These Still Black Waters

After reading and enjoying the prequel The Stranger at Black Lake in the Jess Lambert series, I was eager to jump into this series and requested that my public library buy a copy of this first book.

This story (with its beautifully chilling cover) was a combination of a thriller, characters' dark pasts and unexpected paranormal aspect as two women are forced to confront the pasts that haunt them. 

Neve and her daughter arrive in Black Lake after experiencing a brutal home invasion and they stay in Neve's family's lakeside home where she spent summers as a child. But Black Lake still holds Neve's secrets, and her past comes back to haunt her. Likewise, Detective Jess Lambert has demons of her own she's fighting and when she's put in charge of a murder investigation of Neve's neighbour, the two women's lives collide.

The story is told by the POVs of an unknown narrator, Jess and Neve in alternating chapters which created some repetitiveness in the storytelling. Jess and Neve are flawed main characters and sometimes hard to like. Their life experiences added to the dark feel of the story, but I felt that their voices weren't distinct and often blended together. There is a creepy vibe and a stronger paranormal focus than expected, but I enjoyed the underlying theme of mothers' love for their children and their need to protect them at all costs.  

McDonald has created a mildly sinister small-town feel where secrets have been left to languish and revenge has smoldered. It's a slow burn thriller that took me a bit to get into but if readers are patient, McDonald creates a creepy story of regret, revenge, and consequences that ends with a last minute twist and a culprit I didn't see coming. 

My Rating: 4 stars

Author: Christina McDonald

Genre: Suspense

Series: 1st in Jess Lambert series

Type and Source: Trade paperback from public library

Publisher: Thomas and Mercer

First Published: October 1, 2023

Book Description from GoodReads: Two women struggle toward a dark truth as a killer avenges the sins of the past in a twisting novel of suspense by the USA Today bestselling author of Do No Harm, Behind Every Lie, and The Night Olivia Fell.

After a violent home invasion, Neve Maguire returns with her daughter to Black Lake, her childhood summer home, hoping for a fresh start. But when the body of a woman is found floating among the reeds in the lake behind her house, she fears she has made a horrible mistake.

Neve is hiding secrets, though. Detective Jess Lambert can tell. Recently back after her own personal tragedy, Jess knows what it’s like to live with skeletons in your closet, and she’s sure Neve has a few of her own.

When another woman’s body is found, Jess and Neve are forced to confront a horrible truth. Because one thing is clear: the darkness of the past is waiting. And the secrets of Black Lake are only just beginning to surface.