As you're reading The House Across the Lake, you might think, "I've read this story before." Unreliable, alcoholic female narrator who spies on the neighbors and thinks something has happened to the wife. And, it's always the husband, so we should zero in on him. You'll probably even think you've figured out what's going on and how Sager has tried to trick you, but you haven't. At around 70%, your jaw will drop at how wrong you were. You probably still won't exactly understand how this turn has happened, but you'll definitely be surprised.

This is for all of us who read a lot of thrillers and think we've seen it all - we haven't.

Loved this book. Troubled Casey needs to figure out what happened to her new friend Katherine who lived across the lake. She had just met her by chance when she saved her from drowning and now she is gone. But Casey has her own deamons- a dead ex husband and an alcohol problem. Did something sinister happen to Katherine at the hands of her husband? There i lies the problem. What happens from there is so juicy and unbelievable- literally! .

I’m laughing just a little realizing that both the Sager novels I’ve read this year fit the exact same prompts, for the most part. He definitely has a genre.

Banished to the family lake house in the wake of her husband’s death and her subsequent drinking binge, actress Casey Fletcher is bored (and drunk) out of her mind. After saving her wealthy neighbor Katherine Royce from drowning, she begins to pass the time by watching their glass-walled home across Lake Greene – but she quickly discovers not all is as it seems in the house across the lake. When Katherine inevitably goes missing, Casey quickly believes her husband, Tom, is to blame.

As she works to uncover where Katherine may have gone, or whether she’s alive at all, Casey uncovers a trove of secrets surrounding the banks of Lake Greene. It seems there may be a lot more lies below the surface…and no one can be trusted.

Like I mentioned when I reviewed Lock Every Door, Sager starts slow. I got, like, halfway through this book before things truly started getting wild. Before that, it’s just Casey spying on her neighbors and stumbling around her house, to be honest. But THEN. This book is a deep well of WILD that never seems to end. The slow beginning is what knocked it half a star in my book, because pretty much every other part of this book is incredible and a crazy ride. I thought, initially, that the subject matter didn’t sound like my jam, so if you’re in the same boat, I urge you to give it a try anyways. It was a lot different than I expected from the synopsis and went in a very different direction ultimately.

Lake Greene makes an absolutely stunning summer backdrop for this story. Living in New England myself, it was easy to picture Lake Greene in all its glory, and it gave me the nostalgia feelings of late summer evenings that project a false sense of calm. Much like Lock Every Door, this novel is atmospheric, playing on the setting to add to the creep-factor.

Despite Casey’s self-destructive tendencies, I was attached to her. She makes very poor decisions, but as was confirmed for me by the ending of this book, she has a strong conscience and heart beneath her stony exterior. She’s headstrong with a purpose. She’s loyal. I wanted better for her. Katherine, too, is magnetic. I loved her character, and the push-and-pull drama that falls around her makes her even more alluring. I can picture both of them in my mind, Casey and Katherine, absolute polar opposites, but this novel draws them together through tragedy.

While I was reading this, I just kept hitting walls where I would get really into it, decide I was going to bed at the end of the chapter, and then A HUGE CLIFFHANGER would get dropped on me right on the very last page. There are a lot of cliffhangers, especially in the latter half. It’s a wild ride.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher, I was fortunate enough to get an advance readers copy of The House Across the Lake in exchange for my honest review!

I was worried this was going to be another "drunk woman spies on neighbors and blacks out during important parts of the story" story, but it wasn't. I mean there's a drunk woman and she spies on her neighbors using binoculars. However, there was a moment in this book where my attention shifted from "somewhat interested" to DEVOURING IT AS FAST AS I CAN and after that moment, there was no stopping me.

I don't believe I have read a Riley Sager novel and not enjoyed it, but this one is my favourite. A great summer read while lounging at the lake - I read it in one day (couldn't put it down, it was that good!). This one is my new go-to summer read recommendation.

