I thought I knew what I would be getting when I started this book. I was very wrong. Riley Sager has b come an automatic buy author for me. I have liked every book he has written. While The House Across The Lake isn’t my favorite, it was still very good. There are so many twists in this book. Once you think you know what’s going on, something will happen that makes you realize just how wrong you were. I can’t wait for the to be released so everyone will have a chance to read it.

Riley Sager back at it again with his fantastic thrillers - but this one has SUCH a huge twist to it that I'm positive will surprise all readers whether they like it or not! I was completely shocked by the twist in this one and could not put it down until I got to the final page. Add in the element of an unreliable narrator who drinks excessively and I was hooked to find if she was really telling the whole truth.

This one gave such atmospheric lake house vibes that I could basically picture myself on my family's lake house lawn watching everything unfold. It was quick, twisty and entertaining and I'm reminded again why I love his books so much. Definitely recommend picking this one up for a fun and thrilling read this summer when it releases on June 21st!

Thank you so much Dutton Books and Riley Sager for providing me with an ARC for review!

The House Across the Lake is another fantastic novel by Riley Sager. I have read a number of books by Sager, and in each book, he continues to surprise and shock us with many twists we never expect.

Casey Fletcher, our heroine, is a well-known actress, who in the past year lost her husband to drowning. She hides out from the press, at the family lake house in Vermont, spending her time constantly drinking a number of bottles of liquor a day; as she continues to grieve. Casey uses her binoculars daily to look at other houses around Lake Green, and becomes obsessed with watching a famous couple, former model Katherine Royce and her husband, Tom, who have recently purchased the house across the lake.
One day, Casey sees Katherine struggling in the lake, and she comes to her rescue; with both of them becoming fast friends. Both Katherine and Tom visit Casey, to thank her for saving Katherine. During the evenings, Casey continues to overdo her drinking and spy on the Royce’s, until she continues to notice that something is not right in their marriage.
When Katherine suddenly disappears, Casey is obsessed with finding out what happened to her; as she suspects the husband. Casey will confide in a friend living next door, who has a police detective friend; but there is no evidence of wrong doing; in her determination, she uncovers strange and darker truths. Will the police investigate or ignore her claims due to her excessive drinking?

The House Across the Lake was an amazing exciting thriller, that had me on the edge of my seat throughout; with a journey that is filled with many shocking twists and turns. To say anything more would be spoilers, and this is a story that needs to be read to the end. Riley Sager once again gives us another wild, crazy and surprising, not to mention entertaining ending. If you love intense and exciting thrillers, you can do no wrong reading Riley Sager.

It took me a long time to get into this book and I was so ready to be disappointed in it. I had my annoyed half-arsed review ready to go and everything: "It's like The Woman In The Window, but without the windows." But then it got good, so I'll have to write something better than that.

With a murky mystery lurking in the depths of the lake, The House Across The Lake is a jaw-dropping psychological suspense thriller with many unexpected twists.

Yes, it's very similar to The Woman In The Window for a long time, but if you haven't read that book, you're sure to find the initial events exciting. For me, I had read it all before so the first half of the book was very average.

However, Casey is, admittedly, much less annoying. And although the amount of times she pours herself a drink gets tiring, the unreliable narrator trope isn't as heavily forced on you, so you are able to enjoy being in her company still.

And then at the halfway point, everything suddenly goes in a new, wild direction and I was finally able to really enjoy it. With twists on top of twists, I had no idea where the story was going and was taken completely by surprise every time.

Like with all of Sager's books that I have read so far, you do have to be a little open-minded and forgive him for some slightly unbelievable coincidences, but you can definitely have a good time with this one if you're up for some unpredictable fun.

Casey Fletcher is a hot mess. She's isolated in her family lake house after being fired from her Broadway show, and becoming a tabloid headline along the way. The actress does have good reason for falling apart- she's recently lost her husband, a screenwriter who she considered to be the love of her life. Sequestered alone to avoid the press and dry out on the lake, she has too much time, too much guilt, too much bourbon and too much paranoia for her own good. With binoculars at the ready, she begins to watch THE HOUSE ACROSS THE LAKE where a supermodel and tech titan have moved in. Katherine and Casey enjoy a budding friendship, but when she abruptly leaves for NYC, according to her husband, Casey begins to focus on what is going on with that marriage and the house.
Sager suspense at its best. Great read!

