What an outstanding book! Atmospheric doesn't even begin to describe it; Isabel Ashdown perfectly conjured the landscape in Norway, so much so that I felt as if I should have been wearing snow boots and a padded jacket whilst reading Lake Child.

Eva's whole story is massively intriguing from the start; she's recovering from a mysterious accident and her parents have her locked in the attic. I couldn't read fast enough to find out why she was locked in the attic and to discover the mystery surrounding the night she was involved in a crash. Then just as the story reaches fever pitch, we are distracted by the interview of a grandmother of a missing baby in England that threw my mind into turmoil and made me put on my virtual running shoes to see how the two stories were linked. I thought I saw it coming but, with an abundance of family secrets stashed in the closet, I could only see the tip of the iceberg.

Isabel Ashdown must be part-Viking to have embraced the scandi-noir genre so expertly. I say scandi-noir but maybe this is scandi-psych as it twisted my brain into knots with the shots of intrigue and surprise being fired at me relentlessly. As chilly as the landscape is, the warmth of family and friendship shines through, excluding the dysfunctional family in England of course; they wouldn't have looked out of place on the Jeremy Kyle show, that's for sure. The contrast between the two families is portrayed excellently; they really are like chalk and cheese.

Gripping from the start, Lake Child is filled with mystery, intrigue and dark family secrets. Set against the backdrop of a cold and beautiful Norwegian landscape, it's a real ice-gripper. A highly recommended read.

I chose to read an ARC and this is my honest and unbiased opinion. ( )

In a small town in Norway a young woman wakes up in an attic to discover she has been in a coma and has lost her memory after an accident. As she gradually starts to remember what happened, secrets are revealed and she begins to plan her escape.

It took me a little while to get into this story, maybe a third of the way through it, but when I did I found it really rather gripping! It’s quite an intense read. The unease and trepidation mounts up beautifully and I was eager to pick the book up each time I had a spare moment to read on. I loved the setting. The descriptions of the landscape were very vividly depicted and it was easy to visualise.

Lake Child is a well written and engrossing page turner, a rollercoaster of a psychological thriller. I can certainly recommend it! ( )

Lake Child brings forth the question: if you can't trust your family who can you trust? It is such a good read, one that kept me reading to find out what really happened to 17 year old, Eva Olsen.

When the story begins, she's recovering from a terrible car accident. She's obviously been badly injured but she can't remember anything. Why on earth are her parents keeping her holed up in the attic room of their house, not allowing her to see her best friends, Rosa and Lars? As the story progresses we witness Eva slowly starting to regain some memories, trying to work out what happened the day of the accident. But she also starts to wonder if she can really trust her parents at all.

The Norwegian setting is fabulous. The cover image perfectly portrays to me the remoteness and the snowy mountains that form a backdrop to Eva's home. Her friends are her neighbours but even they are a distance away. I always enjoy remote settings in novels as they can contribute to a sense of unease, of people lurking in the shadows.

In many ways, Eva is something of an unreliable narrator. She's only seeing things from her point of view, feeling very much like things are being hidden from her and being unable to see beyond that. I liked her as a character very much and I was hoping that she would get some kind of resolution to her difficulties.

Dotted throughout her story are transcripts of interviews between Maxine Gregory and a woman who is employed to be her ghost writer for a book about Maxine's life. Whilst it's not entirely clear from the outset why the interviews are there, I really liked how the two individual strands started to intertwine and although, by the end, I'd semi-guessed some of the outcome, I thought this was such a well-plotted book. Isabel Ashdown keeps plenty of secrets up her sleeve to reveal at the last minute.

I was so impressed by the author's clever storytelling. Psychological thrillers can sometimes seem a little implausible and I didn't find that with Lake Child. In fact, I found the whole thing entirely possible. What an excellent read this is. It's suspenseful and so atmospheric, and I loved it! ( )