The Lake of Lost Girls

September 9, 2024
A decades-old cold case heats up in Greene’s disappointing latest (after The Woods Are Waiting). In 1998, college freshman Jessica Fadley disappeared in the tiny town of Mt. Randall, N.C., and was never seen again. Then, in 2022, news breaks of human remains found in nearby Doll’s Eye Lake, renewing interest in Jessica’s fate and drawing attention to the disappearances of three other female students in the same year. The media circus leads to the launch of a popular podcast called Ten Seconds to Vanish, which catches the attention of Jessica’s younger sister, Lindsey—now 30 and the manager of a swanky hotel in Mt. Randall—who was the last person to see Jessica alive. It also interests charming crime journalist Ryan McKay, who approaches Lindsey to interview her for a story about her sister. Greene splits the narrative into thirds, with some chapters composed of Ten Seconds to Vanish transcripts, some revolving around Lindsey in the present, and others fleshing out the final days before Jessica vanished. That structure generates plenty of tension, but Greene stumbles with one-dimensional characters and a climax that tips over into the absurd. This misses the mark.