This is my second Riley Sager book and I've thoroughly enjoyed both of them. His writing is so fast paced and keeps you on the edge of your seat. It was a great combination of a psychological thriller and a horror novel.
The plot twists in this book were excellent. I didn't see them coming at all. Once I thought I had it all figured out there would be another twist.
Absolutely intense from start to finish. This is a must read for mystery/thriller readers.

This is my fourth Sager read. I usually go in knowing there’s some sort of twist. I know he likes to throw in a crazy twist…

I was really enjoying this one, it gave me some Woman In The Window vibes. Which i did enjoy!

I was engrossed and curious where this was going but about 70% in, the twist comes… and i definitely didn’t guess it. But i wasn’t super stoked for it. It was a bit theatrical to me. A fantasy feel? I don’t know. I didn’t dislike it. But i guess i wanted something… more. Creepier? I often think Sager just tries too hard to make it an insane twist rather than make a compelling story. 🫢 he lost me a little bit. But i thought it was a decent read. I just don’t know why it went in that direction 🤦🏻‍♀️

One of my favorites by Riley Sager. I was hesitant when I read the synopsis and I've never been so glad to be wrong. I usually read netgalley arcs while walking on my treadmill and the couple of days it took me to read this, I walked any time I got the chance! Good twists, good ending, just enough paranormal.

I am a huge Riley Sager fan and I can honestly say this is my favorite book of his by far and I still have a book hangover because this was so good! This is a perfect psychological thriller and murder mystery rolled up into a single wild ride that you do not want to miss. I have not read a thriller in a while that was this unpredictable and crazy. The ending was not something I would have expected too. Riley Sager just once again blew my mind. Also, props for including a few Taylor Swift references!

Thank you to NetGallery and to Penguin Group for giving me a copy for.a honest review.

I am so relieved to say that...I enjoyed this book. Was it great? Not particularly. Was it Sager's best? No, definitely not. But was it a return to form after what was my most disappointing read of 2021 (Survive the Night)? Thankfully, yes. Sager is doing what he does best, which is treading familiar territory to anyone who has ever seen a tropey thriller film, but whereas Survive the Night was totally on-the-nose in a boring, let's-get-this-over-with, kind of way, The House Across the Lake is fun and fast-paced. with all the twists and turns you'd expect by now from Sager.

The House Across the Lake follows Casey Fletcher taking a break away from work at Lake Greene. There she sees former model Katherine drowning in the same lake. After saving Katherines life the two are on their way to building a friendship. However, that gets halted once Katherine goes missing. Casey will do everything to find out what happened to Katherine and how to bring her back.

Guys, this novel had me going crazy. When I thought the thrill was over it just kept going and going and going. I could not put this novel down and the twists and turns were CRAZY! If you see any of the twist coming I won't believe you. I was constantly in a state of shock. Found a new thriller to recommend to everyone and I can't wait to buy a physical copy on release day.

To my great disappointment, this is the first time I have disliked a Riley Sager novel.

I’m not really sure how to review this without any spoilers, but it was not for me. For the rest of this review, I will do my best not to spoil, but if you’d prefer to go in blind I suggest you stop now. I know a lot of fans will read this one no matter the review because of Riley Sager’s name–rightly so, I will certainly be reading his next book despite not loving this one. If you’re in that boat, my opinion doesn’t matter!

If you’re picky with your thrillers, though, read on.

The first half of this book was another Woman In The Window repeat. Drunk widow spies on her neighbors, sees something fishy, and no one believes her because she’s a notorious drunk. Add in a splash of fame–the MC is a former actor, and the victim across the lake is a former supermodel.

Now, because this is Riley Sager, I knew there would be a twist I didn’t see coming. I even put a poll in my IG stories to see if people thought it improved in the second half–the results were about 50/50.

In my opinion, the answer was no. There was in fact a twist I didn’t guess, but it was delivered by way of a thriller trope I absolutely despise.

The ending also just made no sense and was somewhat over the top. Overall, just not my preferred style of thriller. If you read it, head to my blog (link in stories) or DM to tell me whether you liked the way this was done. If you want spoilers before you take the time to read, also check out the blog! As always, spoilers are hidden so you can expand as you wish.

Supposedly, “The House Across the Lake” is a thriller.

You could have fooled me.

