This dark academia thriller was likely an homage to Donna Tartt’s The Secret History. It was not quite as well-crafted, but it did not suffer from the latter’s excesses either. A solid story. ( )

Read by Vivienne Benesch
Good story but too long and drawn out.
I got confused a few times with the author going from past to present so quickly many times. ( )

Enjoyable, but too predictable. saw the ending coming a third of the way into the book. Too much/obvious foreshadowing? But very well written, liked it better than Donna Tartt. ( )

mystery/suspense. This is a page turner even after you figure out all the plot twists--it maybe wouldn't satisfy a mystery buff who prefers not to be able to predict the ending, but the rest of us will find it a deliciously chilly summer read. ( )

The Lake of Dead Languages. Carol Goodman. 2002. Jane comes back to teach Latin at Heart Lake School for Girls, the private boarding school she attended 20 years ago. She brings her young daughter with her and her memories of the suicides of her three friends. She hasn’t been there long before young girls in her class begin to mimic the behavior of her dead friends and attempt to kill themselves. She is sure they have found the long-missing journal of her final year. She relives her life as a student as she tries to prevent further tragedy. Set in the Adirondacks, Heart Lake and the freezing winter weather are important elements to the plot. It was always cold and icy. In fact I got real tired of reading about the weather and the lake, and figuring out the villain was all that difficult. Interesting but not as good as I thought it would be. ( )