I’m happy today to be bringing you this novel; it was an engaging read by a new author to me. It was part mystery that is current day, but with tie-ins to the past that were integral to the plot and the over all mystery of the lake. There were family secrets, murder, missing children, and a lake that held secrets of its own. I really liked the characters in this story and the overall “quirkiness” of the setting (though based on a real place – lava lamp plans and all!). Don’t miss the author’s note at the end.

Thank you for my copy and for making me part of the tour!

MIDNIGHT IN SOAP LAKE

Author: Matthew Sullivan

Publication Date: April 15, 2025

Publisher: Harlequin Trade Publishing / Hanover Square Press

Buy Links: NOT affiliated with BBNB

HarperCollins: https://www.harpercollins.com/products/midnight-in-soap-lake-matthew-sullivan?variant=43103022350370 

BookShop.org: https://bookshop.org/a/397/9781335041791

Barnes & Noble: http://aps.harpercollins.com/hc?isbn=9781335041791&retailer=barnesandnoble  

Amazon: https://www.amazon.ca/s?k=9781335041791&tag=hcg-02-20 

Social Links:

Author Website: http://matthewjsullivan.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mickmatthew1/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/matthew.j.sullivan.77/ 

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5690035.Matthew_J_Sullivan 

Book Summary: 

A lake with mysterious properties. A town haunted by urban legend. Two women whose lives intersect in terrifying ways. Welcome to Soap Lake, a town to rival Twin Peaks and Stephen King’s Castle Rock.

When Abigail agreed to move to Soap Lake, Washington for her husband’s research she expected old growth forests and craft beer, folksy neighbors and the World’s Largest Lava Lamp. Instead, after her husband jets off to Poland for a research trip, she finds herself alone, in a town surrounded by desert, and haunted by its own urban legends.

But when a young boy runs through the desert into Abigail’s arms, her life becomes entwined with his and the questions surrounding his mother Esme’s death. In Abigail’s search for answers she enlists the help of a recovering addict-turned-librarian, a grieving brother, a broken motel owner, and a mentally-shattered conspiracy theorist to unearth Esme’s tragic past, the town’s violent history, and the secret magic locked in the lake her husband was sent there to study.

As she gets closer to the answers, past and present crimes begin to collide, and Abigail finds herself gaining the unwelcome attention of the town’s unofficial mascot, the rubber-suited orchard stalker known as TreeTop, a specter who seems to be lurking in every dark shadow and around every shady corner.

A sweeping, decade-spanning mystery brimming with quirky characters, and puzzle hunt scenarios, Midnight in Soap Lake is a modern day Twin Peaks—a rich, expansive universe that readers will enter and never forget.

Author Bio:

Matthew Sullivan is the beloved author of Midnight at the Bright Ideas Bookstore, an Indie Next Pick, B&N Discover pick, a GoodReads Choice Award finalist and winner of the Colorado Book Award. He received his MFA from the University of Idaho and has been a resident writer at Yaddo, Centrum, and the Vermont Studio Center. His short stories have been awarded the Robert Olen Butler Fiction Prize and the Florida Review Editors’ Award for Fiction. His writing has been featured in the New York Times Modern Love column, The Daily Beast, and Shelf Awareness amongst others.