The Orphanage by the Lake

By: Daniel G. Miller

Narrated by: Michelle H. Lee

USA TODAY BESTSELLER
"Irresistible!" — James Patterson
A MISSING GIRL. AN ORPHANAGE FILLED WITH SECRETS.
Hazel wants a new life.
She’s thirty years old, single, and her private investigation business is months away from folding.
Her luck takes a turn when Madeline Hemsley, a mysterious socialite, pays Hazel a visit with an offer too enticing to resist. An orphan girl has disappeared from a children’s home—The Orphanage By The Lake, as the locals call it—and Madeline wants Hazel to find her.
At first glance, it appears to be a standard runaway case, but as Hazel plunges into the investigation, she finds signs of something more: unexplained blood stains, cryptic symbols, sinister figures shadowing her every move. The more she digs, the more she realizes that The Orphanage By The Lake holds terrifying secrets, and even worse…
…so does Madeline.
Fans of Freida McFadden's The Housemaid, Charlie Donlea's The Girl Who Was Taken, and Karin Slaughter's Pretty Girls will love this twisty, suspenseful thill-ride.

the storytelling

i enjoyed it all. it seemed very realistic and tackled real life topics unfortunately indeed.

Not quite a thriller but a good mystery

A good quick mystery read with a few surprises. Lot of characters that keep it interesting but the main character’s naivety despite being an investigator was bothersome.

Captivity but predicted the ending.

The plot was okay, but I seen what was coming. It was an easy read. The writing was good but it got bogged down with the repetitive I look awful… Woe is me… from the FMC. The ending was good, somewhat of a happy ending. The FMC is a foodie, which I enjoyed.


Triggers:
Sexual Abuse
Kidnapping teen girls

Some language.

18+ read

⭐️⭐️⭐️

Happy reading..

To Cho and Shum..

Compelling Mystery

I trust no one. No one at all.
This story had me suspicious of every single person that Hazel came across including those close to her. This was a well built up mystery with variety of characters.
The clues were dropped here and there for the reader to determine the outcome, but even if you are sure you know the answer, you probably don’t.

The narrator blew this one out of the park. They captured every character and had a unique and distinguished voice to keep them apart. They were on que for every emotion and perfected even the suspenseful moments. Plain and simple, this narrator executed an exquisite performance.

I highly recommend the book, especially the audiobook.

*This does contain some triggers so if you are sensitive to certain topics, proceed with caution.
Providing those triggers would contain spoilers, but they aren’t taken to the extreme. They are tactfully brought up and not romanticized.

Just okay.

Really disliked the main character. The mystery was okay…predictable. Writing was basic and not creative. Was hoping for so much more based on others reviews.