Instead, what Riley Sager delivers in his latest novel — out Tuesday, June 21, from Dutton — is an uninventive take on a tired plot. Here, he mixes elements of “Rear Window” with what has become a persistent trope among today’s mystery/thriller writers: saddling his lead with a drinking problem or similar vice as a way to make her an unreliable narrator.

This time, we get Casey Fletcher, an actress whose mother has banished her to their family lake house after her drunkenness gets in the way of her theater career. Casey wiles away her days sitting by the very lake where her husband drowned not long ago, downs drink after drink, and embarks on a friendship with the famous model who lives with her tech-entrepreneur husband in, yep, The House Across the Lake.

That this went to press is disappointing. That it went to press after the release of A.J. Finn's novel “The Woman in the Window” (featuring a female lead with a drinking problem who has lost her family and sees something suspicious in her neighborhood) and the Netflix movie “The Woman in the House Across the Street from the Girl in the Window” (which spoofs these exact books) is shocking.

This is the third book of Sager’s I’ve read this year, after “Home Before Dark,” which I loved, and “Final Girls,” which disappointed me so much that I went into “The House Across the Lake” with a certain apprehension. Like those others, “The House Across the Lake” tries to shock, but I’ve seen better twists in the worst M. Night Shyamalan movies. The big reveal toward the end comes across as so preposterous and out of touch with the rest of the book that I almost didn’t believe it was really happening.

Sager’s writing can’t even make up for having to deal with this retread of old ideas. The story plods along, lacking any sort of suspense until the final chapter or two. By then, it’s too little, too late.

https://www.thetimes-tribune.com/blogs/book_nook/house-across-the-lake-retreads-tired-tropes/article_14a1e2bc-7df4-5c08-b6c4-79017b88f785.html

Okay so for the first ~65% of this book I was like…. “Has this book not been written 500x?” Drunk, unreliable, emotionally unstable woman who’s isolated and nursing her grief with a lot of alcohol thinks she witnesses a crime and becomes obsessed with it and no one believes her so she inserts herself into the action. Blah.

But then things got bizarre. And I absolutely respected the weird choices made. I mean, one way to make sure no one sees a twist coming is to make it so strange and out of left field that it’s just literally impossible to know where it’s going. But I read the rest of this book with an attitude of just like “really?! …okay” rather than feeling blown away by a twist that was appropriately built up to.

Thanks Penguin Randomhouse for the eARC!

I found the "twist" in this book very unbelievable. While suspension of belief is often required for a thriller, I just couldn't buy this one. The characters were interesting though and that kept me reading until the end.

Following the sudden death of her husband, actress Casey Fletcher is laying low at her family's lake house, drinking her sorrows away out of the public eye. With nothing but her late husband's expensive binoculars to keep her entertained, Casey takes to drinking heavily each day and spying on her neighbors. After seeing some things that alarmed her, she quickly decides to investigate, but learns that the truth of what she saw might be more complicated than anything she could have imagined.

I love Sager's writing style and that his books always keep me hooked, even if I don't end up loving them. This was definitely one of the better ones (in my opinion) of the four books of his that I've now read. Between the unreliable narrator and all the twists being thrown at us (one in particular really got me!), this one was hard to predict, which I loved. It gave me "The Woman in the Window" vibes but I liked this one a lot more. Overall I'd recommend it if you're looking for a quick, twisty thriller!

Oh man this book took a left turn and went somewhere I didn’t know it was going to go and I really enjoyed the ride. We have widowed actress Casey Fletcher who is exiled to her family cabin in Vermont after she was fired from her last job for being drunk and the last time she was there her husband drowned in the lake. She passes the time with her binoculars spying on the neighbors across the lake Tech guru Tom Royce and his model wife Katherine. One day while Casey is on the porch drinking she sees Katherine in trouble and saves her from drowning which is when everything starts to go sideways. As a result of they strike up a friendship which makes Casey comes to realize that the Royce’s perfect marriage is a façade. When Katherine disappears Casey suspects foul play but she really doesn’t know what she is dealing with and every time I thought I knew what was going on I didn’t and what actually was going on was crazy and I never would have guessed it. This is the first book I have read by Riley Sager and it did not disappoint and I can’t wait to read the next one and go through his other books.

Thanks to Dutton and Netgalley for the complimentary copy of this book in e-book form. All opinions in this review are my own.

Riley does it again!!! I love his books so much I recommend him to everyone, and often wonder how he can top his last novel- but he did!

