It’s 1998, and female students are going missing at Southern State University in North Carolina, but freshman Jessica Fadley, once a bright and responsible student, is going through her own struggles. Just as her life seems to be careening dangerously out of control, she suddenly disappears.
Twenty-four years later, Jessica’s sister Lindsey is desperately searching for answers and uses the momentum of a new chart-topping true crime podcast that focuses on cold cases to guide her own investigation. Soon, interest reaches fever pitch when the bodies of the long-missing women begin turning up at a local lake, which leads Lindsey down a disturbing road of discovery.
In the present, one sister searches to untangle a complicated web of lies.
In the past, the other descends ever deeper into a darkness that will lead to her ultimate fate.
This propulsive and chilling suspense is a sharp examination of sisterhood and the culture of true crime.
The Lake Of Lost Girls is a suspenseful, unsolved mystery story with elements of family drama and true crime. The book follows Lindsey Fadley as she tries to uncover the truth about what happened to her sister Jessica, who disappeared with other female college students 24 years ago. Her investigation is triggered after a body is recovered from a nearby lake. The storytelling is slow-burn suspense with clues embedded throughout to help the reader solve the mystery. There’s also a compelling and twisted romantic subplot that develops, making the story more multilayered.
The book features a dual timeline narrative, toggling between present-day Lindsey and Jessica as a college student in 1998. In each timeline, the perspective of each sister is told from a first-person narrative, giving readers insight into each sister’s inner monologues and presenting clues to solving the mystery. The character development is quite strong for the main protagonists. Jessica starts off her freshman year and gets caught up in the party scene and becomes increasingly reckless, a complete contrast to her former self. Her inner monologue is very conflicted, and there’s an undercurrent of something deeply wrong. The author cleverly plants clues to the mystery in the days leading up to Jessica’s disappearance, some of which may easily throw readers off track.
The story also features snippets of two podcast hosts musing about the reopened investigation of the missing college girls. These appear as interludes between chapters, along with some additional social media posts. While these segments bring some comic relief and entertainment value to the story, they don’t offer any real insight into solving the actual mystery, as is common in similar podcast-style thrillers. It’s good to know that the physical copy of the book also includes mixed media, including blogs, news articles, and social media posts, which are fun to reference while listening.
The story intensifies in the second half as Lindsey uncovers more disturbing details about her sister’s final days, causing her to be increasingly distressed and distrustful of everyone around her. Lindsey’s relationship with the reporter Ryan is full of red herrings from the get-go, but there is a strong chemistry between them that makes their dialogue and twisted relationship very compelling. Unfortunately, some of the twists are quite predictable if readers are closely paying attention to the clues presented. The final twist does have a big shock factor but also seems quite implausible and leaves questions unanswered. The author’s note at the end of the book is worth reading, as the author gives further insight into the book and reveals that this book is written under a pen name for bestselling authors A. Meredith Walters and Claire C. Riley. Unlike some other author-collaborated books, which often feel disjointed, this book gives the impression of consistency in writing style and flow.
In summary, this is a highly entertaining true crime-style whodunnit mystery with multiple culprits for readers to consider. The audiobook narrators do an amazing job bringing the story and characters vividly to life and create an atmosphere of suspense and increasing tension; if you have the option of listening, it’s highly recommended. Despite some predictable twists and implausible plot points, this is a well-crafted and compelling story, and it will be exciting to see what this team of talented authors will come up with next!
