I love Riley Sager but this one wasn’t my favourite. I have it a 3/5. I loved the setting and found it really atmospheric but the mystery was nothing special and I found the ending lacklustre.

Thank you so much @SourceBooksCasa & @NetGalley for giving me this eARC in exchange for my honest and unbiased review (Release Date | 07 June 2022)

SYNOPSIS | Casey is recently widowed actress & using alcohol as a crutch to death with her grief. In order to minimize the damage to her public persona she decides to spend some time at her families remote cabin in Vermont. On the other side of the lake is another famous couple (Tom & Katherine), but when Katherine goes missing under mysterious circumstances Casey decides to investigate further.

WHAT I LIKED:
- I truly cannot express how bananas this book is without spoiling it, but I was along for the ride
- excellent unsettling, isolated & claustrophobic vibes
- extremely binge worthy & I gorged it within a couple of sittings
- I love an unrealistic, completely left-wing plot twist in thrillers & this absolutely delivered (think in a similar vain to Behind Her Eyes

WHAT I DIDN'T LIKE:
- another alcohol dependant unreliable main character

This book was fairly unbelievable. It starts as a classic "woman at the window" spying on her neighbors tale, but evolves into a supernatural "out of body experience" drama that I was not at all expecting, nor welcoming. It is just too unbelievable to be enjoyable.

The House Across the Lake by Riley Sager is a suspenseful read perfect for a cozy weekend or a lengthy flight.

Hideaway Actors. Lakeside Homes. Nosy Neighbors. All nestled in the mountains of Vermont. Yup

Having grown up in Vermont, relatively close to where I can imagine this book takes place, I was enthralled by the description of The House Across The Lake by Riley Sager and cast aside my “no murders or thrillers” policy to request this book. I am grateful to have had the opportunity to read it and enjoyed the ride. Note: It is the first book of Riley Sager’s that I have read.

Casey, our main character, is a chaotic but delightfully self-aware actress/daughter of an actress/recent widow. She also happens to be an alcoholic neighbor spying across the lake with her binoculars, inserting herself in a potential web of investigations in the sleepy mountains. The lake itself has its own reputation of idyllic summer afternoons and nefarious happenings. And the neighbors…

Unfamiliar with Sager’s work, I wasn’t sure how it was going to go, however, the setting and opening of the plot were well-researched. Where I grew up in Vermont is very much a playground for elite and Hollywood actors to escape LA and NYC. Due to its difficult-to-get-there appeal, many drive in or have homes here to unwind and not be bombarded by low-key locals. They get to live their lives around town, so the setting of the story is quite spot on. The dual settings of NY and VT and how toggling back and forth evolves the plot is also very believable.

I wasn’t anticipating the supernatural twist and although it initially caught me off guard and left me feeling like it was a random choice, it did play out well in the end for an appropriate resolve. I would think that other readers may or may not be turned off by this.

I loved the characters and found the overall plot to be a fun whirlwind of twists and turns.

Was a perfect cozy, cabin read.

The cover is perfect and visually articulates the POV of the MC.

Great for fans of Girl On The Train and nosy neighbor tropes!

3.75/5 stars

Thank you NetGalley and PENGUIN GROUP Dutton, Dutton for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review. I apologize for the delay-- I had written this up ages ago and got caught up discussing the book with friends!

The reader is constantly asking questions and trying to figure out where Katherine vanished too. We continue to read with bated breath to see how Casey will handle it all and if she has or will hit breaking point. Another great psychological suspense story from Riley Sager!

I loved this book. It was exactly what I expected from this author and more. It was creepy and twisty and the supernatural aspect was something that I did not expect. Once I thought we were done there was another twist and then another twist and then another twist. It was Wild and I gave it five stars and named it one of my favorites of the year. I recommend it to everyone. I can't wait for his next book.

As an avid Riley Sager fan, The House Across the Lake did not disappoint with a twist I did not see coming. With twists different from some of his other works, this story with an unreliable narrator will keep you guessing.

This is my second Riley Sager book. The first one I read left me speechless so I had high hopes for this one. This book is the definition of “they had us in the first half”. I started to hate this book because it was leaning too hard into the whole “the woman in the window across the street” trope. But just when I was about to give up, the twist happened. I should have known. It was a beautiful addition to the book. And just when I thought I was all wrapped up with a nice little bow… a second blow. Stunning. What’s next Sager?

I'll start off by saying I love Riley Sager. But this one left me a little disappointed. I wanted more from this storyline and didn't get it. It took me a while to get into this one and I forced myself to finish it. I am looking forward to Sager's next book though!

