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Every summer, lifelong friends Julia, David, Erika, and their families reconvene at their neighboring lake houses in Vermont. This year, Julia is confronted with the “addition�� that David put on his home between ladies�� cabins, and Julia is infuriated that David’s modern glass monstrosity is blocking her lake view. Thus, the conflict begins.

The narrative alternates between Julia’s third person and David’s nanny Izzy’s first person. I appreciated that Izzy called herself out right away for being an unreliable narrator, admitting that she has ulterior motives for accepting the nanny job. The longer she spends at the lake, the more Izzy learns about two women who mysteriously disappeared thirty years apart. Good thing she’s a true-crime podcast junkie, so her sleuthing has some “credibility.�� When David’s girlfriend goes missing, the lake erupts with an investigation, not to mention a whole lot of finger-pointing and mistrust.

The characters here are flawed, the relationships tense, and though the setting is idyllic, the anxiety is palpable. As the mystery unravels, the connections between all of the threads seemed a bit flimsy. Everyone has some culpability and Izzy certainly takes advantage for a tidy conclusion.

I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher.