Natasha Preston

Seventeen-year-old best friends Esme and Kayla return to Camp Pine Lake as counselors in training, but the dark secret they have been hiding for nine years is back to haunt them.

The Lake

Kiyarra

When you like someone, you want to know everything. Sometimes you can tell more about a person by what they own than what they say.”

Maria Shade

I love Andy for taking pictures of everything!! Smart dude.
the ending was terrible. Andy is the only reason this gets 1 star.

Crystal L

** spoiler alert **
           Holy Moly! What did I just read? 

*SPOILERS*

Content warnings for harm, family violence, death of animals, death of children, fire, gun violence, graphic depictions of death and violence. 

 The Lake follows teenagers who return to summer camp as counselors in training. Let me start out by saying I love a mystery, I love a camp story, this book had all of the right metrics to make it a perfect book for me. We quickly learn that Esme and Kayla are hiding something. They'd previously been at Camp Pine Lake as campers and their last experience didn't end well. Throughout the book we discover what exactly happened that last summer, but not until some strange things start happening. Writing on the side of the counselors' cabin, missing flags on the trail, a slash in an inflatable.. it starts out pretty tame but quickly escalates. The ending was incredibly violent, graphic, and disturbing and I would be hesitant providing this to pre-teens/teens without first knowing the content warnings. But, for me, I still thought it was a great book with a complete twist ending that I did not expect. 

5/5 Stars

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Children's for providing me with an e-arc in exchange for an honest review.

Hot on the heels of The Twin, the undisputed queen of YA thrillers is back with a scary and suspenseful read about a summer camp filled with dark secrets. Esme and Kayla once were campers at Camp Pine Lake. They're excited to be back this year as CITs (counselors in training). Esme loves the little girls in her cabin and thinks it's funny how scared they are of everything--spiders, the surly head counselor, the dark, boys . . . even swimming in the lake! It reminds her a little of how she and Kayla used to be, once. Before . . . it happened. Because Esme and Kayla did something bad when they were campers. Afterwards, the girls agreed to keep it secret. They've moved on--or so they say--and this summer is going to be great. Two months of sun, s'mores, and flirting with the cute boy counselors. But then they get a note. THE LAKE NEVER FORGETS. And the secret they've kept buried for so many years is about to resurface.

Secrets, secrets, and even more secrets.

I don’t usually read thrillers, but I’m proud to say I am gladly going to read more because of this book. it’s safe to say I was gasping every five minutes. I love it.

Lisa H

I was fairly invested until the very end, and then I was annoyed.

Slow build up and it wasn't scary. The ending was sped up. The big secret the girls kept wasn’t even big. 

Madison

Christy Pigott

I am just… **FLOORED** at the ending. LITERALLY SO MAD! The worst part is that the whole story line was so good and it just ended terrible. 😡

Kira Gaffney

I absolutely loved this book! It always kept me on my toes. AND THE ENDING. omg the ending had me dead. I was shook. 5/5 for Miss Natasha Preston

kendall p

I have been on the look out for a good summer camp book. 
I thought this was going to be it, but I was disappointed. 
The writing was there. I loved the imagery we got of the camp, the activities, etc. 
The ‘mystery’ was such a let down. The huge, ‘bad thing’ that the girls are terrified of others finding out about is told to us very, very early on. In my opinion it wasn’t even that shocking. 
It did a complete 180 toward the last few chapters to the point where I was annoyed at how far off the rails it went. 
The ending was a let down as well.

Sean Valencia Monte

This is the first book I've read by Natasha Preston and it did not disappoint! The cover itself is very intriguing. The setting, a camp full of kids with an eerie lake and never-ending fields of trees, gave it that ominous feeling. I had to stop reading one time because it was late at night and the kid pointed out a guy stalking them while on a hike... The build up was pretty slow but the suspense towards the end of the chapter makes up for it. I had a feeling that the characters were all connected, and I was right! Did not expect that ending. I was waiting for one of the characters to be murdered but that ending.... it's something else. I'll definitely check out the other books by Natasha Preston. Hope it's amazing too!

It’s just not scary.. and the ending was absolutely bonkers. It did not leave me wanting to add more books by Preston to my inventory.

Amy R Vigil

Anna Bush

Started off and felt sort of childish so I didn’t know how it was going to go as a thriller. WELL! You do kind of guess each character role in the story but the ending had me shocked! The last 100 pages got more scary for lack of a better work. I enjoyed this book more than I thought I would. 

BROOKE A

I am just a bit baffled by the story and where it led. It just seems so far fetched and unrealistic. A camp with kids being tormented and COPS DO NOTHING!? Hell no, would never happen. I am honestly surprised I didn’t DNF this one. It took me FOREVER to get through it. And I don’t even want to get into that absolutely mess of an ending.

ashley hopkins

Mimi

** spoiler alert **
           The summer camp premise and 2 girls keeping a secret sounded so good. 

Unfortunately it wasn't. The 2 stars is generous in my opinion for a book that took too long to get to what Esme and Kayla were keeping secret. 
 
Generous considering that the plot was so far fetched. Let's be real, what summer camp wouldn't call the cops and send campers home with all that happened.

And generous considering the shittiest ending ever. 

Also Kayla was the worst. 

This was the 2nd book I read by this author that was shit and I won't be reading another.

Emma Tuggle 

Good book. I didn’t like how you kinda knew who the killer was from the first few pages and the way it ended I didn’t like either it ended open ended and I did not enjoy that. Didn’t like that she had to kill everyone in the end also.

Nadia Leontescu

wowoowowowowowowowow this book, it definitely surprised me. I literally hate the end (not in a bad way, just a frustrated one) but hey, its a thriller, so I guess it's gotta end badly. (view spoiler)[ I did expect Rebekah was working with Lillian all along, that was the only part that wasn't super mysterious  (hide spoiler)] buttttt other than that I absolutely think Preston did an amazing job with this book. I haven't read any of her other books, but I sure want to now! I highly recommend this book if you're interested in mystery/thrillers and love a good plot twist and edge-of-your-seat read.

The Lake

Reviews

Highlights