TW: Sexual Predator (Graphic)

Dr. Kay Sharp has returned to Mount Chester on personal leave from her job as an FBI profiler in San Francisco. A local case captures her attention, and she can’t dismiss the signs of a serial killer.

"She watched him through a blur of tears, her heart thumping against her ribcage, plastic ties cutting into her flesh as she struggled to free herself."

The 1st sentence generates stark images, and that’s as a reader. It’s a race against time. Clues come to dead ends. Kay can develop a profile, adjust and fine-tune, adjust and fine-tune again every time a little evidence available comes to light, but how do you find the perpetrator? The perpetrator tortures women, some of them mothers. The one child located so traumatized she hasn’t spoken, and other children are still missing.

I read "The Surgeon" (stand-alone) earlier this year and wanted to read more of the author’s writing. The clock is ticking. Lives are at risk. Pulsating intensity. Danger unlike any other experience. An experience too frightening to even contemplate. Dr. Sharp will contemplate. She must contemplate the elements of the crime to solve the case. Even as the case ended, the lead detective Elliot who had asked for Kay’s help, commented,

"I don’t know how you do this…How can anyone do this type of work for living?"

One of the differences in this crime fiction is the character development is not only of the law enforcement personnel and victims, but the narrative also reveals the course of events that led the individual to be an offender.

This novel is fiction, but sadly some women and children have experienced and suffered the trauma of unspeakable acts of violence. I don’t know how FBI profilers and other law enforcement personnel work these cases, but I am thankful they do. Although I’ll never know their names, I give them silent but heartfelt thanks for every case solved. Thank you for your dedication and relentless spirit. Thank you. ( )

Possible Trigger Warnings: Torture, child and mother abduction
The Girl from Silent Lake is the first in a new series by Leslie Wolfe and the first book of hers I have read. The story follows the path of most crime/detective series and is a worthwhile read. I had a few problems with the believability of the actions by this "seasoned detective"...(the author's description, not mine). Kay was an FBI profiler, not an agent, that quits her job to return to her hometown when her brother is arrested for a "barroom brawl". Problem question#1 - Why in the world would a "seasoned profiler" quit a position like that just because of an arrest for "a bar-room brawl"? He didn't kill anyone...he was only held overnight so the police must not have considered him a danger to anyone...but here is his now unemployed sister.... Humm. Now Question #2- While getting acclimated at her old home and town, Kay "offers some advice on a local murder" and ends up "helping in the investigation of a serial killer." Kay was not an agent although I'm sure she had some knowledge as a profiler, but she is not even employed any longer by any law enforcement agency...so she is now a civilian like the rest of the town. "She goes to the crime scene to see what she could discover but has no credentials now to take an official role in the case." This doesn't seem to be problem for the detective, Elliott, who says her brain is " bigger than an ol' pickup truck." I'm still laughing over that bright remark. Since when would a civilian, more or less off the street, no matter how big her brain is, be asked or allowed to participate in a serial killer manhunt for just offering some advice? I could see that they might ask her to profile the killer but not help hunt for him. In spite of my two main questions, the story is fast paced, interesting, and I never guessed the killer...but the reader needs to be aware that there is also a HUGE TRIGGER WARNING in this book. The victims are mothers that are kidnapped with their children and there are vivid descriptions of the victims being tortured. The story idea is not bad, but you will need to be a really big crime novel fan to overlook parts of it. I guess you will need a brain "bigger than ol' pickup truck." :) ( )

A number of authors should take a leaf from Leslie Wolfe when it comes to grabbing their readers' attention because, from the first sentence of "The Girl from Silent Lake", the reader is in the middle of the action, thrown into the horror and mind-numbing nightmare Alison and her daughter are facing, which means you just HAVE to keep reading.

FBI Special Agent Kay Sharp was a good protagonist but she is not Tess Winnett. She is tainted by her past and has too much baggage for my liking. Her decision at the end annoyed me and for such a talented detective profiler, it was a rookie mistake and not worthy of her. Personally, I preferred Elliott Young, the local detective. He and Kay made a good team and he was far more easy-going than Kay ever was.

"The Girl from Silent Lake" was dark and disturbing at times. The brutal acts of violence that the female victims endured at the hands of the perpetrator left me feeling slightly nauseous. Even though the reader knew who the killer was fairly early on in the novel, this was a good detective mystery and I look forward to the next book in the series. ( )

Thank you to Netgalley and Bookouture for an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Kay Sharpe is a FBI Profiler on leave to her childhood hometown in order to help her brother who is in jail. Once there, she gets pulled in to assist a police investigation into a ritualistic murder. As she gets closer and closer to finding the murderer, old secrets are unburied and Kay begins to wonder if she will be the next victim.

I was initially drawn to this book because a love a thriller where a person has moved back home and they get thrust into the middle of a mystery. This book started out strongly, but I felt like it floundered a little near the end. I had a difficult time believing how parts of the plot fit together. Plus a lot of the characters didn't seem fully formed, or behaved in ways that were hard to understand. This is probably an amazing book for other readers, but it just didn't work for me. ( )

This is the first book I have read by this author. The book is vividly written so the reader is totally enmeshed in the world of Mount Chester. The characters are succinctly developed and give amazing insight into their thought processes. I read a lot of mystery-thriller-suspense type books and this one threw me for a loop. I promise you will not see the end coming. The story is horrific at first blush and quickly becomes terrifying. I highly recommend this book to anyone wanting to be unbelievably compelled to keep reading in order to find out what happens next. I received this ARC in exchange for an honest, unbiased review. ( )