Panic Pond

Liars Island #2

by Cole Baxter

The people of Liar’s Island like it quiet, and like to keep their secrets. The problem is that some of those secrets are very, very dirty...

Detective Amber Smith of Liar’s Island PD knows uncovering the resident’s dirty secrets and ensuring those behind them see justice isn’t easy. The insular, secretive inhabitants of the island don’t like spilling what they know. Lucky for Amber, she’s a master of disguise.

Her latest undercover job: a night attendant at Kelley’s Gas Station, where her eccentric friend Ray Kelley has suffered a break-in that has cost him several thousand dollars in theft and damages. While evidence points to an inside job, the locals are convinced that one of the island’s troublemakers—or former troublemakers—is to blame.

Missing security recordings and a laundry list of suspects—from disgruntled employees, hellraising teens, and even Ray himself— weave a tangled, mysterious web for Amber to unravel.

Despite the grand island tradition of constantly hiding or muddling the truth, Amber is intent on getting to the heart of this mystery without getting stuck in island dramatics. If she gets it wrong, an innocent person will have their life ruined. But if she gets it right, she may end up losing one of her best friends on the island.

Genres: Thriller

138 pages, Kindle Edition

Published January 14, 2021

About the author

Cole Baxter loves writing psychological suspense thrillers. It's all about that last reveal that he loves shocking readers with.
He grew up in New York, where there crime was all around. He decided to turn that into something positive with his fiction.
His stories will have you reading through the night--they are very addictive!

Sign up for Cole's VIP Reader Club and find out about his latest releases, giveaways, and more. Copy and paste this link to sign up: http://eepurl.com/dqL8yT

Reviews

[Kim Dijke · Rating 2 out of 5]

2/5 ⭐️

First book of the year and wow, this was bad 🥲

A theft mystery with an undercover cop (who’s super familiar at the place being investigated), blowing her cover just like that. Is 34 going on 21?!

And what’s up with that grilled cheese. Please do not use half a page on explaining how someone is making and presenting their grilled cheese.

Thought about DNFing this book multiple times. But that’s the thing about mysteries/thrillers. You want to know the know who did it. Also not a big surprise.

[Michelle Luoma · Rating 3 out of 5]

Meh.

Easy and simple read. Intriguing enough. I don’t know. I just don’t think police investigating cases as the sole plot is my type of genre. I found myself slightly bored at hearing the evidence gone over 6 times in a row… and the conclusion was not exciting, really.

Well written though, I’ll give the author that.

3/5 stars.

[Donna Mallery · Rating 3 out of 5]

A relative short story that doesn’t show Cole Baxter’s normal talent. It read at a steady but bit of a slow pace for me as there wasn’t much going on. Certainly no thriller, but a plane Jane mystery.

[Cath · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a standalone story in A Liar’s Island Suspense series and the main character in this story is Detective Amber Smith of Liar’s Island Police Department. Liar’s Island residents like to keep their picture perfect community private from outsiders and there are some huge and dangerous secrets hidden within relationships within families and friendships. Everyone is a liar to some extent and the power doesn’t just go to the wealthiest or most influential people on the island. It just depends on how far someone will go to get what they want. Chief Lee puts her on the Kelley break in and has made her partner up with Detective Mahoney, a ‘by the book’ kind of cop, which could cause issues. Some local rich boys were in the store on the Monday trying to steal some booze, but the owner didn’t press charges at the time, just gave them a warning. Now Amber needs to work out if it was an inside job and also see if anything points to a previous troublemaker Matt Cook, but he has grown up and now has a family and this wasn’t the sort of trouble he used to cause as a teen. Unfortunately, residents on Liar’s Island seem to have a narrow opinion of those beneath them in the status ladder and have long memories! Even Amber’s colleague knows Matt and doesn’t think he was involved and matt is Amber’s best friend Leah’s brother, so this could get a bit tricky if she had to suspect him.


None of their initial investigating comes up with anything concrete and from the manner in which the break in took place, the evidence is pointing more towards an insider being part of it. Amber takes on an undercover job for Ray Kelley, at Kelley’s Gas Station, as a night attendant. She is a master of disguise and she uses her skills from when she tried to become an actress on Broadway, to try and work out who was behind a break in, which cost him thousands. Even though evidence points more towards an inside job, locals would rather blame outsiders or one of their own troublemakers, past or present, rather than have the truth come out. Cameras were blacked out, the back door was unlocked and the alarm turned off, as well as the cameras that should have covered that area. At least the forensics team have narrowed down the time of the break in, to the early hours of the morning, which should leave a smaller number of possible suspects. But even the owner, Ray, may need to be checked out, as well as his relative and night manager Vince, who seems to treat the young female workers badly.

