The Deepest Lake is a mystery told from the perspectives of a mother and her missing and presumed dead daughter. Rose, the mother of Jules, has spent the last three months grieving and without answers about her daughter's disappearance in Guatemala. Jules had traveled to work for a famous author who hosts memoir writing retreats, so Rose signs up for one to investigate for herself. 

From the synopsis, this book had many things I've liked in other books: a beautiful setting, a story about books and writers, and complicated family dynamics. Unfortunately, this book fell short for me on all of those counts. The setting had such great potential and was underutilized and minimally described in my opinion. The parts of the novel that were about the women at the memoir writing retreat were a mixed bag. The famous author leading the retreats, Eva Marshall, is as unlikeable as they come and by the final parts of the book I was very weary from her actions. 

I also felt that the writing retreat just whispered at some important social issues around publishing and memoirs, and expressed toxicity around other topics. The fatphobia in this book was especially bothersome. I counted three major instances of fat phobia that were voiced by various characters so it cannot be attributed to one "unlikeable" or "woefully ignorant" character. Let me be clear- starvation and skipping meals are NOT a healthy weight loss plan, athletic is not one body shape, and you can be gorgeous at any size. I'd go into detail about how terrible the fat shaming was here, but I think it would be triggering and unnecessary. Please just believe me. 

So when you also factor in that this book was far too long and the mystery was so slow until the end wrapped up far too quickly and with just a few too many ignored loose ends, I don't recommend this one. It was compared to Andrea Bartz and I'd definitely suggest picking up one of her titles instead.