The House Across the Lake by Riley Sager
Genre: Thriller/Suspense
Blurb (on back of book): The New York Times best-selling author of Final Girls and Survive the Night (“a master of the twist and the turn” - Rolling Stone) is back with his most unexpected thriller yet.
Casey Fletcher, a recently widowed actress trying to escape a streak of bad press, has retreated to the peace and quiet of her family’s lake house in Vermont. Armed with a pair of binoculars and several bottles of liquor, she passes the time watching Tom and Katherine Royce, the glamorous couple who live in the house across the lake. They make for good viewing—a tech innovator, Tom is rich; and a former model, Katherine is gorgeous.
One day on the lake, Casey saves Katherine from drowning, and the two strike up a budding friendship. But the more they get to know each other—and the longer Casey watches—it becomes clear that Katherine and Tom’s marriage is not as perfect and placid as it appears. When Katherine suddenly vanishes, Casey becomes consumed with finding out what happened to her. In the process, she uncovers eerie, darker truths that turn a tale of voyeurism and suspicion into a story of guilt, obsession and how looks can be very deceiving.
With his trademark blend of sharp characters, psychological suspense, and gasp-worthy surprises, Riley Sager’s The House Across the Lake unveils more than one twist that will shock readers until the very last page.
MY OPINION: ***
I have recently been trying to read more thrillers and suspense novels and branch out from the romance genre I've obviously been stuck in for years. I haven't read many (literally I've read maybe one) before this one so I was interested to try out a more popular author in the genre besides the generic James Patterson/David Baldacci sphere.
As someone very new to this genre, I had no idea what was coming. The plot twists did what they were supposed to do. I was surprised by each of them but I don't really feel like any of them were too jaw-dropping where I almost fell out of my seat kind of a moment. I am not sure what other people's thoughts were on the plot twists in this book if you're more used to this genre but as a complete novice, I definitely did not foresee any of them.
The book was very... mediocre. I was expecting to feel a little scared, a little excited for what was to come, a little shocked by the ending (and plot twists). However, I was fairly apathetic to this one. I never felt the little thrills of fear and shivers up the spine people describe when reading their favorite thriller novels.
It all felt very underdeveloped. I wasn't expecting the plot twists but when they came, it didn't really seem to fit into the story. I found it difficult to trace how it all interconnected. It was more like a sudden shocker was thrown into the story and redirected the entire plot, rather than it having built up to it. I don't know if that was just me but personally, it didn't feel like the most cohesive story.
SPOILERS AHEAD
I also was not a fan of the paranormal aspect. I am not sure if this is a spoiler but since I had no idea about it, I'm going to say it is. I didn't think it fit with the story and it made it feel very... over-the-top in a way. It was almost as if it was added in for the shock factor but it made no real sense in the story. If it had stayed away from the realm of paranormal activity and ghosts and demons and all that pizzazz, I feel like it could have been better and even more interesting. Once I realized this was some exorcist-level fluff... well, I definitely dropped my rating a couple of stars.
END SPOILER
Something I really wasn't a fan of in this book was the fact that it spent so much time building up the plot in the first half and then the second half fell flat. We follow our main character legit spying on the house across the lake through her binoculars for what felt like ages. I liked seeing what was going on in their lives and feeling a little confused as to wtf we were seeing but at the same time, it just kept going and going. I wanted more action but we were just served "mundane" scenes that only made sense towards the end.
The side characters were also not my favorite. I was not a fan of the ex-detective guy. He was very aggravating. Tom is... well. He's very clearly not the best man. The old dude whose name I forgot was very irrelevant in my mind. Every time he was mentioned, it felt like it was for no reason. Even our main character was very forgettable, in my opinion.
The alcoholism was not the most loveable trait about Casey. I don't want to judge her or anyone else who suffers from such a horrible addiction but it really ruined my ability to like Casey.
I found this book to be very mediocre. I wouldn't necessarily say it was bad. I was intrigued enough to keep going throughout the whole thing over the span of three days. However, it wasn't giving what I expected it to give. I wanted more from it and it just fell flat. I would recommend it to readers looking for a shorter, more generic thriller novel.
Main Character: Casey
Sidekick(s): Katherine, ex-police dude, old guy, etc
Villain(s): Murder, suspense, etc
Thriller Elements: This book was full of mystery and suspense.
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