Review: Whispers of the Lake by Shanora Williams

  

Print Length: 272 pages

Publisher: Kensington Publishing | Dafina (June 24, 2025)

From Goodreads.com: At the peak of her career, investigative reporter Rose Howard is exhausted from trying to manage her seemingly perfect life. With her marriage to her one true love collapsing, she desperately needs to rest, regroup, and decide which way to go next. The direction becomes clear when she discovers that her former best friend, Eve Castillo, isn't responding to attempts to contact her at the North Carolina cottage where she's vacationing. Rose knows Eve can be flaky and irresponsible—that’s why they fell out. Still, Rose heads to the tranquil small town of Sage Hill . . .

Rose soon discovers that Eve has vanished without her purse and passport—even after booking a trip abroad. The personable cabin owners’ accounts of Eve's stay just don’t to add up . . . and most of the town's initially hospitable inhabitants becoming increasingly less helpful . . .

Rose's instincts tell her the solution lies somewhere in Eve's—and Sage Hill's—past. To get answers, she’ll have to ask inconvenient questions, rattle long-buried skeletons . . . and face vicious attempts on her life. But some truths are best left alone. And secrets Rose never saw coming could easily sink her and her future without a trace . . .

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My Rating: 2 stars out of 5

Right off the bat I want to remind my readers that I received an Advanced Copy of this novel so the things that I am going to start off with may well have been corrected (and I hope they are) by the time this novel is released to the public. That being said. 

Can authors/editors please start keeping track of the details that they put into their books so that they aren't constantly changing? There were two glaring inconsistencies that I noticed with this novel. To begin with when Rose first comes to the cabin on the lake she notes that there is a TV and a full-sized bed in the second bedroom. It would appear that this is the only bedroom in the house as it is distinctly mentioned that there isn't one in the living room. Only in one of Eve's journal entries it is expressly stated that she is sitting in the living room watching television. There was also the many (many) times Rose complained about their being absolutely no cell phone reception (and barely any wifi) inside the home and yet later on she is laying on the couch scrolling Eve's instagram. There was also another instance where Rose is at a hotel and realizes she needs gas for her car. The person with her says that they will "follow her" to "the closest gas station" only to go directly across the street from the hotel? Where she then evidentially leaves her car parked at the gas pumps so she can hop in her friends car to follow someone else? Or the time when Rose sees Eve's backup laptop but can't get into it because she doesn't know the password, then later on in the story suddenly knows it? I mean sure Eve's sister Zoey could have told her, but we were never told that so for me it was just one more instance of details changing without reason. Again, these are things that have hopefully been fixed before publication, but I have been asked to review the novel that I was given and I pride myself on pointing out things like this whether its in an advanced copy, or a book that has been out for years. 

ALL OF THAT ASIDE, LET'S GET INTO THE STORY SHALL WE?   

I thought that the premise of this one was interesting, although I cannot for the life of me understand why Rose just wasn't honest with everyone about the reason for her falling out with Eve, much less why she would drop everything (including the deadline for an article that she knew would help her career) to go chasing after someone she herself called "obnoxious, reckless & attention-seeking." In fact, in my opinion she went above and beyond for someone who had betrayed her often time engaging in that same reckless behavior that she accused Eve of having. Why else would she flee a place in the interest of her "safety" only to not only return, but to then engage in openly stupid behaviors while there? 

And don't get me started on Eve. I simply did not like her. At first her journal entries made me want to sympathize with her, as she had a rough upbringing. And some things that happened were out of her control. But then after that? Yeah no. I found myself just not caring what happened to her whatsoever. I didn't even care if she was dead.

On the other side of things, this was a fairly straightforward you kind of know who is guilty and who isn't from the start (even if there are a couple good red herrings thrown in) as well as one twist that might be surprising if you didn't read so many thriller novels that you kind of expected it. I do think this novel will do well with others who like the genre, and I would definitely check out this author again. 

DISCLAIMER: I received a complimentary copy of this novel from the publisher. This has not affected my review in any way. All thoughts and opinions expressed in this review are 100% my own.