by Rebekah Faubion
Release Date: January 27, 2026
2026 Delacorte Press
Ebook ARC; 384 Pages
ISBN: 978-0593900437
ASIN: B0F8N3ZXLT
Audiobook: B0F9QLGVB8
Genre: Fiction / YA / Horror
Source: Review copy from publisher
3 / 5 Stars
Summary
Eight were lost. Five were found. None will ever be free.
For Evie Williams, life is about to get a lot more complicated. Haunted by the events of a school trip to Hollow Lake National Park that went disastrously wrong, Evie and her friends returned changed, their lives forever marked by the mysterious Island they encountered—and the three girls they left behind.
Now, someone is picking off those who were involved, one by one. Their families, friends, and even online investigators are all caught in a deadly game. The stakes are raised when Evie receives a chilling to save her loved ones, she must return to the Island.
For Evie Williams, life is about to get a lot more complicated. Haunted by the events of a school trip to Hollow Lake National Park that went disastrously wrong, Evie and her friends returned changed, their lives forever marked by the mysterious Island they encountered—and the three girls they left behind.
Now, someone is picking off those who were involved, one by one. Their families, friends, and even online investigators are all caught in a deadly game. The stakes are raised when Evie receives a chilling to save her loved ones, she must return to the Island.
My Thoughts
Lost Girls of Hollow Lake had a really cool premise; one that featured a supernatural world and all the legends that go with that world, legends with which the people of the community grow up and are familiar, and one that featured feminine power and resilience. And although the narrative weaves around trauma, secrets, and something unspeakable, for me there was something missing that made this less than compelling.
I really enjoyed the mystery of the island and how only a few select people actually see it and hear it. Evie has seen it a few times over the years and has been drawn to the legends and the lore for years, but when her classmates go on a science trip that takes her close to the island, she realizes there are eight other girls who also see and hear it, something that sets them all up for trouble. The island had great atmosphere, but while the descriptions were its strength, they were also this book's weakness. Let me explain. The author did a great job at setting up an eerie little world on the island with disturbing elements and the girls found things that belonged to previous people who had attempted to land on the island. The explanations were so vague however, in order to keep things 'mysterious' that I started to question what was happening and stopped believing in the paranormal aspect of this book. It also became a real distraction from the more interesting things that were going on and that was the relationships between the girls and their mental health as they faced deteriorating conditions after being kept on the island for so long.
Evie was a great character and when the book begins, you realize that there is this big secret the girls are keeping about what happened. Now, having read a lot of horror novels in my life, my mind automatically went to the worst possible scenario and it could be that when the reason was revealed and it was not even close to what I imagined, I was a bit let down. So did that mean I expected more from the horror element? Yes, I think so. Would a YA novel be prepared to go down that route? Depends on the author, I guess. However, Evie and the other girls did experience a lot of trauma on that island and this is where I thought the author did a great job, at revealing the after-affects of what happened on their lives and on their relationships. I did wish it would have gone a bit deeper and dug a bit harder, but it was still good. For the record, I didn't like the ending and who ended up being the killer. I figured that's who it was, but hoping the author wouldn't go down that route as it seemed way too easy a solution.
Verdict
Lost Girls of Hollow Lake had a great premise and I really enjoyed the atmosphere of this novel. I thought Evie's character development was great and enjoyed the dual timeline of the novel. I did think there wasn't enough development of the paranormal stuff from the island to make it convincing, and I definitely didn't like who ended up being the killer as I thought there wasn't enough development to make it credible. Would I read another book by this author? Yes, definitely. Would I recommend this one? Yes, definitely, as the writing was compelling and there were a lot of great elements in this book.
