A slightly creepy and captivating private detective thriller that kept me glued to the page. Private eye Hazel Cho is a wonderful character whose small business is on the verge of going under when an intriguing client, Madeline Hemsley, hires her to find her missing goddaughter, Mia. The mystery deepens as Hazel digs into Saint Agnes—the orphanage Mia disappeared from—and the staff, most of whom aren't helpful—and follows a slim trail of breadcrumbs to the end. With an elaborate cast of secondary characters, red herrings abound, and such an intriguing plotline, this is a book I highly recommend. I'm eager for the next book of the series coming next year.

—Thank you so much to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for the chance to review an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This was exactly what i needed. This was sure to be a great mystery from the get go and it did not disappoint.
It delivered! Shocking plot twists, amazing mystery. I was really shocked by the end.
5/5

I knew from reading the first couple of pages that this would be a good book, but it was actually an amazing read. I couldn't put this book down. It was fast paced, exciting and well written. The characters were enticing and all easy to follow. I loved it.

This book had me gripped from the start. It’s easy to read and the words flow well. This book is a mystery and thriller story about a teenage girl that goes missing in the dead of night from an orphanage. With no family except her godmother… and no clues as where she may have gone… it’s a mystery! Will the private investigator the godmother he hired, solve the case of where Mia, the missing girl has vanished to? I got a bit of a ‘Who done it’ vibe whilst reading this book. Could it be the strange headmaster of the orphanage? Is there more than meets the eye when it comes to the godmother? And then there is the security guy… hmm. I could have read this book in one sitting if I’d had the chance. I enjoyed the mystery and story build up. Great read!

Hazel, a private investigator, has been put to the test to find out what has happened to a missing teenager, Mia, in a matter of a few weeks. There are many obstacles Hazel has to tackle along the way and she finds out there may be similarities between other missing girls from the same orphanage over the span of 25 years.

This story has many twists and turns and the whole time I was wondering how in the world is Hazel going to finally find some substantial clues. There are many dangers, but Hazel is determined to find out what happened to Mia. Each character was described so well and made me feel many emotions like anger, frustration, empathy and happiness.

I was truly shocked by the ending! Definitely check trigger warnings, there are some very disturbing and uncomfortable scene's. This mystery thriller was very suspenseful throughout the whole book and the twists were not easy to guess. Which added to the suspense.

I highly recommend if you can handle the trigger warnings, and gave this 5 star's.

I could not put this book down!! I thoroughly enjoyed it and was gripped from the first chapter. There are so many twists and turns to this story that you think the culprit is one person then another and in the end you are still stunned. I would highly recommend this book and I definitely will be buying it when it is released!
5***

Thank you NetGalley and Houndstooth Books!

This mystery was a quick, enjoyable read, featuring a female private investigator who is flawed in all the right ways. I was so tense for her the whole time, as she tried to beat the clock and find the missing girl.

I really enjoyed this thriller and it most definitely kept me intrigued and wanting to keep going. I would have easily given it five stars but I was able to put the ending together by about the 75% mark so it became somewhat predictable at that point but it was still a decent read and I would definitely recommend it.

***Thanks to NetGalley and Houndstooth Books for the E-Arc. All opinions expressed are my own.***

This book was a brilliant read it keep you guessing right till the end . This is so worth a read brilliant .

I love any thriller set I a dark and creepy mansion so this was absolutely doen my street and did not disappint. A really strong police procedural and an original premise. The tension is built throughout and there's an amazingly creepy atmosphere built. A really decent thriller!

Thank you, NetGalley for the opportunity to read this early access book. I LOVED it!! This book drew me in from the very first page. There were so many twists and turns!

I highly recommend anyone that loves thrillers to read this one! 👏🏻😍

A terrifying thriller with the perfect set up. When you think of horror classics, we are all drawn in to spooky manors and especially a spooky orphanage. The premise of the book was superb, an excellent work in the thriller community. The pace remained steady, ultimately showing great promise for the author in his future thrillers to hold true to the goal of releasing quality plot twists.

What a great book, very detective noir.
I loved Hazel Cho and enjoyed learning more about her throughout the intriguing plot.
The book was steadily paced, with a few curveballs thrown in to send you off the track and the storyline was immersive and drew me in.
The normalised setting against such a horrific backdrop was well worked and the characters were written perfectly, to the point where I needed to know more about them, even the bad ones.
Would love to see how Hazels agency pans out and I can’t wait to read more.

I read this book in one sitting, I could not put it down and I just wanted to keep going until I could see what happened at the end! I love books like this that hook you and keep you addicted and interested to the point where you can’t stop reading!

