Jaime Jo Wright is the queen of spooky, and The Souls of Lost Lake is no exception! The dual timeline features a young woman who everyone suspects of murdering her family, yet there’s no evidence and plenty of skepticism that a child could carry out such a heinous crime. Years later Ava Coons has become a campfire story to scare the daylights out of kids! Wren grew up with the stories, but now suspects that a missing child is somehow tied to the legend. I loved both stories as told by Wright. To get the scoop on what really happened decades before, and have a modern mystery to solve, was a treat for this reader. And when I say spooky, I mean it! Especially a creepy porcelain doll that shows up in unexpected places — shiver-y goodness. The title is appropriate as people can be lost in so many ways. While throughout their lives, Wren and Ava feel disconnected from others, they find a sense of place and acceptance. Wright kept me guessing until the very end of the book. I didn’t see either ending coming!
The Souls of Lost Lake is perhaps my favorite of all of Wright’s books, and that is saying a lot. It definitely is a highly recommended read. Just make sure you keep the light on. 😉
Highly Recommended.
Audience: Adults.
(I purchased the audiobook from Audible. All opinions expressed are mine alone.)
To save the innocent, they must face an insidious evil.
Wren Blythe has long enjoyed living in the Northwoods of Wisconsin, helping her father with ministry at a youth camp. But when a little girl in the area goes missing, an all-out search ensues, reviving the decades-old campfire story of Ava Coons, the murderess who is believed to still roam the forest. Joining the search, Wren stumbles upon the Coonses’ cabin ruins and a sinister mystery she is determined to unearth.
In 1930, Ava Coons has spent the last several years carrying the mantle of mystery since the day she emerged from the woods as a thirteen-year-old girl, spattered with blood, dragging a logger’s ax. She has accepted she will never remember what happened to her family, whose bodies were never found, and that the people of Tempter’s Creek will always blame her for their violent deaths. And after a member of the town is murdered, and another goes missing, rumors spread that Ava’s secret is perhaps more malicious than previously imagined.
Two women, separated by time, must confront a wickedness that not only challenges who they are but also threatens their lives, and the lives of those they love.
Daphne du Maurier and Christy Award-Winning author, Jaime Jo Wright resides in the hills of Wisconsin writing suspenseful, mysteries stained with history’s secrets. Jaime lives in dreamland, exists in reality, and invites you to join her adventures at jaimewrightbooks.com!
Great review, I look forward to reading this one!