A young girl who claims to remember a past life draws a psychologist into a decades-old mystery in a haunting novel of suspense.
Kate Willis, consultant for the Division of Perceptual Studies at the University of Virginia, is tasked with interviewing six-year-old Henley Haskell about the girl’s alleged past-life recollections. The evaluation also marks a return for Kate to Stockbridge, Massachusetts, and to troubling recollections of her own.
Here, twenty-four years ago, Kate’s friend Becca McGuire vanished from her bunk at a now-shuttered summer camp and was never seen again—presumably drowned in Lake Sauquamet. But the mystery of her disappearance is only deepening. Because Henley’s memories of her “other life” are ones that could only belong to Becca.
For Kate, Henley’s recurring, suffocating nightmares, and her disturbing illustrations of places she has never been, seem to spell out the unbelievable. Somewhere, somehow, the truth about what really happened to Becca is locked inside this little girl. As Henley’s uncanny memories surface, so do old secrets—each one drawing Kate inexorably back to that terrible long-ago summer by the lake.
Kate Willis, consultant for the Division of Perceptual Studies at the University of Virginia, is tasked with interviewing six-year-old Henley Haskell about the girl’s alleged past-life recollections. The evaluation also marks a return for Kate to Stockbridge, Massachusetts, and to troubling recollections of her own.
Here, twenty-four years ago, Kate’s friend Becca McGuire vanished from her bunk at a now-shuttered summer camp and was never seen again—presumably drowned in Lake Sauquamet. But the mystery of her disappearance is only deepening. Because Henley’s memories of her “other life” are ones that could only belong to Becca.
For Kate, Henley’s recurring, suffocating nightmares, and her disturbing illustrations of places she has never been, seem to spell out the unbelievable. Somewhere, somehow, the truth about what really happened to Becca is locked inside this little girl. As Henley’s uncanny memories surface, so do old secrets—each one drawing Kate inexorably back to that terrible long-ago summer by the lake.
Title: The Girl In the Lake (Dept of Unexplained Phenomenon #2)
Author: Lauren Oliver
Publisher:
Expected Publication Date: June 1, 2026
Review:
Thank you to Thomas and Mercer and NetGalley for providing me with a copy of this title to read and give my honest review. This opinions expressed here are my own.
Lauren Oliver has long been a favorite author of mine. Her Delirium trilogy was one that truly had me immersed in how well she could build out her world. I was anxious to see where she would take a more adult book with paranormal type themes and I was not disappointed at all.
Kate Willis a psychologist who helps investigate an interesting phenomenon: children who claim to have past life connections. Her job is to sus out if these children are being coaxed for nefarious reasons or if they truly are experiencing things through lives already lived. But she doesn't truly believe this phenomenon happens. When she takes a job in a town set right where she grew up going to camp, she is thrown back into a harrowing experience she had 26 years ago when her best camp friend, Becca, vanished. To Kate's surprise, Henley, the young girl who is currently experiencing this phenomena, is experiencing connections that are Becca's. Kate is determined to figure out if Henley's expriences are true, and if they are, can it help her solve the mystery of what happened to Becca?
Lauren Oliver has always easily pulled me in with her writing and this book was no exception. Right from the start I was invested in the story with the introduction by the author which talks about the psychological phenomenon experienced in the book and how it is something that scientists actually explore. I truly love the supernatural and occult so I couldn't wait to see how Oliver wove the story. I think what I liked most about this story was how well Oliver researched the topic. Throughout the book, Oliver inserts information about cases but also about psychology and how it's science is important in studying different human events.
Kate is a very well thought out character. I loved that she is flawed. She holds secrets from her past which definitely create a bias in how she studies her cases. She also has past experiences that may have clouded how she experienced life. And she's older, almost 40, which makes her life experiences so much more beliveable. She was easily relatable and felt truly real on the page.
The side characters lend well to the story. There are some odd interactions between Kate and a few of the characters. Ones that make you wonder what the true shared experience between them is. I would have liked to see more background from the relationship between Kate and her ex, Steve. I think it would have given her character a bit more depth to truly understand how their relationship ultimately ended and why. We never really get information on this. I also would have liked a bit more background on Kate's family. We get a bit of it but nothing that truly let's us know about her growing up and how that may have shaped who she is.
The book touches on alcoholism. I think Oliver did a pretty good job with this. Flashbacks may have given this topic a deeper meaning for the character, in my opinion.
The plot was fast paced. I found myself invested from the get go. I needed to know about the mystery, how things played out, who the characters were that were involved. Oliver did a good job of keeping the mystery under wraps until the end. I had an inkling at some points of what may have happened and who may have been involved, but not enough to cinch it for me until the end. Oliver did a good job of keeping you guessing throughout the story. I liked that Oliver chose to give us background on Becca's disappearance through flashbacks to camp days. Having attended sleep away camp myself, I can say Oliver truly captured the atmosphere of what it's like to bunk with a group of girls your own age and have those camp experiences. Plus, the flashbacks gave us a chance to get to know Becca, and Kate's other camp friends. while building the tension needed to create the mystery. The lake setting absolutely had a Friday The 13th vibe to it. Oliver easily made the lake and the island connected to the mystery something that is haunting. Just like that movie, the lake/camp are almost a character on their own.
I'm excited to see this will be a series. It's rare for me to find a mystery/thriller series that would keep my attention and I think Oliver will be able to pull this off. This one is very character driven and touches on a few triggers people might want to check into prior to reading it.
Author:
Lauren Oliver is an author, screenwriter, and media entrepreneur. She is the author of the upcoming novels THE GIRL IN THE LAKE (June 1, 2026) and its sequel, THE SLEEPWALKER (May 5, 2027). Her previous works include multiple New York Times bestselling novels for teens, including Before I Fall (which spent seventeen weeks on the list and was adapted into a feature film released by Open Road), the Delirium trilogy (a two-million-copy-selling dystopian series translated into thirty-five languages), and Panic, which she later adapted into the streaming TV show on Amazon Prime of the same name, for which she wrote every episode and served as Executive Producer. Along the way, Lauren founded the IP company StoryGiants and helped to package and edit nearly one hundred other novels. She is also the co-founder of Incantor AI, a self-scaling digital media engine built on a new and proprietary foundational model of artificial intelligence that respects copyright by providing both IP attribution and royalty shares to contributing sources. Raised in Westchester, New York, Lauren attended the University of Chicago and got her MFA from NYU. She now divides her time between Maryland and Los Angeles. Subscribe to my Substack! laurenoliverbooks.substack.com
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