4.5 rounded up. Thank you to Netgalley for the eArc!

I was worried at first going into this one, it seemed that Riley's writing had gotten a bit stale and just remakes of horror movies. While I appreciate homages to horror (ie his pen name) his last book was just okay. With this book sounding like a remake of Rear Window, I was worried that was all it was going to be. However, that wasn't the case. While yes, this book has aspects of Rear Window, the only major similarity is the spying on your neighbors. There were two direct mentions of the movie that I could have gone without, but I understand that not everyone will know that movie so I got over it.

Second, I was worried that Casey's drinking in the book would used as a storyline to try to convince her she was crazy and other people would tell her she was crazy - if you've watched The Woman in House Across the Street from the Girl in the Window on Netflix, you get it - but again, Riley didn't do that.

This one felt a bit slow in the beginning, the Now/Before sections were cool, but I wish they were broken up into chapters within those sections since there were breaks. Seeing my kindle say the chapter is going to take me over an hour to read made me not want to read it. I really liked the way the Now chapters were written for a very specific spoilery reason that I won't say.

The book does pick up and gets very twisty. I was sure I knew where the book was going, then the next page I was thrown for a loop. I enjoyed the twists, as they were unique and spooky, I ended up putting on a spooky music playlist to finish the book. It also wraps up nicely, and doesn't leave any questions unanswered.

Also as a side note, I had one very specific complaint about Home Before Dark, and Riley must have seen it and said, "Okay boo, here's a makeup for that." So thank you, Riley!

With shades of READ WINDOW and THE GIRL ON THE TRAIN (and maybe a little bit of the movie COPYCAT), THE HOUSE ACROSS THE LAKE is a deeply unsettling thriller about voyeurism, unturned secrets, and the unreliability of trust oneself while in the throes of a serious addiction that can mess with perceptions of reality. Casey is another damaged and compelling protagonist from Sager, as the death of her husband Len and the fallout thereafter has sent her into a prolonged binge in an isolated lake house. We know that Casey has some unreliability issues as she starts to obsess over the neighbors across the lake, especially when wife Katherine (whom Casey had just saved from a strange near drowning) disappears. Sager does the due diligence of making Casey unreliable, but also sympathetic and complex enough that you want to believe what she believes. And as her investigation starts to dig deeper into a potentially volatile marriage and the secrets both spouses are keeping, we get what appears to be a pretty clear cut mystery..... until it isn't anymore. I was genuinely caught off guard by one of the reveals that Sager threw in here, even though I thought I was seeing through everything he was doing, which was an AWESOME moment. Especially since I went back to see if it was a well led up to gotcha vs a lazy sudden pivot, and it was solidly the former.

If you find yourself looking for a thriller this summer, THE HOUSE ACROSS THE LAKE will fit the bill. Especially if you are going to be at a lake home.

Though I didn't love this one as much as Sager's earliest novels, it was entertaining and it kept me intrigued until the final pages. The narrator, Casey, is very much an alcoholic, which becomes readily apparent from the get-go...so right away readers have to determine whether they can really trust anything Casey is saying or seeing. As she spies upon her neighbors across the picturesque lake in a sleepy Vermont town, she becomes convinced that her neighbor Katherine, a former supermodel, is in grave danger. Though the lake is serene and beautiful, Casey begins to suspect that the bodies of three missing women from years ago may have ended up near the lake, and as such, the waters aren't as calming to her as to some. But soon readers realize there is more to Casey's story and the death of her husband Len a few years ago than meets the surface. Throw in an ex-cop neighbor who is very handsome, but also very sneaky as well as his friend, a state policewoman who begins asking questions, and the story becomes even more layered and twisted. The book does contain a bit of a supernatural spin, and it throws off some major Rear Window vibes. Classic Sager with the jaw-dropping twist which was a bit too good to be believable, but I did enjoy the reading for the most part.

So I definitely flew right on through this book. It was delivered to my doorstep yesterday afternoon and I finished it less than 24 hours later.

For the first 100-150 pages or so, I really thought this was going to be a five star read. The storyline was engaging, the mystery was enthralling, and the characters were deeply flawed. Unfortunately, the ending took some weird turns that didn't quite sit well with me. I won't go into what happened in the end since we are not supposed to give away any spoilers. I'll just leave it as expect the unexpected.

