A review by healingtothemax
Gilda Joyce and the Ladies of the Lake by Jennifer Allison

5.0

Superior second installment in the Gilda Joyce, Psychic Investigator series. This tale - heard through audiobook - surprised me as the story clicked faster, the main character was called on her not-so-likable traits, and the spooky factor was off the charts from the first through the last chapters. As in her first GJ book, author Jennifer Allison does not shy away from mental illness, grief, societal stress & peer pressure regardless of her characters' young ages. She puts her heroine right in the heart of it. Gilda's triumph in solving her latest mystery is tainted by ego, one she admits to, heart-breakingly so, in the desire to be liked and admired by the popular older girls in the fancy private school she is attending on scholarship. Even after she discovers these girls are hiding a horrific secret and are willing to play very dangerous games to keep it, Gilda honestly faces her own need to be part of a group rather than lead the lonely life of a quirky, determined and justice-driven detective. Onto book 3!