Summit Lake

🎧SUMMIT LAKE by Charlie Donlea
🌟🌟🌟🌟.5

I’ve had a Kindle copy of “Summit Lake” sitting on my TBR shelf for years, but I finally picked it up through KU since the audiobook was included. Why did I wait this long? 🤦‍♀️

I’m so close to ignoring every book obligation I have so I can binge Donlea’s entire backlist. And did you see the cover for his next ARC? I don’t even care what it’s about. I need it. Now! 😂

Summit Lake hides in the Blue Ridge Mountains, almost too perfect and suspiciously serene. You can just feel that something dark is lurking beneath the calm.

The story weaves between past and present, peeling back the tangled lives of four college friends: Becca, Gail, Jack, and Brad. Every layer show more reveals new secrets, and the deeper you dig, the more crucial each detail becomes.

Then there’s Kelsey Castle, a journalist sent in to cover Becca’s murder. But this isn’t a routine assignment. Information is locked down tight. Becca’s father wields serious legal power, the Feds are circling, and Kelsey quickly realizes she’s not just writing a story, she’s unearthing secrets others want buried. She’s relentless, and I love her for it. The girl knows how to dig.

This book brims with secrets, sly twists, and side plots that creep up and smack you when you least expect them. My curiosity was on high alert the whole time.

If you crave mysteries with layers to peel back, a sharp investigative edge, and a setting that practically whispers secrets, this one deserves a spot on your list. show less

I read "Summit Lake" in two days. It's a page-turner book with a plot that starts off as clever and ends up as deeply cunning. I didn't see the ending coming and I enjoyed being constantly offered the chance to guess who the bad guy was and never quite finding out.

"Summit Lake" is two stories intertwined: the story of Becca Eckersley, a student in her first year at Law School, comes to be raped and murdered in her parents' vacation home on the shores of the picturesque Summit Lake and the story of Kelsey Castle, a crime reporter recovering from her own trauma, who is sent to investigate Becca's death.

The novel is cleverly structured. It starts with the hook of Becca's brutally violent death and then alternates between following Becca's show more path to her death and following Kelsey's attempts to uncover that path despite an attempted cover up. Charlie Donlea uses the intertwining of the two tales skillfully, sharing and withholding information to maximise the tension in both time lines.

The strength of the novel lies in the puzzle it sets and the skill with which the layers of the puzzle are unwound. This kept me turning the pages and wanting to know what happened next.

The dialogue in the book works well but the prose plods and occasionally falls over itself. If the plot had been even slightly less interesting, this would have put me off enough not to have read to the end.

The worst of the distractions could have been fixed by a diligent editor, which somehow made them more annoying.

At the least irritating end of the distractions was the habit of regularising irregular verbs: shone becomes shined, knelt becomes knealed and so on. At the most irritating end the distractions came from the misuse of language:

"All of this transcended on her in the seconds it took to fight the door open"

"She was tapping the MacBook with efficiency"

"She never heard the front door as the knob was tried from outside. The deadbolt held and after three attempts, the door went quiet."

If things like this flow over you unnoticed, you're in for a great read.

If not, enjoy the plot and read faster. show less

I'm putting the whole review under spoiler tags instead of here and there since I'm discussing things in the book that was problematic for me quite a lot in this review. And, I don't want to ruin anyone's reading experience.

Star reporter Kelsey Castle travels to Summit Lake in North Carolina to write an article about Becca Eckersley who was murdered in her parents home 2 weeks earlier. Is the police trying to cover up the murder and if so why? Kelsey must find out the truth...

I initially gave this book three stars, but there are just some things that bothered me quite a lot. Things with the story that just didn't make sense. I will come to them later on, but first will I say that the book was not all bad, it was easy to read, the show more flashback story of Becca Eckersley, as we get to know her before she was murdered was quite good. I like Becca and it made me sad reading about her and knowing her fate. So, part of me enjoyed reading the book, but part of me was also a bit frustrated.

There are some things with the story that for me just didn't work out. Like for instance why the police didn't manage to figure it out by themselves? I mean it was not that puzzling case and if they just would have interviewed her close friends would they quickly have solved it. And, having a journalist receiving classified documents and information from the chief of the police and a doctor? Come one. A man that has worked 40 years as police would just hand over classified material to a journalist because he has been taken from the case? Because apparently there is a cover up? Why? There was no reason for a cover up, no explanation to why there even should be a cover up. Why would her father have tried to cover up his daughter's brutal murder? She hadn't done anything wrong. It felt more like incompetence than a cover up.

