Rating: 
Summary: easy read slow at times
Review: This book was an easy read. It had some interesting twists; however, it was fairly predictable. I had to make myself finish the book. The beginning pulled me in, but then I felt the story dragged on in areas. Although good, it wasn't one of those where I had my nose in it constantly and couldn't put it down. That would be my favorite--James Patterson.
Rating: 
Summary: a fun read
Review: This book has so many twists and turns... it was very enjoyable and i finished it in 2 days because i just Had to find out how it would end. It was an amusing tale and kept me intrigued. check it out.
Rating: 
Summary: Darkly atmospheric, literate thriller
Review: I greatly enjoyed this book although I did guess the identity of the killer long before the end. However, the journey is more important than the destination and Carol Goodman is a good writer. If you do read the book, skip the last chapter. It's really hokey.
Rating:
Summary: Twist of language and of time
Review: Finally. This is a novel where the heroine is strong and intelligent and not simply a damsel-in-distress. Jane Hudson grapples with the consequences of decisions and actions taken twenty years in her past. The aftermath of the lives of three friends at boarding school resonate in the present, where Jane finds herself a Latin teacher at the very school where three friends lost their lives and watches in horror as the present mimics the past.Goodman provides a narrative that smoothly transitions between the present and the past. While not the best "Who Done It," (I guessed the evil doer and the twist at the end fairly early) it is a book that provides great visuals and stimulating language. A fast passed, easy read that involves the reader. I look forward to more from Carol Goodman.
Rating:
Summary: Latin Revival
Review: I loved this book! Perhaps this is because I haven't read any of the authors she has been compared to...but I still really enjoyed it. It is far from being a trashy romance novel - its references to mythology and latin give it a literary depth definitely not found in Mills and Boon! Although I did guess 'whodunnit' very early in the book but I kept reading because I was enthralled by how close I felt to the main character, Jane. Being inside her head filled me with joy, terror and sorrow. A truly human character.
Rating: 
Summary: Lake of Dead Plots!
Review: I was very disappointed in this book. The plot "twists" were predictible and recycled from other books. The author uses characters' given names and Latin names interchangeably, and it's hard to figure out who's who. There are characters in this book for no reason. Like other reviewers, I thought the imagry of the lake's noises and blackness were well done, but way overdone--we get it already! I wouldn't waste my time or money with this book. I read it for a book club, and we were all very disappointed with it.
Rating:
Summary: Don't be fooled . . .
Review: if you're buying this book because of comparisons to Donna Tartt . . . . don't -- you'll be disappointed.
Rating:
Summary: Evocative Adirondack Pastoral
Review: As other reviewers have noted, there was too much 'tell' and not enough 'show' in Carol Goodman's Adirondack pastoral suspense novel, 'The Lake of Dead Languages.' Her fine poetic writing skillfully evoked a mood of place at the private girls' boarding school in upstate New York, but there were too many refrains of ice creaking and lake lapping in this overlong novel. The Latin classroom scenes, pagan rites, and lakeside idylls were well drawn. Ms. Goodman authentically portrayed learning of Latin declensions, sight reading debacles, and dorm-room confabs. However, I found the erratic interchange of 'goddess' names and real names for many of the characters to be confusing. It seemed at times that 'Lake' was to be a modern interpretation of a Greek tragedy, such as Euripedes's 'Iphigenia in Aulis' or 'Iphigenia in Tauris.' Instead, there was a mélange of themes: jealousy, lust, revenge, bloodletting, banishment, murder, suicide, and incest, thus turning opera into soap opera and drama into melodrama. Nonetheless, there were enough secrets and suspense in this literary mystery to keep me turning the pages till dawn. As I had correctly guessed 'whodunit,' I thought the crafting of the mystery could have been better. Even so, 'The Lake of Dead Languages' marks an auspicious debut for Ms. Goodman and is well worth reading.
Rating:
Summary: beatifully written, haunting tale
Review: I just finished reading 'The Lake Of Dead Languages' and I'm grateful that I did not read or take into consideration the previous customer reviews. Had I looked at these I might have missed this beautifully written and haunting tale about the mysterious happenings that impact the lives of three students and their teacher at a girls boarding school.
Rating:
Summary: A disappointment in the end
Review: I was truly excited to read this book after reading the comparisons to Donna Tartt's book. Maybe this comparison is what led me to expect too much from this novel. I have to agree with many of the other reviewers, though. The suspense plot was reprtitive and predictable (I figured out who the "bad guy" was 125 pages from the end) and the "surprise ending" was just plain silly. I also thought too many of the plot devices were too neatly wrapped up. I also found it difficult to identify with the flat main character and the pat way that devices were moved in and out of the story -- for example, I found the way that her daughter was so important to her and then was simply carted off to her father's mid- novel pretty unbelieveable. The writer was trying too hard to describe how it was rather than let the characters simply tell the story -- as another reviewer said, successful fiction should show, not tell.
| 
