Rating: 
Summary: Great book!
Review: I picked The Lake of Dead Languages up because I read a great review of it. It was better than I'd expected--a mystery, suspense, detective story and psychological thriller all in one. The characters are perfect--human, flawed, quirky, and they develop as the book goes on. The relationships between the characters are so honest and true to life, they leave you marveling at Carol Goodman's understanding of human nature. This just became my favorite book. I highly reccomend it.
Rating:
Summary: An Impressive First Novel
Review: Jane Hudson, the narrator, returns to her high school alma mater to teach Latin twenty or so years after graduating. She finds a page from her lost senior-year journal squirreled away in her students' assignments. This is just the beginning of a long mystery, beautifully told. The parts occurring in the present (1995-1996) are told in present tense (first part of the novel); the parts that occurred twenty years ago in the past tense (second part); the two times are interleaved throughout the even tenser third part. The setting and characters are made alive for the reader. The first 300 pages are really quite good, and when the sleuthing begins in earnest for the denouement it makes the typical Kinsey Millhone perils-of-Pauline ending pale in comparison. The quality of the writing (not to mention the pluralization of corniculum as corniculi and one or two other lapsus linguae) suggests that the author (a former Latin teacher) has found her true calling at last, and I can hardly wait for her next novel.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent book!
Review: This was a great book. I loved the fact that Latin was a main theme in this book. Carol Goodman kept you guessing what was really going on. I was in suspense until the end of the book. A great read, everyone should pick this book up and give it a chance!
Rating: 
Summary: Classical Pap
Review: Comparing this book (as done on book jacket) to Donna Tartt's, The Secret History, is like comparing the Aeneid to a Danielle Steele novel. It starts off compelling enough but devolves into a schmaltzy piece of pabulum. A mystery set at a girl's school in New England, the characters, setting and subject are all pretty good. It's the plot that kills it. I knew everything that was going to happen in the first 1/3 of the book - especially the big secret that was "revealed" at the end. It was so obvious it was painful, and I'm not a mystery reader. And then the last chapter wraps everything up in a cartoonish pollyana bow. My one star rating is for the ease of read. It would be o.k. for a rainy Sunday quilty pleasure. Personally I'd just reread, The Secret History.
Rating:
Summary: Beautiful and satisfying read
Review: I enjoyed this book so much, but I am not sure I am able to explain why in a way that would encourage you to read it. It reminded me of the old gothic novels I used to read, but has much more substance than that. There is a mystery that drives the story, but the most important thing is how this book is written. I am so impressed with this author, her ability to make the reader feel, smell, see, and hear what the character is experiencing. I can't encourage you enough to read this book. I envy you the time you will have wrapping yourself up with this book. When I finished it, I knew that I would be reading this book again, unusual with a mystery, but that is how much this writing affected me. I look forward to Ms. Goodman's next book.
Rating:
Summary: Sheer pleasure to read
Review: The Lake of Dead Languages begins with one of the most intriguing first sentences I've read. From there, the author weaves a delicate and delicious story. Many sentences I reread for the pleasure of hearing them again in my head. This book is part poetry, part suspense, part mystery, and all-absorbing. I left the phone unanswered, dinner unmade, and appointments unkept. I look forward to hearing more from Goodman!
Rating:
Summary: A good, well-written read!
Review: I'm not normally a mystery reader, but was really intrigued by the cover and the description of the book. When I started reading "Lake of Dead Languages", I was pleased to find a really well-written, descriptive book where the language is used to evoke emotions and "memories" of places that the characters have experienced. An added plus is that the book is easy to read, but doesn't talk down to the reader.I liked Ms. Goodman's use of transitioning between past and present, and was stumped for the entire book about the identity (in the past) of the evildoer (from the present). And since one of the reasons I'm not normally a mystery reader is because I figure out the "whodonit" before the story completely unfolds, I really enjoyed having to wait til the end of the book to find out! I'm looking forward to more books from Ms. Goodman, and heartily recommend this one.
Rating: 
Summary: Very entertaining
Review: This book was better then I had expected. It is strongly written and keeps you interested at all times. There are quite a few twists in the book which makes it all the more exciting. Overall a good read. My only complaint was the end was a little bit more cheesy then I had hoped for. However, quite a few people like everything to be wrapped up in the end. A good read that you can get for a good deal.
Rating: 
Summary: There were times that I really liked this book, and then...
Review: I really found myself absorbed in this book for the first couple of hundred pages. I thought about it throughout the day and looked forward to reading it in bed each night. I had some problem with the characters' obsessions with Latin and the odd pagan rituals surrounding the lake, but I was able to suspend disbelief long enough to enjoy the storyline. As the novel continued, though, the plot became more and more problematic, predictable, and just sort of creepy. The novel had great intentions but didn't quite deliver. I would try another book by this author, though, because I did like her writing style, but I can't really say that I recommend this book.
Rating:
Summary: Suspenseful Book
Review: I can sympathize, if not agree, with some online reviewers who were dissatisfied with this book due to its unlikeable characters and convoluted storyline. It is sometimes difficult to enjoy a work which contains people you really don't care for. However, the fact that a few characters were unlikeable did not detract from my caring about them. I think that's because Goodman manages to so clearly paint the picture of an unsure, awkward teenager who is mixed in with situations she can't clearly understand due to her own naivete. While doing this she presents us with people who may do bad or wrong things but who are merely human, as well as people who seem uncapable of doing wrong yet do it anyway. However our first impressions of the events which took place when Jane was a student are revealed through Jane's original remembrances...the remembrances of a trusting girl who tried to believe the best of those she loved. As realizations unfold and the plot twists and thickens, we discover that there is more than meets the eye, and that still waters do run deep.
As for the storyline itself, I was compelled rather than dissuaded. Every discovery caused my eyes to fly open in surprise, even though I always thought I knew "whodunit". I was constantly capitvated by the twists and turns Goodman took me on, perhaps because I went into the process of reading this book much like Jane goes through the process of discovering the past: Blindly, assuming only the best of the kids mixed up in a tragic situation. By the end I was deeply impressed with the way everything worked together.
The most important aspect of this work is the mood Goodman weaves. I felt immersed in this world and I wasn't sure if I wanted to surface. It's simply beautiful writing. As soon as I finished reading this book, I flipped back to page 1 and started all over again, and I've never done that before or since. What's that tell you?
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