In French thriller 'Vanished by the Lake', a policewoman, dismissed from her job, returns to her hometown, only to discover that a crime has just occured; moreover, the crime reminds her of another incident, one that had happened before she had left. What follows is a perfectly servicable drama but one that never rises above the ordinary. Perhaps the problem is the set-up: everyone is presented as a suspect, and the consequence is that we can trust few of the emotions we see to be genuine; overall, the story is less engaging that it might have been had it been told from a more personal perspective. Maybe there are just too many crime dramas on our screens these days; this one just didn't stand out for me.

This series is pretty addictive since there are plenty of suspects with a secret till the very last minute it will still surprise you. every piece of a puzzle fits nicely together. it is not one of the greatest because the main actress "cop" was a bit dull and misfit but not too much to discourage from watching. it will make you watch till the end and that is a well done show for me.

This six part French series is set in a small town where teenager Chloe has gone missing fifteen years after two girls of a similar age disappeared without trace. Detective Lise Stocker, who is stationed in Paris, returns home as she was very close friends with the two missing girls. It quickly becomes apparent that Chloe had been investigating the earlier disappearances; not only that she had contacted the man jailed for their killing who had recently been released from jail. He is obviously the prime suspect but claims to be innocent of everything he has been accused of. Inevitably more suspects emerge over the course of the series; including some rather close to home for Lise. To add to the tension we learn that Chloe is alive but trapped in a remote ravine.I rather enjoyed this mystery even though it did get a little melodramatic towards the end as the finger of suspicion points at one character then another... apart from Lise just about everybody fell under suspicion at one point or another. The cast did a solid job although the real star of the show is the magnificent French scenery. By the end we know who did what but that doesn't mean all questions get answered; some viewers may be disappointed by this but I felt it echoed real life where not all questions are answered. It is of course possible that some of these questions will be answered in the follow-up series 'Le tueur du lac', even though from what I have read it is set in a different lakeside location. Overall this might not be perfect but I still really enjoyed it.These comments are made after watching the series in French with English subtitles.

This is a poorly French produced TV series that has all the usual trademarks of French TV. Everyone smokes cigarettes, everywhere. There's a lot of shouting and histrionic action that is hoped will pass for good acting, and some really bizarre scenes where things just happen out of the blue, leaving the viewer to wonder if continuity was ever given a thought.In one of the scenes the lead actress is driving to the murder site, then she is suddenly being strangled in the car by someone who just appears in the next scene. The ending is quite bizarre, and really makes no sense at all. All in all, after watching the 6 episodes, I can say that one will become very regretful at having wasted all that time on such a silly series.