The plot- think a little, "Rear Window," with the hints of "Behind her Eyes," and Riley's special, engaging, shocking twists! To be clearer, this book is about a troubled actress named Casey Fletcher. After her husband's untimely death by drowning in the lake by her vacation house, she falls apart. She turns to the bottle, and the paparazzi is there to watch her struggle one click at a time. Her mother decides it is a great idea to send her to the house by the very lake where her husband died. (Glad she is not my mom!) While there, Casey drinks A LOT, but also sees her neighbor across the lake go missing. Casey is determined to find out what happened to her, and we learn a lot about Casey along the way.

Riley, you nailed the Hitchcock of it all. (Trust me I know; I studied an entire semester of him in film school.) I loved this book. I loved the characters, the suspense, the surprise. I'll end this review abruptly like a Hitchcock film. "The House Across the Lake," is brilliant. Read it.

I was so excited when I got approved for a digital copy of this one, as I have loved all of his previous books. Unfortunately, this one fell a bit short for me. Don’t get me wrong the twists were pretty good, but I wasn’t a fan of the supernatural element - and that’s all I’ll say so as to avoid giving any more away. Overall, it was a fast read as most of Sager’s books are for me
And it did provide me with enough entertainment on a Saturday afternoon.

“What is marriage but a series of mutual deceptions?” In this methodical, calculated novel by Riley Sager, The House Across the Lake drags you along like a lost soul desperately craving an answer that is right out of reach.

Casey Fletcher is – well – an alcoholic drowning her memories of losing her husband in the same lake that her porch currently overlooks. Bored, simply going through the motions of life, she picks up her late husband’s binoculars and is drawn to the house across the lake – where a former supermodel and tech mogul live. However, once she rescue’s Katherine Royce from drowning in the lake, suspicions grow as Casey cannot shake the nagging feeling that something is amiss between Katherine and Tom. And as they say: “Save a person’s life and you’re responsible for them forever.” But does Casey become obsessed for no reason?

Sager delivers a chilling novel – that once the pace picks up becomes slightly far-fetched and (hopefully) inconceivable, though the premise is extremely original and creative. I found myself wanting a little bit more and kept turning the pages to try to pull more information that wasn’t coming fast enough. I am not big into paranormal activity or sci-fi, and wish that the book’s description hinted even vaguely to its inclusion (though I still would have read it – I would have been more prepared!). I did get confused at one point by the Now and Before sections, but I believe with how it blended together at the end that that was the author’s intent.

“Because our souls. . . [are] like air and liquid and shadow combined,” and wow – did this give me something to think about. Clever, compelling, and packed with unbelievable twists, this is the definition of a psychological thriller. I give this 3.5 stars – I liked the novel but wouldn’t be screaming from a rooftop for anyone to rush to read it.

Thank you to NetGalley for this ARC; all opinions are my own!

Riley Sager books have a special way of giving me the creeps. The house across the lake did just that!! One of my fav thrillers of this year.

First of all, thank you to Dutton and NetGalley for the arc!

You know by his name, that every Riley Sager thriller is going to begin the same: There's a woman, isolated from her family and maybe even society, and spooky stuff starts to happen. Since his marvel of a debut mystery novel Final Girls, each book Sager writes becomes more and more predictable. Fortunately, The House Across the Lake offers a bit more than his previous endeavors.

The novel follows Casey, a semi-retired actress and widow, waiting out her days at her family's lake house. There, she meets her neighbours Katherine and Tom Royce, who quickly become intertwined with Casey's drama. Using binoculars to pass the time, Casey soon sees things across the lake at the Royce's that startles her. From there, mysteries begin to unravel, as do the minds of the characters on the page.

Reveling in more clever twists than Sager's previous endeavours, The House Across the Lake is a fine summer thriller. A certain twist towards the end makes all the meandering almost worth it, and with it breathes a bit of new life into Sager's lack lustre work.

Another Riley Sager hits! Sager shines the most when writing mystery horror blends and this book is no exception. A well plotted mystery with enough red herrings to fill the titular lake.

𝐖𝐞𝐥𝐥 𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐲𝐞𝐝 𝐌𝐫. 𝐒𝐚𝐠𝐞𝐫!!

𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐇𝐎𝐔𝐒𝐄 𝐀𝐂𝐑𝐎𝐒𝐒 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐋𝐀𝐊𝐄, 𝐛𝐲 𝐑𝐢𝐥𝐞𝐲 𝐒𝐚𝐠𝐞𝐫, 𝐢𝐬 𝐚 𝐛𝐢𝐭 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐭𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐧 𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐞 𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐧𝐢𝐬 𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐜𝐡, 𝐬𝐚𝐲, 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐅𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐡 𝐎𝐩𝐞𝐧. 𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐭𝐫𝐲 𝐭𝐨 𝐤𝐞𝐞𝐩 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐞𝐲𝐞 𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐛𝐚𝐥𝐥, 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐤𝐞𝐞𝐩 𝐚𝐬𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐟 𝐡𝐨𝐰 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐡𝐞𝐜𝐤 𝐝𝐢𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐝𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭? 𝐖𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐞𝐱𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐥𝐲 𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐝𝐚𝐦𝐧 𝐛𝐚𝐥𝐥? 𝐎𝐡, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐲𝐨𝐮'𝐫𝐞 𝐞𝐱𝐡𝐚𝐮𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐰𝐡𝐢𝐩𝐩𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐝 𝐛𝐚𝐜𝐤 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐡, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐛𝐞𝐜𝐚𝐮𝐬𝐞 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐧 𝐛𝐞𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚 𝐦𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐨𝐫 𝐨𝐟 𝐠𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐢𝐬 𝐚 𝐰𝐡𝐨𝐥𝐞 𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐝/𝐛𝐨𝐝𝐲 𝐞𝐱𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞..

Riley Sager is just that good. The thrills and chills just keep coming, one after another - any one of which could have been a firecracker ending - but they do not stop until the very last page…with a fantastic finale you won’t see coming.

The intensely drawn characters - the young widow, Casey - drowning herself slowly in a bottle(s) of bourbon - and Katherine, the model, whom Casey befriends whilst saving her from drowning. Yes, drowning is a theme, and it’s massively successful. Other fabulously intriguing characters include the model’s creepy husband, Tom, Boone, the hunky neighbor, and Eli, the wise, old neighbor. Casey picks up another bottle of bourbon and pair of binoculars, and the game begins...

Perhaps the greatest character is the setting - that darkly foreboding lake in the midst of a gorgeously colorful Vermont autumn. Filled with a haunting life of its own, Riley Sager has perfected the scary story environment.

I am am punch drunk crazy over this one. I’ll reread it, because every great match deserves a replay.

I was agog with excitement when I received this ARC and am beyond grateful to NetGalley, Penguin Group Dutton, and Riley Sager for the opportunity to read this epic tale in exchange for my honest opinion and wholly independent review.

I, like most other Sager die-hard fans, have very mixed feelings about this book. The first two-thirds of the book is very familiar. The general plot has been done so many times before. An alcoholic woman sits in her window watching the couple across the lake, and when the wife goes missing, the heroine becomes convinced that the husband did her in. The plot is clearly inspired by Rear Window, and, unfortunately, a good chunk of the book did not have an original spin on this. 

But then there’s the twist. At first, I was amazed. It was such a clever and shocking twist that floored me. The book is told in two timelines, with the "Now" timeline giving us little snippets of what's currently happening, and the "Before" timeline taking up most of the narrative. Once that twist happened, I was absolutely taken aback by how briliiantly Sager had misled the reader in the "Now" timeline, and I'd been convinced of very specific things that were clearly misdirections. Unfortunately, Sager did not take this twist in the direction that I was expecting. I don’t want to spoil this for readers, but if you’ve read other Sager books, you’ll know that he generally follows the typical script of thrillers. He doesn’t deviate too far from genre norms, or dip into other genres. The twist in this book requires a huge suspension of disbelief, one that he could have prepared the reader for with more thoughtful writing in the first two thirds of the book. Instead of preparing the reader to be absolutely stunned by the nature of the twist, he should have been laying the ground work for readers to find that type of twist more palatable.  

All this said, Sager does have a fabulous writing style, and I was sucked into the way that he describes the setting, the lake, and the faded movie star’s tragic past. But that just wasn't enough for me.

It pains me to give this book 3 stars, because Riley Sager writes like no other and, as a writer, I get serious imposter syndrome every time I read his prose. I love his use of metaphors and description, and he writes heart palpitation-inducing scenes like they’re going out of style. I absolutely love his writing, and I (usually) love his plotlines and clever twists. I feel like I would have enjoyed this book a lot more had I been forewarned that he was going to be going in a completely new direction.