I will say that I really did like the epilogue of the book. There were some loose ends tied up and some immense character growth just within those last few pages. I think this is what redeemed it for me to give the story three stars.

If you liked Behind Her Eyes, then this may be just the thriller for you!

3.5 stars. Well, I’m not sure about this one. An alcoholic woman, former actress Casey Fletcher, appears to be grieving the death of her husband while isolating at the lake house where he drowned. She drinks a lot, A LOT, and spends her days with powerful binoculars spying at the marital strife occurring at the house across the lake. One day, she actually saves the woman of that house from drowning; and when she later disappears, Casey suspects the husband of foul play. So far, ok, but then it veers off into a weird paranormal tale that I absolutely was not expecting. Other readers might like the freaky twist, but it was just too wacky for me.

I received this ARC audiobook from Netgalley & the publisher. This is my honest review.

In the beginning, this book was giving me Woman in the Window, Gone Girl & Rear Window vibes. Which was disappointing, I read a lot of thrillers so I prefer something fresh to read otherwise I lose internet. Thankfully the story does start going in different directions. There are quite a few twists that I didn’t expect at all!

I enjoyed this book but I wish some of the red herrings were actually relevant. There were a couple locations mentioned that referred to Sager’s previous books got my spider sense going off lol

I wish we could give half stars because this is more of a 3.5 for me.

This is one of those books you should go into blind. Just know you are in for a wild ride, its starts out pretty typical but then the drop hits you. There were so many twists and turns towards the end that the story completely changes into a complicated tangle.

The first half felt very familiar to me, think Woman in the Window vibes. Our main character Casey Fletcher, a widowed actress, escapes to her family’s lake house after some awful moments in the press. She drinks herself into oblivion every night until she sees the binoculars sitting next to her.

Tom and Katherine Royce are staying in the house across the lake. She is a famous model and he runs a tech company. One day Katherine almost drowns in the lake and Casey is able to save her. From there the relationship between them grows, and Casey finds it hard not to spy on the famous couple. When Katherine goes missing, Casey becomes consumed with finding out what happened.

For over half the book I felt like the story was very familiar. The unreliable narrator ​thinks she sees something across the lake. With all of Casey’s drinking you just don’t know what you can believe, but when the twist hits it changes everything.

This is one of those twists that you either hate or love because it is so outlandish it’s hard to believe. The last 30% of the book went pretty fast for me. There were so many twits and turns I couldn’t really stop reading until I knew exactly what was going on.

The lake atmosphere was perfect for this story. Add in a stormy night and you have the foolproof recipe for a creepy thriller that will have you jumping in fear. There’s something about a dark lake at night that gives anyone the chills.

Thank you to Netgalley for the arc in exchange for my review. I really enjoyed this one. The twist wasn’t my favorite but I still liked the spooky atmosphere.

Sager is an autobuy for me. I enjoy all his books, some more than others. This book was good. It wasn't my favorite but I was engaged all the way throughout, wanting to know what would happen. Sager's writing is just so engaging to me. The plots aren't necessarily anything too exciting but I just really like his writing style. For this book, I was trying to figure out the twist and I was so wrong haha. I enjoy the twists in his book because I can never see them coming. This one was a tad on the odd side and I'm still not 100% sure what I thought of it but it was a quick read that overall I enjoyed!

*Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for an advanced copy. Opinions are my own.

Let me start by saying I am a huge Riley Sager fan, he puts it out, I will read it. However, this one didn't hit as hard to be as LTIL or Final Girls. This story is set up on a rich AF secluded homes on the lake in Vermont where we have an alcoholic ex-Broadway star (Casey) and a retired supermodel (Katherine) and the men who love them. The twist was completely unexpected so I can give Sager that, he had me going "WAIT WHAT?!" I have to say, the ending was the best part for me. Casey really came out swinging and stepped into her main character role. While, this isn't in my top Sager picks, I would check it out if you want a quick suspenseful read with a crazy twist.

This is possibly the most ridiculous Riley Sager book yet! It starts as a Rear Window type suspense with an unreliable protagonist (she is an alcoholic) and then there is a big tonal shift about three quarters of the way through, which was a shocker. As always with Riley Sager, the narrative was entertaining, the writing was fluid and accessible and the characters were easy to spend time with, albeit one-dimensional for the most part. I think that this may be the most divisive of his offerings to date and it is hard to discuss without spoiling anything. For me, I don't think the tonal shift worked very well in this particular book, but I would be intrigued to see Sager write a book that focused on the way in which the tone shifts completely!
I received a free copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for a fair and honest review.

