Thank you PRH Audio for the ALC and Random House #partner, for the e-copy of Needle Lake in exchange for my honest review.
Publisher: The Dial Press / Random House Audio
Published: December 2, 2025
Summary:
Two cousins on very different sides of adolescent girlhood spend one winter together that changes both of their lives forever.
And once, after Elna came to stay, I watched a man drown there on Christmas Eve, his body trapped and twitching beneath the ice.
Thirteen-year-old Ida was born with a hole in her heart. Forbidden from most physical activities and considered strange by her teachers and peers, she prefers spending time alone, memorizing countries and capitals on her globe and imagining the world outside the tiny logging town of Mineral, Washington.
One afternoon, in walks her cousin Elna, here to stay for a few weeks. Ida hasn’t seen Elna since they were young, and she’s immediately drawn to her older cousin, who’s everything Ida is mature, self-assured, charismatic, and daring. Elna lives in San Francisco, a city Ida’s only seen as a dot on her globe. She doesn’t treat Ida like she’s a fragile kid whose heart might give out at any moment. She isn’t scared off by Ida’s tendency towards rigidity and fixation. Ida is enraptured.
Then, on Christmas Eve, a man dies out in the woods near Mineral, and the two cousins suddenly share a secret beyond the scope of anything Ida has dealt with before. Fear begins to mix in with the reverence Ida feels towards her cousin, especially when she discovers Elna is hiding more than she ever suspected. Brimming with lush prose and careful observation, Needle Lake is an arresting portrait of girlhood and the overwhelming, sometimes dangerous intensity of adolescence.
My thoughts:
I loved this author’s debut novel, Knife River, so of course I jumped at the chance to read her sophomore novel…and it did not disappoint!
This book surprised me in the best ways, and for a short read, it sure packs quite the emotional punch! It’s the type of complex, complicated family drama that I love, balanced with a horrifying, disturbing tale that is deeply unsettling.
This checks all the boxes for me:
🩵 it is a slow-burn that immediately pulls you in with hints of what is to come
🥀 it is incredibly atmospheric
🩵 it is character-driven, with a neuro-divergent teenager as our narrator, and being privy to her inner dialog, we see how she idolizes her older cousin and starts to see the world on a new way
🥀 the themes of autism, friendship and secrets are explored
This is the type of book that would make a great book club pick — there is so much to unpack here! And it’s definitely one I plan to go out purchase because I want it on my shelf — I definitely see myself rereading it at some point!
Audio thoughts:
This was narrated by Gail Shalan and she does a great job…she infuses just the right emotion and tension in her voice as necessary.
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