The Lake of Lost Girls

The Lake of Lost Girls (2024) is a psychological thriller by Katherine Greene, author of The Woods Are Waiting, the shared pen name of writers A. Meredith Walters and Claire C. Riley. The novel weaves together two timelines: 1998, when four young women mysteriously vanished from Southern State University in Mt. Randall, North Carolina, and present day, when the discovery of human remains at a local lake prompts Lindsey Fadley, the younger sister of one of the missing women, to confront long-buried family secrets while searching for the truth about her sister’s disappearance. Interspersed between these chapters are podcast transcripts, social media posts, and other materials pertaining to the disappearances. The narrative explores themes including The Corrosive Nature of Secrets and Deception, Grappling With the Unreliability of Memory and Perception, Bearing the Destructive Weight of Unresolved Grief, and Exposing the Duality Between Appearance and Reality.

This guide is based on the 2024 Crooked Lane Books first edition.

Content Warning: The source material and this guide contain depictions of sexual harassment, graphic violence, physical and emotional abuse, substance use, cursing, gender discrimination, sexual content, illness, child death, and death.

Plot Summary

In the fall of 1998, a young woman named Jessica “Jess” Fadley begins her freshman year at Southern State University in Mt. Randall, North Carolina. Though the university is in her hometown, Jess moves into a dormitory on campus, sharing a room with sociable Daisy Molina from Dallas. Jess pledges Pi Gamma Delta sorority, meets charismatic freshman Ryan McKay, and encounters statistics professor Dr. Clement Daniels, who has a reputation for affairs with female students. The dorm’s strict resident advisor, Tammy Estep, frequently clashes with Daisy over rule violations.

On November 12, Tammy mysteriously disappears. College authorities and local police treat her absence as a voluntary departure, showing minimal concern even as rumors circulate linking Tammy romantically to Dr. Daniels. Meanwhile, Jess begins an intense relationship with Ryan, characterized by passionate affection and volatile arguments. By December, Jess’s academic performance deteriorates significantly. She is placed on academic probation and later suspended from her sorority. On December 6, Phoebe Baker, a shy pledge sister, disappears. With a second student missing, police reluctantly open a formal investigation, though they remain ineffective.

During Christmas break, Jess returns home and accidentally discovers her father, Benjamin “Ben” Fadley, on a date with a local high-school senior. Her relationship with her father deteriorates while her mother, Cara, remains oblivious to her husband’s behavior. The revelation feeds Jess’s profound rage against predatory older men like her father and Dr. Daniels, which (the novel eventually reveals) has also driven her to kill Tammy and Phoebe, whom she blames for contributing to the unraveling of families like her own. She wrapped Tammy’s body in a beloved childhood blanket and buried it near a local landmark known as Doll’s Eye Lake; Ben later helped dispose of Phoebe’s corpse in the reservoir using their old family paddleboat. On February 8, Jess confronts and kills Meghan Lambert, a college freshman who was romantically involved with both Dr. Daniels and Jess’s father. Ben disposes of Meghan’s body in the lake while Jess secretly places her Tiffany ring (a gift from her father) onto Meghan’s finger.

By early April, Jess spirals further with increased drinking and truancy. Daisy grows suspicious, especially after police interrogate her about her ID card, which Jess stole, being used at suspected crime scenes. On April 23, Jess publicly breaks up with Ryan in front of Westwood Hall. Devastated and intoxicated, Ryan drives to the Fadley residence and observes Jess arguing with an older man he assumes is Dr. Daniels. After briefly looking down, he looks up to find both Jess and the man gone, with her car trunk still open.

In fact, Dr. Daniels does arrive at the Fadley house seeking a sexual liaison with Jess. However, she rejects him and threatens to expose his predatory behavior, causing him to leave. Jess then argues with her father, blaming his infidelities for triggering her actions. Convinced that Jess will continue killing, Ben strangles his daughter to “protect” their family and potential future victims. He wraps her body in plastic, hides it in the hull of their paddleboat, covers the boat with a tarp, and permanently parks his Mustang and the concealed boat in the garage. Meanwhile, Daisy provides Ryan with a false alibi for the night of Jess’s disappearance.

For 24 years, Ben maintains an elaborate deception. The detective on the case, Liam O’Neil, conducts an ineffective investigation that quickly dismisses Ryan, Dr. Daniels, and Ben as suspects. The case goes cold until heavy rains expose Tammy’s bones near Doll’s Eye Lake in 2023. A new detective, Lieutenant Jane Higgins, reopens all four missing persons cases and orders sonar searches of the lake.

Jess’s younger sister, Lindsey Fadley, is now 30 years old, living at home with her parents and managing the Bronze Monarch Hotel in town. Shortly after learning of the discovery of Tammy’s body, Lindsey meets hotel guest Ryan McKay, now a Chicago Courier journalist investigating the case. A mutual attraction develops, though Ryan hides his past relationship with Jess and his connection to the college.

When Lindsey discovers a hidden cache in Jess’s closet containing evidence of her failing grades and photos of her with Ryan, she confronts Ryan about his deception. Despite her anger with him, she goes with him to visit the now-retired Sergeant O’Neil and obtain his copied case file. Lindsey then contacts Daisy Molina, now a campus counselor, who admits she provided Ryan with a false alibi and reveals that he drove to the Fadley house the night Jess disappeared. Meanwhile, Lieutenant Higgins recovers Jess’s blanket and Tiffany ring from the bodies of Tammy and Meghan.

Growing suspicious of her father, Lindsey investigates the garage and notices the tarp-covered boat. When Ben nervously interrupts her exploration, her suspicions intensify. Lindsey lifts the tarp and discovers Jess’s skeleton hidden inside the paddleboat. As Ryan calls 911, Ben confesses everything: his affairs with younger women, Jess’s vigilante murders of the three missing students, and finally, his strangling of Jess. Ben pleads with Lindsey not to reveal Jess’s involvement in the murders, so the police arrest Ben for all four homicides.

In the aftermath, Dr. Daniels faces public condemnation for his predatory behavior, though he avoids criminal charges. His wife divorces him, and the university freezes his pension. Ryan publishes a Pulitzer-nominated series on the case. Cara files for divorce from Ben and leaves Mt. Randall, while Lindsey plans to move to New York for a hotel management position, determined to rebuild her life after uncovering the dark truth about her family’s tragedy.