3.5/5

This is my first Riley Sager book, who I've been curious about for quite some time now. The House Across the Lake was a nice introductory book to this author's style of writing, which was easy to read and you can pick up on hints of how the plot will unfold (when paying attention).

A recent widow, Casey, who’s an actress and to escape the paparazzi, is at her family lake house in Vermont. During her autumn stay there, there usually is no one else around, but a famous couple - Tom and Katherine - is living across the lake from Casey. Tom is a tech innovator with millions and Katherine is a former supermodel. And she decides to watch the couple with binoculars. One day, Casey rescues Katherine from drowning and they form a friendship. Casey still continues to watch the couple, which is weird to me, and she notes their marriage is rocky. Katherine disappears and Casey suspects it is Tom, her husband.

I sped through this one, given my reading slump, in 3 days! I stayed up late past midnight to finish this book and that's a rarity these days. Although, this thriller is a quick read and had many twists and turns, I couldn't look past the fact of the causing factor behind the mystery.

Also, the beginning half of this book was a repeat of The Woman in the Window with watching someone's personal life. Casey was a bit outlandish with her obsessive behaviour and actions. However, I did like how Casey is resilient given what she's gone through and that last choice of hers at the end of the book. There was another side character that did throw me off as the "obvious choice" of being troublesome, but it shocked me nonetheless.

Overall, a nice thriller with the lesson of watching people when you shouldn't, and in this rare instance, maybe if Casey wasn't watching, more death would have followed. I look forward to reading more books from Riley Sager!

Oh. My. What did I just read?! This book was a WILD ride and I was there for every single twist and turn along the way. I absolutely love how this has Rear Window vibes and is even referenced in the book. I think this is a story that works best going into it as blind as possible - so I won’t get into too many details. I will say that this story went in a completely different direction than I originally anticipated and that’s why I love it so much. I’ve read almost all of Sager’s novels and this one is at the top of my favorites!

I have only read one other of Riley Sager's books, which I liked better than this one. Sager, for me, has a perfect grasp on horror so I always enjoy his books, but compared to his others, this wasn't as good for me. That being said, I still enjoyed it and would recommend it to others.

Casey is a recently widowed actress staying at her lake house to avoid publicity. When she meets her new supermodel neighbour, Katherine while saving her from drowing, she becomes obsessed with watching Katherine and her husband through her binoculars from across the lake. Casey sees the tension in Katherine's marriage and when Katherine disappears she fears the worst.

I loved this book. Well in the beginning at least. It certainly gave me 'The Woman in the Window' vibes and Riley Sager has done a good job of slowly building up the suspense. I thought I knew where this book was going but then I really didn't. The twists all came up towards the last one thirds of the book and were mostly unbelievable.

The writing was engaging even if the plot completely veered off course. Casey comes across as the typical unreliable narrator who after her husband's death drinks copious amounts of alcohol to process her grief and noses her way into everyone's business. Her actions were just so juvenile and reckless.

I know some of us will still love the way this books turns out and will definitely enjoy the wild ride. To me it was just an okay read.

Riley Sager is an auto buy author for me and I will still read the next book he writes.

Thank you @netgalley and
@dutton books for the digital ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Thanks for this ARC @duttonbooks

The story follows 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 bourbon, she spends the time watching Tom and Katherine Royce, the glamorous couple living in the house across the lake. Then a day after Casey saves Katherine from drowning she disappears and Casey is determined to find out what happened to her.

The positives:

Sager really knows how to set the scene. His writing really helps you get into the story and feel that cool lake breeze. 00 I am engrossed in the story and curious if there's a serial killer or just a wife who's "Gone Girl'd" herself.

The negatives:

This story feels familiar in a way. Maybe it's because there's a lot of similarly plotted thrillers already out.

First I thought there was romance subplot that is straight out of a Chloe Liese novel and found that annoying, but then it got EVEN WEIRDER and turned supernatural. Was not ready for that and it soured the book for me. Also really not a fan of the "alcoholic woman who drinks to forget" trope


Not the best Sager novel.