THE GIRL IN THE LAKE

LAUREN OLIVER

Lauren Oliver has written a hybrid novel that will appeal to Cozy and traditional mysteries. Reincarnation, recalled memories, and other lives dominate this well-written and thought-provoking novel.

Kate Willis is a psychologist working for the University of Virginia. She is working with a 6-year-old, examining the girl's past-life memories to see whether it is a legitimate reincarnation or something else. Kate travels to a summer camp that she attended long ago, where her best friend drowned. Kate wonders if the six-year-old girl she's working with has been reincarnated as Becca, her best friend, who died at the summer camp. And this begs the question of what happened to Becca: did she have an accident, or was she murdered?

The Girl in the Lake deals with multiple issues, mainly centered on teen friendship, loyalty, and other-world thinking. The book is thought-provoking and entertaining, and it induces plenty of tension along the way.