The Lake Escape by Jamie Day (2025)
Rubbing my hands in morbid glee at the thought of another Jamie Day get-together of family and friends......and wondering who'll come out of it alive and well or belly up, six feet under, pushing up daisies, taking the dirt nap. or....(feel free to insert your own catchphrase here).
This time we're off to big beautiful Vermont Lake Timmeny and all its surrounding greenery.....and mystery. Amid the families of vacation homeowners, Julia Erika and David grew up alongside each other as their summers progressed. Now adults with families of their own they're back on the lake in the same homes of their childhood and teen years......except for wealthy talent agent David, who replaced his original family cabin with a sprawling, three story modular monstrosity, whose expanse blocks Julia and Erika's views of the lake.
It's not just their children they're brought them - the original trio also bring along no end of family strife, and plenty of hidden secrets to bedevil them. Julia and husband Christian struggle with a failing business and teen daughter Taylor, who's fallen into a sullen funk. High powered attorney Erika and outdoorsman husband Rick are at odds with their teen son Lucas, who dreamily hopes to become a singer-songwriter. Divorced David has summer custody of his toddler twins and he also brought along Izzy, his new college student nanny and his gorgeous, live wire trophy girlfriend du jour, Fiona.
What's going to befall this bunch? What doesn't. Let's put it this way.....more than enough happens to surprise the living Jamie Day-lights out of them.
It seems Lake Timmeny already carried an ominous history of two separate young women disappearing in 30 year intervals, with no trace of them ever found. And wouldn't you know it - a brand new disappearance (right on time, 30 years after the last one) has shaken these three families to their very core.......and everybody's hidden agenda and most forbidden secrets start tumbling out.
You couldn't ask for a more perfect setting for an absorbing summer mystery read and even with a not particularly sympathetic cast of characters, author Day knows how to keep you hooked till all the reveals are laid bare. My only peeve - with such a busy line-up of major players, I thought I might need a March Madness-type chart to help me lay out who did what to whom and why. And I'm not sure every reader will fully go along with the amount of exposition required to sort it all out.
I myself wouldn't mind spending a summer along the shores of Lake Timmeny......as long it's far enough away from Julia, Erika and David. They've got.....uh....issues.
This time we're off to big beautiful Vermont Lake Timmeny and all its surrounding greenery.....and mystery. Amid the families of vacation homeowners, Julia Erika and David grew up alongside each other as their summers progressed. Now adults with families of their own they're back on the lake in the same homes of their childhood and teen years......except for wealthy talent agent David, who replaced his original family cabin with a sprawling, three story modular monstrosity, whose expanse blocks Julia and Erika's views of the lake.
It's not just their children they're brought them - the original trio also bring along no end of family strife, and plenty of hidden secrets to bedevil them. Julia and husband Christian struggle with a failing business and teen daughter Taylor, who's fallen into a sullen funk. High powered attorney Erika and outdoorsman husband Rick are at odds with their teen son Lucas, who dreamily hopes to become a singer-songwriter. Divorced David has summer custody of his toddler twins and he also brought along Izzy, his new college student nanny and his gorgeous, live wire trophy girlfriend du jour, Fiona.
What's going to befall this bunch? What doesn't. Let's put it this way.....more than enough happens to surprise the living Jamie Day-lights out of them.
It seems Lake Timmeny already carried an ominous history of two separate young women disappearing in 30 year intervals, with no trace of them ever found. And wouldn't you know it - a brand new disappearance (right on time, 30 years after the last one) has shaken these three families to their very core.......and everybody's hidden agenda and most forbidden secrets start tumbling out.
You couldn't ask for a more perfect setting for an absorbing summer mystery read and even with a not particularly sympathetic cast of characters, author Day knows how to keep you hooked till all the reveals are laid bare. My only peeve - with such a busy line-up of major players, I thought I might need a March Madness-type chart to help me lay out who did what to whom and why. And I'm not sure every reader will fully go along with the amount of exposition required to sort it all out.
I myself wouldn't mind spending a summer along the shores of Lake Timmeny......as long it's far enough away from Julia, Erika and David. They've got.....uh....issues.
4 Stars (****).
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