A whole range of suspects and all of the employees of the gas station have reasons that could have caused them to want to steal, some are short on money and struggling to make ends meet, a couple have records, but Vince is the one Amber is setting her eyes on. His attitude towards all his female workers and the way he treats Amber, as soon as he lays his eyes on her, leave her feeling disgusted by his sleazy manner and his attempts to get her to sleep with him, even though he supposedly has a girlfriend, but calls it an open relationship. Seeing this girlfriend, leaves him missing hours of work without notice, and without his uncle Ray knowing about it. Amber spots some minor infringements of the proper running of the store, but this doesn’t help her to solve the break in, as yet.

Lots of island dramatics are linked to some of the workers and she needs to be careful to arrest the correct person, so an innocent person doesn’t have their life ruined by a wrongful arrest. Liars Island residents are very set in their ways and would rather believe someone is guilty once the rumour mill starts, especially if they are of a lower social status or colour, and don’t fit in the elite and super rich majority on the island, or did something wrong when they were young and stupid, but have changed their ways as they got older. Nothing is ever forgotten and a bad reputation seems to stick, no matter what has changed in the years since. Fingers being pointed at the wrong people make it very difficult to get evidence against the right person. Another good story from the island, where first assumptions are not always true and investigations take longer to get to the truth than they might elsewhere. I received an ARC copy of this book from BookSprout and I have freely given my own opinion of the book above.

[Emily Pennington · Rating 5 out of 5]

Detective Amber Smith of Liar’s Island PD is aware that the people love their secrets and don’t want to give them up. So she goes undercover as a night attendant at Kelley’s Gas Station. Ray Kelley had lost several thousand dollars during a break-in, plus the cost of damages. It could have been an inside job, but there are other possibilities as well. With security recordings gone and more suspects than she can count, Amber needs to sort it all out and find the perpetrator, even if it means losing one of her best friends.

I love the way the author built the tension for the reader. Twists and turns kept the reader from reliably guessing as we follow Amber’s investigation and try to figure out who the culprit is. Grab your copy and see if Amber can crack the case without putting herself in harm’s way.

[EchoWithATBR · Rating 1 out of 5]

Ugh… Panic Pond by Cole Baxter was a struggle and I hate that for me 😭💀

I gave it ⭐️/5 and honestly even THAT felt generous. It was boring, flat, and just… not exciting. At all. I kept waiting for the tension, the twist, the something — and nothing ever showed up. I wasn’t intrigued, I wasn’t hooked, I wasn’t anything except mildly annoyed and checking how many pages were left 😭📖

I only finished it because it’s short and it helps my reading goal, and that is the most lukewarm reason to finish a book ever 😮‍💨💀

And the worst part?? I love hyping books up. I live for the chaos, the enthusiasm, the “oh my god you HAVE to read this” energy — but this? I can’t hype this up. Not even a little. It makes me sad, honestly 😭📉

Dry. Dull. Forgettable.
⭐️/5 — and that star is basically a participation trophy.

[Cathylynn · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a thriller no doubt. Detective Smith is going undercover as an attendant at her friends gas station Kelley's. She needs to figure out who broke in. The list of suspects is long and the residents are not exactly open and forthcoming. Could it be an inside job and will she lose her friend or is it someone else. This story took you on a rollercoaster ride trying to figure out whodoneit. This was a page turner for sure. The characters were great and interesting. The story flowed it is a book worth reading.

I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.

[Patricia Baxes · Rating 4 out of 5]

While Panic Pond didn’t have the same impact on me as Cole Baxter’s previous novels, it was still one helluva read. Cole really knows his way around a storyline—and his characters are always so well developed. While the plot twists and turns didn’t seem as scary in this one, it still kept you going and flipping those pages. There’s always something unexpected in a Cole Baxter read...so grab your copy today! (I voluntarily reviewed an advance reader copy of this book and once again was totally blown away by it.) ❤️

[Leanne Bryson · Rating 3 out of 5]

I didn't know this was part of the interconnected series by multiple authors that takes place on the fictional Liar's Island, but you can read this as a standalone. The author Cole Baxter is great at twisty, suspense filled reads, but this was just OK for me. While Liar’s Island PD detective Amber Smith is working undercover to find a thief, she gets a lot of resistance from the residents of the island that like their privacy. The book felt rushed at times and then plodded at times. Overall just OK.

I received an ARC and this is my honest review.

