The Sea of Lost Girls

A Novel

By: Carol Goodman

Narrated by: Natalie Naudus

Length: 8 hrs and 1 min

Publisher's summary

In the tradition of Daphne du Maurier, Shari Lapena, and Michelle Richmond comes a new thriller from the best-selling author of The Lake of Dead Languages - a twisty, harrowing story set at a prestigious prep school in which one woman's carefully hidden past might destroy her future.

Tess has worked hard to keep her past buried, where it belongs. Now she’s the wife to a respected professor at an elite boarding school, where she also teaches. Her 17-year-old son, Rudy, whose dark moods and complicated behavior she’s long worried about, seems to be thriving: He has a lead role in the school play and a smart and ambitious girlfriend. Tess tries not to think about the mistakes she made 18 years ago, and mostly, she succeeds.

And then one more morning she gets a text at 2:50 AM: It’s Rudy, asking for help. When Tess picks him up, she finds him drenched and shivering, with a dark stain on his sweatshirt. Four hours later, Tess gets a phone call from the Haywood school headmistress: Lila Zeller, Rudy's girlfriend, has been found dead on the beach, not far from where Tess found Rudy just hours before.

As the investigation into Lila's death escalates, Tess finds her family attacked on all sides. What first seemed like a tragic accidental death is turning into something far more sinister, and not only is Tess’ son a suspect, but her husband is a person of interest, too. But Lila’s death isn't the first blemish on Haywood's record, and the more Tess learns about Haywood’s fabled history, the more she realizes that not all skeletons will stay safely locked in the closet.

©2020 Carol Goodman (P)2020 HarperAudio

Good book a little predictable

I was able to predict the ending by chapter three but still a great book and I could see it as a movie. Narrator did a fabulous job as well. Worth a listen!

Great Story

Compelling story line. Kept me intrigued. Disturbing topic handled sensitively so I didn’t feel like there should have been a trigger warning on the cover as is the case with many other books. Worth a credit

Allround amazing!!

okay okay I might not be objective enough as Carol Goodman is the author who taught me reading could be fun. The first book I ever read of hers, Lake of the dead languages, is one of my all time favourites. I have read every book by her ever since. This one, might come close to The Lake... I love it so much. I did guess the ending a bit (but there were still some surprises) but all I can say is that I love the way Carol writes. so. much!! And the narrator did a lovely job as well :)

Never Disappointed

I am a huge Carol Goodman fan and have read all of her books. This book is as captivating as her other stories. I have resorted to audio books since traveling more for work. The performance was spot on. I would recommend this to friends.

Good story meh narration

The ending was a bit over the top and predictable but I enjoyed it overall. The folklore backstory kept me interested.

It kept my attention, but

Why do authors always try to make some big philosophical meaning at the end. Just end it. Don’t drag it out. I figured it out early too so maybe I was impatient.

Engaging, but problematic

This is hard to rate.

The story itself is excellent -- suspenseful, gripping, and with lots of unpredictable twists and turns.

That said? Its treatment of grooming, abuse and trauma is hugely problematic.

The main character is a victim of grooming, and physical and sexual abuse. Throughout the story her self-loathing is overwhelming, and she continually blames herself rather than her abuser. There isn't really any acknowledgement, however, that her choices are a result of this abuse, and her resulting trauma. I spent much of this book angry. I understand that the author is trying to write an authentic character, but the extent of the blame the victim puts on herself is over the top, and there isn't really a moment where the narrator acknowledges that though she made her choices, she doesn't bear the blame for them.

Additionally, the serial abuser and child predator is humanized as a mentally ill father whose love for his son is more important than his history. I appreciate depth and multidimensionality of character, but this book takes it too far.

Overall, I cannot recommend this book. The author needs to take a long, hard look at what her book says about abuse, and ask whether the message she is communicating is really something she wants to take ownership of.

So disappointing!

I have loved so many of Carol Goodman’s books that it pains me to write this review.

Here are the main problems:
1. According to this book, every man who teaches high school is a predator.
2. Victims of said predators will continue to choose these men as partners
3. But don’t worry because these hapless women will end up saved by a man who doesn’t teach high school so must be a good one.

Add to that a narrator who can’t pronounce the word library, and you have a truly awful listening experience.

Again, Carol Goodman has written some amazing novels, but this, most definitely, isn’t one of them.

One of the Worst Things I Ever Heard

I wish I could take back the time I lost to this novel. It was honestly one of the worst things I ever read/heard. I don't think it helped that the narrator kept rotating through a series of weird deep voices, and interpreted a wealthy Boston accent as what truly sounded southern.

Sorry Carol - it just wasn’t good.

I wasn’t wowed by this book. I put it on while I spent a day cleaning and was glad when it was finally over. My main takeaway was that Carol Goodman is not a super strong writer. Many descriptions of events seemed over-written or as if the characters were forced into meeting the requirements of a scene she had planned out. I found the ending really odd and out of the blue, less “thrilling” than eyebrow-raising. A little more than the first half of the book is exposition. The ending was not interesting and every characters behavior seemed out-of-character for the way they were written up until that point. There were little things in the writing that just didn’t really match-up with the story. I picked it because it was short. I would not pay to read this author again. I hate giving bad reviews to books because I know how much the author must love writing and do their best to be a good writer, but I feel like more editing for continuity and plot issues needed to be done before this was published.