible student. She ends up facing her struggles, and when her life begins to. Just as her life seems to be moving in an uncontrollable and dangerous direction, she disappears. Jessica’s sister Lindsey was only 6 years old when Jessica went missing from their family home. While Jessica was the fourth female student to disappear from the university, the police never seemed to investigate the obvious.
Twenty-four years into the future, Lindsey is now 30 and feeling stuck in her small hometown. She feels she cannot leave her parents since they never recovered from her sister’s disappearance. So, she begins questioning things she has been told over the years and is driven to uncover the truth behind her sister’s disappearance. Lindsey started a true crime podcast called Ten Seconds to Vanish. It becomes a chart-topping series on cold cases, which leads her investigation in the right direction. Lindsey ends up down a long and disturbing road of discovery when the bodies of the long-missing female students start turning up at a local lake.
Book Reviews
The past focuses on one sister diving deeper into darkness until she meets her fate, while in the present, the other sister is untangling a web of lies and betrayal. This eerie thriller seeks to explore the true bond of sisterhood and authentic crime culture. Reviews of the book are mixed, some good and some bad. It truly depends on your level of critical thinking or observance. Some have found it dissatisfying due to the lack of mystery behind the whodunit, while others found it to have a twisty ending. However, some do not care for surprises and enjoy being able to predict the outcome since it gives a sense of gratification.
There is more to a thriller than the twist at the end of the multitude of questions you would want to have. While it is vital for a thriller to keep its readers on the edge of their seats, setting the pace, building momentum, creating complex characters, and building the scene are just as important. One of my favorite things about reading thrillers is when I can visualize the atmosphere. It amplifies the suspense and thrill. I want to feel the fear through the characters and be psychologically tortured in the same way that they are.
Final Thoughts
If your cup of tea is a haunting thriller, then The Lake of Lost Girls is a must-read. Do not let poor reviews keep you from testing the waters; I would not. And if this book tickles your fancy, try reading Katherine Greene’s other bestselling novel, The Woods Are Waiting. A. Meredith Walters’ upbringing inspired it in Appalachia, where she lived in a tight-knit community that fed off superstitions. They thought it would be an intriguing story to tell darkly and creepily.