[Ashley Cestra · Rating 3 out of 5]

I had read a few other books by this author and have enjoyed them but I wasn’t a fan of this ones…
I normally don’t go for this cop solving a crime genre… this was an okay book. It didn’t wow me but I also finished it. The writing seemed a little basic and overall it was unbelievable/unrealistic. I’ll most likely keep reading this author but I’ll do a better job at selecting which plots to pick up.

[Carla Warren · Rating 3 out of 5]

PANIC POND

As a person in their late 30’s I found this one a simple, easy read. Great for a YA audience.

Although Panic Pond is part of Baxter’ Liars Island Series, there is no specific order in which the need to read, meaning you are not required to keep up with any specific developments within the characters lives. Making this one a good standalone crime story.

#PanicPond #author #ColeBaxter #youngsladult #YA #LiarsIslandSeries #mystery #standalone

[Sammye · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the second book in the Liar’s Island series. It’s an exciting psychological thriller. Detective Amber Smith goes undercover to solve the mystery of a break-in at Kelley’s Gas Station. There are a lot of twists and turns. This is a very enjoyable series. This honest review is based on a complimentary copy from the author

[Kristi · Rating 5 out of 5]

A thrilling read that keeps you sitting on the edge of your seat. Suspense and mystery fill the pages and captivate you from the start. The characters are strong and well developed and perfect for the story line. A great read for fans of a well written thrilling suspenseful read.

I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.

[Billie · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a brilliant read.
Wonderful well written plot and story line that had me engaged from the start.
Love the well fleshed out characters and found them believable.
Great suspense and action with wonderful world building.
Can't wait to read what the author brings out next.
Recommend reading.

I read a complimentary advance copy of the book; this is my voluntary and honest review.

[Michelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

Detective Amber Smith works undercover to solve the loss of thousands of dollars at Kelley's Gas Station. Panic Pond is book two in the Liar Island Suspense series and is full of twists, mystery, and suspense that pulled me into the story. The writing is well done and the characters are believable. I voluntarily reviewed a copy of this book.

[Krista · Rating 3 out of 5]

Part of Liar’s Island series but can be read as a standalone. Other than taking place on the island nothing seemed to tangle from the first. This was just ok, not really a twist with this one. Still going to continue the series as the idea of different authors writing books that are entwined is intriguing.

[Mandy Petty · Rating 2 out of 5]

eh. i usually like plots based on police investigations, but this was just over a gas station robbery? not that interesting, and there were so many irrelevant things just thrown into the story. for the most part, it was boring, and the supposed "twists and turns" just weren't there. it was pretty easy to put together from the start. definitely not the best work from Cole Baxter.

[Christine · Rating 5 out of 5]

ARC Review I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review. Detective Amber Smith of liar' s island finds herself with a break-in at the Kelly has station but with a island with so many secrets she has her work cut out. Awesome

[Janeandjerry · Rating 5 out of 5]

Panic Pond

I really enjoyed reading every book I was able to from this author not only is this the last one of his I've read but it is the second book in this series and it can be read alone.

[Elaine Lucky · Rating 3 out of 5]

Amber is investigating the robbery of a family friend's gas station business. She goes undercover working at the station to nab the robber, but also tells one of the employees she's undercover. Not something a cop should do. Boring story that kind of dragged on.

[Tiffany · Rating 1 out of 5]

I thought the whole point of a novella was that you didn't have to worry about pointless or irrelevant info. You could tell Baxter had a word minimum and was just using a ton of filler. Disappointing.

[Toni Day · Rating 4 out of 5]

Just ok

This wasn't a favorite of mine. A little too much detail that wasn't needed. Dragged a bit for me. I will still plan to read all the Liars Island books though because I G
have loved all of them until this one.

[Daniella Tamayao · Rating 2 out of 5]

Amber, a police officer posed as a convenience store night shift worker to catch a worker who robbed the place/gas station/ convenience store. This led to over information in the first chapter and an unsuspenseful ending

[Nicole · Rating 3 out of 5]

This wasn’t my favorite book by Cole Baxter, but it was still a good read.

[Shelley Futrelle · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a fun read!

I didn’t know what to expect from the second Liars Island book but I really enjoyed it. It was fun to see the detective go undercover and solve the case!

[D]

Not his best by far. Disappointing book.

[Mikayla · Rating 4 out of 5]

Book #2 of Liars Island Suspense Series. Another easy fast “who dun it”. I enjoyed this book, although it was predictable. I will definitely be checking out more from this author.

[Kimberley H · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fast and easy read full of mystery and adventure. Interesting characters and well put together.

[Teresa Tavener · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great read. Good police procedure story.

[Alie Wilde · Rating 1 out of 5]

My kids can make up excuses for why they should get to stay up late that are more engaging than this book.