If you can completely and totally suspend disbelief, then you will enjoy this ridiculous but somehow still engaging book. Shallow characters, but a crazy fun plot, make this a super quick read with twists I definitely didn't see coming.

I've officially read all of Sager's work at this point. His latest, The House Across the Lake, was good but not great. I feel like Sager's writing style is either loved or hated. Reviews on his books often seem to be mixed. For me, his writing is always entertaining enough to keep me engaged. I love a fast paced thriller and his books are always that. I read them so quickly. In this one, I enjoyed the eerie setting.

I do usually love an unreliable narrator and this story has that. What I'm getting a little tired of is the whole woman drinks too much and therefore nobody listens to her and just thinks she's crazy. It's a trope that's getting a little tired for me and I didn't love it in this story.

I was also expecting a pretty epic twist here. I was lead to believe it would be mind blowing. I read a lot of thrillers, so it has become easier for me to predict things. While I can say honestly that I didn't really see the twist coming, it felt very weird. It wasn't what I was expecting, but not in a good way. It didnt really work for me at all. I don't want to comment on it too much because I don't like to spoil things. Alot of people have loved this book so don't hesitate to pick it up if it sounds interesting to you or if you've liked his other works.

Like I said earlier, this book was entertaining enough and I liked it just fine. Was it a favourite of his? No, definitely not. There were good things about the story but it also had moments that had me rolling my eyes wondering why.

initial thoughts: liked, didn’t love like a lot of readers did. the big twist in the story was a bit far fetched for me, but then again, it is a Riley Sager book.

This was fun! There was twists and turns I didn’t expect and I loved that it was Taylor swift inspired. Riley is a great author!

Holy poop I loved this! Thank you NetGalley for this review copy. I know I'm writing this late but I'm very much a Riley Sager stan. I can understand why some readers may not like the twists in this book but I was shook in the best way. The ending was a bit over the top but honestly this type of mystery is for me. I really enjoyed this one and it's easily the top of my Riley Sager love now.

Sadly this turned out to be a mediocre Riley Sager for me!

While I did understand the purpose in pulling inspiration from other various thrillers, it just didn’t work for me and felt like nothing unique. It was very redundant in the topic of alcohol especially, which I found frustrating.

What I did really enjoy was the setting surrounding the lake! It was very reminiscent of The Last Time I Lied which is my favorite Sager.

I really enjoyed the first 65% of this book. Some of the things I didn’t like were the alcoholic, unstable female main character trope (just kind of over it). I also wasn’t a fan of the twist which I can’t really say more. If it weren’t for the twist, this could have been a 4 star read. Definitely not one of my favorite Sager books but I’ll still be picking up his next book!

There are stories about the lake. How you shouldn't be in it after dark. How other things live there.

Rear Window mixes with Carrie Fisher's life in Riley Sager's The House Across the Lake. An alcoholic hot mess, Casey Fletcher has been banished to her family's summer home on the lake on a semi-permanent basis after essentially falling off the stage in a drunken stupor following her husband's drowning on this same lake. Casey befriends the model who has moved in across the lake with her husband. The husband gets Casey's hackles up, so she resorts to spying on them constantly to make sure everything is okay.

Everything is not okay. After a very short acquaintance, Katherine goes missing. Tom, her husband, does not appreciate Casey butting in despite his explanations. But drunk or sober (and it's mostly drunk), Casey is both tenacious and bored. Even the hot neighbor next door can't draw her attention away once she discovers that he's on the wagon. When Casey finally uncovers something instead of just flinging about conspiracy theories, it puts her own life in danger, but from whom? One of the men living around the lake? Or the lake itself?

This was my first Riley Sager, and honestly, I didn’t love it. Sager’s writing to me was a little juvenile and didn’t always keep me engaged. I didn’t particularly like any of the characters in this one, but I will say that it was definitely a thriller.

Without spoiling anything, the ‘twist’ of this book really let me down. While I understand where the author was coming from, I personally thought the book went in a sour direction and I didn’t enjoy the end part of this book, which really pulled down my rating.

In saying this, I did enjoy the first half of the story and I did find it suspenseful and fun to read, but I just can’t get past the pitfalls of this one.

I’d recommend it to thriller lovers. Of course check the trigger warnings, I gave this book 2/5 stars.

Sager has done it again. He is one of my favorite thriller authors and never fails to deliver. The twist at the end was absolutely perfect. Sager developed such a fantastic backstory for the characters it really gave you an emotional connection to them. If you're questioning this book, don't. Pick it up and start reading!

The main character being an alcoholic and used as a plot point and twist driver… that’s a no from me.