September 2022 Review of The House Across the Lake

Date- 9.1.22-9.8.22

Reading in a book club

The House Across the Lake

Written by Riley Sager

About from Goodreads.com

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.

Review

Warning might be some spoilers. If you don’t want spoilers please skip down to the Enjoyed section of the review.   

I am never sure how to start these reviews other than Welcome dear reader. Recently, I read The House Across the Lake by Riley Sager. This is my first time reading any of his work and I am super impressed. I could tell just by the first sentence I was going to love this book. 

Sager’s opening drew me in right away. I haven't read a book that has done that since I was a little girl reading books by Meg Cabot (she was my favorite writer when I was younger. She will always have a special place in my heart) Sager’s opening drew me in so much that I had a hard time putting it down and I was supposed to read this book over this month. That didn't happen one bit since I am writing this on the ninth of September instead of the 30th of September. I also really liked how Sager wrote this book by having the majority of the book be flashbacks of what took place while Kathrine was missing but also showing what was going on after she was found. The Now parts gave so many hints as to what happened to Kathrine as well as what happened to the other missing people and wow I did not expect what happened one bit. I was absolutely shocked. I love when books give little hints that are easy to miss but, in the end, you are like “How the hell, did I miss that?” The third thing I didn’t expect was the paranormal that took place. I know it was brought up by Marnie as well as Eli but, so many places have spooky ghost stories about them that I didn't expect it to be true (even though I believe in that type of stuff). Lastly, I loved the ending because after everything that happened in this book it was a very sweet ending and you could see the character growth of Casey. I also really liked to see that Casey and Boone got together, which was something I was hoping would happen, especially around him she wouldn't drink because she didn't want him to lose his sobriety as well as she didn't even think about drinking for the most part because she was having fun with him. One thing I do wonder about is whether he ever gets her to play Monopoly with him.

Onto the issues I had which is me just being super nitpicky. I wish Kathrine and Casey had more interactions before Kathrine went missing. Like I feel like it would be much more understanding of how hard Casey is trying to find her. Like, I said I'm being nitpicky. 

Enjoyed

• The first sentence drew me in

• The writing style draws you in

• It was super hard to expect what was going to happen next

• The surprising paranormal aspect

• the ending 

Disliked

• More interaction between Kathrine and Casey

Quotes I love

• A coffin with the lid cracked.

• You know the lake is haunted, right?

• And as deep as the ocean. If you sink under, you’ll never come up again. You’ll be trapped forever.

• He’d kill me before letting me leave

5 /5 ⭐️

Info

Trigger warning-  Alcoholism, Drowning, Kidnapping, Murder, Missing Persons 

Spice level-  0/5 🌶

Publish date- June 2022

Awards- NA

Genres-  Thriller, Mystery, Paranormal