The Lake of Lost Girls by Katherine Greene (2024)

The Lake of Lost Girls by Katherine Greene (2024)

A thriller that acknowledges and critiques society’s obsession with true crime.

Laura’s Rating: 3.5/5 Stars

Plot: Female students at Southern State University are going missing in the late 1990s, including freshman Jessica Fadley. Over two decades later, her sister Lindsey is searching for answers, pushed along by a new podcast covering her sister’s disappearance.

Opinion: I thought the present day storyline was interesting, highlighting the perspective of a family member of a missing girl. The traditional narrative structure is supplemented by Twitter posts and podcast snippets. I listened to the audiobook, which was fun, especially with the different voice actors for the podcast. 

The concept of a true crime podcast being interesting and well intentioned, but also exploitative, was intriguing. Using people’s real stories and tragedies as entertainment does feel a bit gross when you personalize it (I say this as someone who has listened to true crime podcasts myself). Yet, I don’t think this concept was really explored beyond the basics and the podcast didn’t add much to the plot. 

Okay I saw a couple twists coming pretty early but there was more to it than I initially thought. The Lake of Lost Girls is a readable thriller, with alternating timelines that actually worked for me.