Bloggin' 'bout Books: Gothic Mystery Eerie, Compelling

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Gothic Mystery Eerie, Compelling

9:58 AM

(Image from Barnes & Noble)

Nestled in the Adirondacks, The Heart Lake School for Girls holds little but bad memories for Jane Hudson. Once a scholarship student at the boarding school, she fled the institution after a spate of suicides that resulted in the deaths of her three best friends. Two decades later, she's a single mother looking for a new start. As Heart Lake's new Latin instructor, she'll live on site while teaching. As apprehensive as she feels being back, she's hoping for the best.

It doesn't take long, though, for sinister reminders of Jane's tragic Heart Lake past to surface. Someone seems to know exactly what happened when she was a student. But who? Everyone concerned is dead. Has one of Jane's new students somehow gotten hold of the journal she kept back then? Are the girls playing a cruel trick on their new teacher? Or is something more ... otherworldly going on? When a new rash of suicides starts plaguing the school, Jane is terrified that the past is coming back in the most awful way possible. Can she figure out what's going on before more people die? Heart Lake has already taken so much from Jane. Will it finally strip her of everything that's important to her?

The Lake of Dead Languages by Carol Goodman is an atmospheric mystery with eerie Gothic undertones. Its premise intrigued me, as did its back-and-forth-in-time storytelling. Although the plot kept me engaged, I saw most of its twists and turns coming, which made Jane seem very slow on the uptake. Still, I raced through this dark, compelling novel, eager to see what was going to happen. In the end, I didn't love The Lake of Dead Languages, but I did enjoy it overall.

(Readalikes: Reminds me of other books by Carol Goodman, including River Road, Arcadia Falls, and The Ghost Orchid)

Grade:

If this were a movie, it would be rated:

for language (a half dozen or so F-bombs, plus milder expletives), violence, blood/gore, and sexual content

To the FTC, with love: Another library ~~fine~~ find

2 comments:

Kay13 March, 2017 12:22
I'm planning on reading this one before long. I'm pretty sure I have a copy on one of my shelves. I'm not sure what it is about books set at schools, but they are like catnip to me. And you definitely ought to read THE WIDOW'S HOUSE. Goodman seems to take her time telling her stories and I think that I notice that more because so many I read these days are 'go, go, go' all the time. I will say that as I enter the books in my notebooks on Goodreads, I'm beginning to see trends in my reading over the years. It's been interesting to notice how my tastes have changed.
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Jenny13 March, 2017 14:46
Its a shame it's predictable but that would be ok if it didn't make the MC look slow. Still sounds like a fun read.
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Books Read in 2024 (asterisks denote favorites)

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14. Daughter of Mine by Megan Miranda* (Jan)
15. The Nature of Disappearing by Kimi Cunningham Grant (Jan)
16. Myrtle, Means, and Opportunity by Elizabeth C. Bunce* (Jan)
17. Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone by Benjamin Stevenson* (Jan)
18. More Than a Body by Lindsay and Lexie Kite (Feb)
19. All That Is Mine I Carry With Me by William Landay (Feb)
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21. My Imaginary Mary by Brodi Ashton, Cynthia Hand, and Jodi Meadows* [audio] (Feb)
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25. Ill-Fated Fortune by Jennifer J. Chow (Feb)
26. My Lady Jane by Brodi Ashton, Cynthia Hand, and Jodi Meadows* [audio] (Feb)
27. Buffalo Flats by Martine Leavitt (Feb)
28. Midnight is the Darkest Hour by Ashley Winstead (Feb)
29. Murder on Millionaires' Row by Erin Lindsey (Feb)
30. Meet Me in the Margins by Melissa Ferguson (Mar)
31. End of Story by A.J. Finn (Mar)
32. None of This is True by Lisa Jewell (Mar)
33. My Contrary Mary by Brodi Ashton, Cynthia Hand, and Jodi Meadows* [audio] (Mar)
34. Where There's Smoke by E.B. Vickers (Mar)
35. Disturbing the Dead by Kelley Armstrong* (Mar)
36. The Kind to Kill by Tessa Wegert (Mar)
37. Lying in the Deep by Diana Urban (Apr)
38. Agony Hill by Sarah Stewart Taylor (Apr)
39. Swimming in a Sea of Stars by Julie Wright (Apr)
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41. The Tobacco Wives by Adele Myers [audio] (Apr)
42. The Secret of Rainy Days by Leslie Hooton (Apr)
43. How to Solve Your Own Murder by Kristen Perrin (Apr)
44. The Nights the Lights Went Out by Karen White (Apr)
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46. Love & Gelato by Jenna Evans Welch [audio] (Apr)
47. The Expectant Detectives by Kat Ailes* (Apr)
48. Dust by Dusti Bowling* (Apr)

49. Blood Sisters by Vanessa Lillie (Apr)

50. One Perfect Couple by Ruth Ware (Apr)

51. Grave Reservations by Cherie Priest (Apr)

52. The Hunter by Tana French (May)

53. Murder at Rough Point by Alyssa Maxwell (May)

54. The Hard Parts by Oksana Masters [audio] (May)

55. Watch It Burn by Kristen Bird (May)

56. Tress of the Emerald Sea by Brandon Sanderson* (May)

57. No Matter What by K.M. Frost (May)

58. Death in the Details by Katie Tietjen (May)

59. The Silent Sister by Diane Chamberlain [audio] (May)

60. Candy Cane Crime by Amanda Flower [novella] (May)

61. An Improbable Season by Rosalyn Eves (May)

62. Fire and Bones by Kathy Reichs* (May)

63. Borrow My Heart by Kasie West (May)

64. Beauty Reborn by Elizabeth Lowham (May)

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76. The Watchers by A.M. Shine (Jun)

77. Deep Water by Jamie Sumner (Jun)

78. First Victim by Debbie Babitt (Jun)

79. One Big Open Sky by Lesa Cline-Ransome* (Jun)

80. Running Out of Time by Margaret Peterson Haddix [audio] (Jun)

81. When the Day Comes by Gabrielle Meyer (Jun)

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84. 49 Miles Alone by Natalie D. Richards (Jun)

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89. Falling Out of Time by Margaret Peterson Haddix (Jun)

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94. Middle of the Night by Riley Sager* (Jul)

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Gothic Mystery Eerie, Compelling

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