The Souls of Lost Lake by Jaime Jo Wright

 

Jaime Jo Wright has written some books that I found to be creepy before. . . but The Souls of Lost Lake is her creepiest book to date, I think. I don't usually do creepy but her books are always so good that I can't help myself. However, I don't do well reading creepy books at night so it took me awhile to read it.

The Souls of Lost Lake is a split time story with characters in the 1920s/30s and characters in today's time. In 1930, Ava Coons is accused of murder. The townspeople believe that she murdered her family when she was 13--but they had no proof. They don't need proof to spread gossip and malign Ava's name so when another member of the town of Tempter's Creek is murdered, the pin the murder on Ava. The new preacher, Noah, wants to offer her a safe place because he doesn't believe the rumors. 

Today in the Northwoods of Wisconsin, Wren Blythe lives and works at a Bible camp near where Ava Coons is said to have murdered her family. . .which is now the legend of creepy campfire stories. Her mother passed away and her father and brother( Tristan and Pippin Blythe) are distant so she doesn't feel at home with them. Instead, Wren feels more at home with the Markham family, who also live at the camp, except her substitute mom, Patty, is dying of cancer.

As I followed the stories of both Ava and Wren, I was fascinated with this book. I liked watching them both become who they were meant to be and have healing in their life, in different ways, of course. I also enjoyed the relationships they developed around them. It was a bit of a challenge for me to read about Patty as I know so many with a cancer diagnosis in recent years so it brought up my own pain. Some parts of the book were a bit violent and gory, which I didn't care for. . .but I really liked the ending. I won't go in to details as I don't want to post any spoilers but the lessons that were illustrated were so good. Wright did a great job with that through Ava mostly. I thought it was also interesting how mental health challenges were illustrated in both eras--something we need to deal with better in our society I think. The Souls of Lost Lake was intriguing and also illuminating in many ways. I would recommend it and I will be awaiting the next Wright book to see what Jaime has coming up next.

I received a copy of this book from the author and publisher. All opinions within this review are my own.