The orphanage by the lake follows Hazel Cho, a private investigator living in NYC who needs a big win and a stack load of cash to keep business afloat.

Enter Madeline who wants to hire her services to find her god daughter who went missing from an orphanage six months ago. Although it’s still an active police investigation, no new leads have come up in a long time and it’s clear they aren’t invested in finding answers.

I really enjoyed reading the behind the scenes investigative work, following the threads until new leads come up, interviewing people who don’t want to talk and what their motives may be for potentially helping to cover something more sinister up.

This book is action packed full of crooked cops, car chases, illegal pop up clubs, kidnapping rings and more! I was a big fan of Hazels room mate Kenny and all the sweet things he did for her.

This is my first Daniel Miller book and definitely won’t be my last! I would even love to hear more about Hazel and her next adventure in the PI world!

Thank you to the author, NetGalley and Houndstooth books for the ARC!

Publish date: available now

Rating 5⭐️ for the vibes and the addictiveness of the plot

Sometimes I want to read a thriller but overall, it is not my preferred genre. I am incredibly particular about the genre and often trying to guess what will happen next either distracts me entirely or I guess it too early in and lose interest. This was not the case with The Orphanage By The Lake. Hazel was initially written in the way a male writer writes a female character (but without the sexualization that would cause me to DNF) but once the story sucked me in I forgot about my issues with the writing of a female character. The twists and turns of this were fantastic. It was dark and twisty but in some ways felt lighter than many thrillers. If you are into thrillers I imagine you will love it and if not, I bet you will still be entertained.

Thank you to NetGalley and Houndstooth Books for the eARC! All opinions are my own.

The story kept me on the edge of my seat and I had the urge to read it in almost one sitting. It kept me guessing and suspicious of everyone. The writing is good and the characters are well-built, can I say that I like the cover too? I will look into other books written by this author in the future.

I loved this book! The characters were all suspicious and I had no idea who the actual guilty one was. Biting my nails throughout the whole read! However I wish the ending was more solid and didn’t leave me with a few lingering questions. One of the best books I’ve read this year so far! Thank you Netgalley for your approval of this Arc!

The Orphanage By The Lake by Daniel G. Miller

challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious sad tense fast-paced
Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0

What a brilliant book. From start to end I was on the edge of my seat. I devoured this book in less than 24 hours and I felt like I could read more.

That predictable in areas there were a couple of twists I didn’t see coming. The first book I have read by Miller but definitely won’t be the last.

You can expect a riveting, dark mystery when you pick up this book and a few moments that will make you say out loud “I knew it!” Or “what on earth?”

A big thank you to NetGalley and Houndstooth books for the advanced copy in return for my honest review.

Thank you to NetGalley and Houndstooth Books for an eARC copy of The Orphanage By The Lake by Daniel G. Miller.


While the plot (and the cover) drew me towards reading The Orphanage By The Lake, Hazel Cho was...honestly there is a reason why she is a struggling private investigator. There is clearly lack of experience and lack of drive to go back to school or work for a police department to help strengthen the skills needed to be successful in her line of work. Not to mention her roommate is in training for the police force, so it's hard to understand why she won't allow him to help her (but he is often playing video games anyway, so is he actually training at all?) Especially if she knew that things were getting dangerous and even more so after her initial client came after her in her own office. It felt like research for Hazel Cho as a character and who she was wasn't invested in by the author, which was disappointing. I also agree that it's odd that a white male is writing a Korean-female character and on top of that, it's very on the verge of way too many bad things are happening to her that does not seem plausible in the time frame given for her case.

It's certainly a quick mystery read, again the premise of the plot was good, but this certainly could have used a lot more editing and revisions. I'd also say more research as there is no way that Sonia was going to Manhattan for "weekends" when it is a 3 1/2 to 4 hour drive from NYC to Lake George and the Orphanage certainly wasn't in the town of Lake George so that also got me. It honestly wasn't for me, but may be for someone else.

Would absolutely recommend this book!

I have to say, I do a lot of ARC reviews and this one by far was my favorite read!! I can't wait to read the next book in the series and follow author Daniel G. Miller for more!

I fell in love with the characters and was invested in the story. To follow along with the PI trying to figure out "Where is Mia" was a fun and thrilling ride. The ending is was I predicted but still really good and well written. I was pleasantly surprised to have all my questions and thoughts answered and wrapped up neatly at the end of the book even though it is part of a series.

Thank you Netgalley, Houndstooth Books and Daniel G. Miller for providing me with a complimentary digital ARC of "The Orphanage By The Lake." The opinions shared in this review are entirely my own.

This review was also posted as an Amazon review.