Thanks to the publisher and to NetGalley for the advance copy to read and review. All opinions are my own.

The House Across the Lake, by Riley Sager

Publication Date: 7th July 2022 (Available to pre-order now!)
Rating: 4/5

It is always an absolute pleasure to be asked to review for @hodderandstoughton, and I've been a firm fan of Sager since the Survive the Night There is something innately propulsive and thrilling about Sager's storytelling. He lulls you into a false sense of security, where you are entirely certain that you know what's going on, but then he ambushes you with an otherworldly twist. This novel is no different. Casey is a disgraced actress who has been sent to her family's lakehouse for some timeout. Drunk and alone, she begins to take an unhealthy interest in her glamorous neighbours, and witnesses something that changes everything. She fights to unravel the strange and sudden disappearance of her neighbour's wife, whilst uncovering the dark secrets of the lake's past. This book is not to be missed. Harlan Coben meets Stephen King

This was the best thriller that I have read this year, maybe ever! There were times when I really thought I knew what was going on and then on the next page I was hit with a twist that I never saw coming. There are a lot of references to the movie Rear Window, and this very much has that kind of feel to it.

Casey is a bit hard to like, but she does grow on you. She drinks way too much and has made some questionable life choices, but despite that she is a survivor. She does kind of grow on you though, and I could see that she could be a good person and someone that would be fun to spend time with. Her drinking does make her a rather unreliable narrator, but I was ok with that. I like unreliable narrators in my thrillers.

There are some other characters worth noting, like Boone, the man living next door, and the detective Wilma Anson. They certainly add to the story and plot in unexpected ways. Of course Katherine and Tom, the couple across the lake are an interesting pair, and there is way more going on there than you might expect.

I don’t want to say too much about the plot as it is something you need to go into pretty blind to really appreciate the twists. The start is a bit slow, but I still found it quite riveting and often had a hard time putting it down. The back and forth between present and recent past was also very well done and made the story all the more exciting. I could have easily read it in one sitting, if work and life hadn’t interfered. When the action picks up toward the end, I found myself reading late into the night to finish it!

Another great thriller by this author. I have decided that I am going to be spending some of my summer reading the other books he has written that I haven’t yet. This is definitely one you will want to spend time with on the beach or wherever you are headed on vacation this summer.

Casey Fletcher is a recently widowed actress who is spending time at her family lake house to recharge. While there she meets Katherine Royce, model and wife to Tom Royce. Casey has a habit of drinking too much and spying on her neighbors with binoculars. One night she notices something happen across the lake at Katherine and Tom’s home. Casey becomes consumed with trying to figure out what’s happening at her neighbors and looking into their not-so-perfect lives. But as Casey knows well, looks can be deceiving…

Riley Sager is one of my favorite authors. The writing style in all of his books are wonderful and I feel like I am a part of the story. This book was very much a mix of Rear Window and the Woman in the Window with hints of Stephen King. Usually I feel the characters are a bit more developed in his other writings. Nonetheless, I enjoyed the story. It did NOT go where I thought it was going to. Every time I thought I knew what happened it was taken in another bizarre direction. The ending wasn’t my favorite but I don’t want to give anything away!

I would recommend this book if you’re looking for a good thriller that keeps you guessing. While it was not my favorite works of fiction by Sager (which is part of the reason I rated it the way I did), it is still good.

Thank you NetGalley for an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review!

Riley sager is one of my go to authors when it comes to mystery thrillers. So when I found out he was coming out with a new book I just knew I had to get onto it as quickly as I could. This was so much fun, more so than I was expecting it to be. I had a lot of fun putting the pieces together, seeing them come apart because I was clearly wrong and then somehow putting more pieces together throughout and then watching them fall into place as we got reveals and even more reveals. It’s truly, one of my favourite thing about Sager’s books and I’ll never ever get tired of it!