Then we have the thing that I can believe for a second any normal person would do. Keep an important secret after a person has been murdered. I mean I can understand if a priest couldn't talk. But, it was just not believable that an ordinary person would keep evidence. "I have in my had something that could help the police catch the killer, I will hide that". What?

Then we have the fact that the main characters, star reporter Kelsey Castle have returned to work after she's been on leave for a couple of weeks because as we learn during the progress of the story she was assaulted. And, I would guess that a woman would be quite traumatized by this. But, she has some bad moments now and then, but no biggie since the doctor is oh so nice. What? After an experience like that would someone need therapy, but she bounced back to work after a month on leave because she was tired of sitting at home doing nothing. And, she has no problem meeting a man after this. I'm sorry, I haven't been assaulted like she was in this book, but I'm sure it would make an impact on me.

Last, but not the least, the twist in the end. Which wasn't that big of a twist. I thought in the beginning of the book that it would be too easy if that person was the killer. Guess what? Yes, despite the author's brave attempt to throw out some red herrings was the ending not really surprising.

There we have it, the things that really bothered me, at least, the things that I remembered. And, that's just too bad because part of me enjoyed reading the book. But, there were just too many things that just didn't make sense, or made me annoyed.

I want to thank the publisher for providing me with a free copy through NetGalley in an exchange for an honest review!

Read this review and others on A Bookaholic Swede show less

Excellent debut from Charlie Donlea! I can't believe this book slipped past my "new releases" radar until now. I flew through this story, was totally absorbed in it, loved it.

Kelsey Castle is a crime reporter who's sent on assignment to a North Carolina mountain town called Summit Lake. This usually idyllic place has had its first murder. The victim, Becca Eckersley, is a promising law student and daughter of a powerful attorney. Kelsey believes the police are going in the wrong direction, possibly trying to cover up what really happened, and she's determined to find the truth.

The story alternates between Becca's POV in the months leading up to her murder, and Kelsey's POV a couple of weeks after the crime. The plot was suspenseful and show more well-constructed. I enjoyed trying to piece together the puzzle, and the twist at the end was awesome. My only complaint was that I thought Kelsey came by the official evidence (police/medical reports) too easily.

I'd highly recommend SUMMIT LAKE to fans of mystery and crime novels. Dark and haunting. show less

This engaging thriller was an enjoyable listen/read. It alternates the story of murdered first-year law student Becca Eckersley with that of journalist Kelsey Castle.

Kelsey has been sent to Summit Lake by her editor more for a vacation and time get over her rape than to find out who murdered Becca. She arrives to find the case taken out of the local police's hands and given to State investigators. She also finds that things that should be public, like the autopsy, are being carefully kept from the public. Her curiosity is aroused and aroused even more when she learns that Becca too was raped before being murdered.

The story begins from Becca's point-of-view on the night of her death. Then the chapters alternate between Kelsey and Becca show more with Becca's having ominous titles like "Fourteen months before her death." As we hear Becca's story, we meet a young college student and her three best friends. Gail, Brad and Jack and see that changing relationships among them.

Becca comes across as a nice young woman who somehow lacks awareness of her effect on some of the men around her. She's still being harassed by her high school boyfriend who doesn't want to believe their relationship is over. She has a sort-of inappropriate friendship with one of her professors. Brad is falling in love with her whereas she sees him only as a friend. She actually falls in love with Jack, but they keep their relationship quiet so as not to disturb the dynamics of the group.

Kelsey and her new friend, coffee shop manager Rae, along with the covert assistance of the Chief of Police and Dr. Peter Ambrose, try to discover what happened to Becca despite the fact that someone - likely Becca's powerful father - is trying to cover things up.

I really enjoyed this story which I partially read and partially listened to. The narrator did a good job building the suspense. show less

I don't even know where to start - it was AWESOME!!! One of my favorite books that I read this year. So glad I decided to read it, I couldn't put it down.

The book opens with Becca's death, which was horrible and brutal. You get all the details except who killed her. Then the book alternates between the time leading up to Becca's death and Kelsey investigating Becca's murder for an article she is writing. Not until the very end do you find out the identity of the killer and I was SHOCKED!!! I had no idea. Honestly, I had two people in mind for the killer and I was not even close. The book had me hooked from the first page and until the very end. I was right their with Kelsey wanting to discover why Becca's murder was being covered show more up.

Thanks to NetGalley, Kensington Books and the author, Charlie Donlea, for a free electronic ARC of this novel. It was a wonderful read and can't wait for the author's next book!!. show less

Eu adorei a escrita do Charlie Donlea, mas confesso que acertei o final, mas não estragou o livro de maneira alguma. Indico muito.