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.

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.