A recently widowed actress retreats into a drinking problem to deal with her grief and is forced into seclusion at her family's lake house after her problem turns into front-page tabloid fodder. While there, she begins spying on her neighbors a la Hitchcock's Rear Window.

Forget everything you think you know - there's no way you're guessing this one! This slow burner quickly gains speed, turning into a rollercoaster of twists and turns, and just when you think you know what's going on, Sager yanks the rug right out from under your suppositions . . . and then he does it again! Easily one of his best books so far!

This book is kind of everything I wanted "Home Before Dark" to be. Having read most of Sager's works, I knew him to be super realistic, always having an explanation and a good twist toward the end. This book took what I knew to be true and flipped it on its head. What a change of style for Sager! I definitely enjoyed it, you just fully have to be prepared to suspend all disbelief. A thriller for sure, with an awesome setting (what's creepier than a big dark lake? A big dark lake in its off season!) and a fun set of circumstances. I love the narrator's fame and family history. I'm a big theater nerd so that really got me excited and interested to learn more about her.
I'll say it: I am tired of the "unreliable narrator" trope. Our narrator was an alcoholic. I did appreciate that her reasoning behind it was fully fleshed-out and explained, but I'm still slightly annoyed by it. Was it fully necessary? I think the setting and her isolation are enough to make you go slightly crazy and start to second guess sounds and things you see in the night...but maybe that's just me!
The twist was a big one. It definitely made the (very) slow beginning worth it for me. However by the end I was rolling my eyes a little bit. Like, really? This is all happening? All right! Like I said...suspend your disbelief if you're going into this one! Overall a fun quick read. Atmospheric, creepy at times, fleshed out characters that I loved and hated and loved to hate. 3.75 rounded up to 4 stars! I would recommend this one for sure. Not my favorite by Sager, but I think it's up there on the list of his. Better than Survive the Night and Final Girls for me!

Ok this was standard Riley and then he changed to the supernatural. I liked it though in a way it felt kind of like an easy way out? That pacing was good as were the twists. I'm sorry, but I'm a sucker for happy endings and was glad everyone was together, I have been a fan since Final Girls and have gotten at least three friends into him. I will recommend this one, It kept my interest, The ultimate villain was evil and it ended up being a good reason for why she was drinking so excessively, Good use of a red herring with the hot neighbor, I am not a fantasy person so the swapping bodies wasn't my favorite,

Casey Fletcher is a mess. One year after the death of her beloved husband, the actress has a humiliating drunken experience on stage and loses her job, and is sent to her family's lake house to get away from the city and recover. Instead, she spends her days drinking seventeen bourbons and getting blackout puking drunk. Somehow, despite the bourbon, she's able to rescue her new neighbor, the former supermodel Katherine Royce, from drowning in the lake. After that, Casey develops a slight obsession with Katherine and her husband, spying on them from across the lake with a pair of super-powered binoculars. Then she sees something suspicious and suddenly, Katherine is missing.

There is a lot in this book that I liked. I liked that I thought I had figured it out and I absolutely did NOT have it figured out. I liked that the action was pretty nonstop and the suspense kept me reading. I did not like another book with a drunken unreliable female protagonist who is a total disaster and relies on the men around her to help her out of her scrapes and bad decisions. I was also not really a fan of the turn the book took once the secrets were revealed. That's all I say because I don't want to spoil it!

3.5 stars, rounded down. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing an ARC in return for an honest review.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5
The House Across the Lake
By: Riley Sager

I always love a Riley Sager novel. He has a real talent for suspense and twists that you never see coming. This one had several. I blew through it in a day, on the edge of my seat, desperate to know what happened next.
My absolute favorite RS book was Final Girls but I still loved the shock of The House Across the Lake. One heck of a fun read.

When disgraced actress Casey Fletcher is sent to her childhood vacation cabin on Lake Greene in Vermont to sober up, she never expected to save someone’s life. Let alone a supermodel’s. After pulling Katherine Royce from the lake they become fast friends. While Casey drinks herself into oblivion, trying to forget her husband that drowned in the lake a year ago, she begins to spy on her new friend and her husband, Tom in their massive glass palace just across the lake.
The longer she watches and the more she drinks, Casey’s knows something is not right. It’s only after Katherine mysteriously disappears that she starts to take a closer look. But looks can be deceiving...and deadly.

Riley Sager’s latest thriller is a jaw-dropping ride with unexpected turns and twists. Casey Fletcher is an actress who has retreated to her family’s lake house in Vermont to ride out the storm of her scandal. Alcohol dulls the pain of the loss of her husband who drowned in the lake the past year. Sitting on the porch she spots someone drowning in the lake. Casey pulls the body of a woman out, believing she is past saving is shocked when she sputters to life. The woman Katherine Royce an ex-supermodel has purchased the lake house across from Casey. Katherine’s husband Tom owns a social media company called Mixer, a true power couple living in the fabulous all-glass lake house. Katherine and Casey connect, become friends, and Casey senses Katherine is unhappy in her marriage and hints at problems at home. Casey finding her deceased husband’s binoculars starts to obsessively watch the couple in their home. Watching leads to more questions when strange behaviours arise from both Katherine and Tom. During a drunken stupor Casey thinks she heard a scream, the next morning Katherine has disappeared. Tom tells Casey that Katherine returned home to New York in preparation for the hurricane heading towards Vermont. Casey doesn’t believe Tom can she discover the truth and find Katherine? Trust me when I say that however you think this story will end, you will be wrong. Vivid setting, eerie tone, with strong characters make for a fast summer read. Don’t let the similarities to Woman in The Window dissuade you from continuing, many shocking turns await you. Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Group Dutton for this ARC, all opinions are my own.

This book is reminiscent of books like The Woman in Cabin 10 and Girl on a Train. Casey has a drinking problem so we aren't very sure how credible she is as a narrator. However, this book takes some twists and turns that differ significantly from those books. Casey, sequestered by her mother, to the family lake house has taken to spying on her neighbors across the lake. She starts to notice strange happenings and isn't sure how to interpret them. And when all is revealed, it's understandable why she was so confused. I'd recommend this to people who like thrillers and mysteries, but it was kind of a slow plod with an ending that didn't save it.

Creepy story of a fragile woman on an isolated lake trying to come to terms with the death of her husband and a serious drinking problem. Things get even worse when a couple across the lake experiences some drama of their own. Lots of twists and turns and such a good read.

I was iffy on reading this one. When I read Sager’s Final Girls years ago, I adored it. I was obsessed with his books but as the books keep coming out I feel that they are getting more mediocre. Last year I skipped reading Survive the Night because I was over poorly written thrillers with surface level female characters. I should’ve skipped this one too but I was at the lake and reading books set in the same location or environment I’m in is my favorite.

I mean the book is fine.

If you don’t read a ton or don’t pick up many thrillers it’s entertaining with some plot twists. The characters are fairly flat, and we get a supernatural aspect as one of the plot points. Very Simone St. James but not as well executed. Each of Sager’s books try and have more of a horror/creep aspect to it and this time he went full supernatural. I wasn’t about it. It felt forced and I could have honestly done without that entire plot point. Actually the book would have been better, in my opinion if it was simply the non-supernatural plot.


The story is fairly slow and for half the book I was worried we were getting another ‘Gone Girl’ or Women in the Window’. Ie, everything happening was just Casey being too drunk to notice.

Maybe I read too many mysteries/thrillers, but I’m very over gaslighting women and women drinking to much being the central theme of the book.

So if you need something brainless to read and/or need a lake setting then pick this one up.

Ranking of my favorite Riley Sager books for reference:

1. Final Girls
2. The Last Time I lied
3. Home Before Dark
4. Lock Every Door
5. The House Across the Lake
6. Survive the Night – Did not read


The House Across the Lake comes out June 20, 2022! Huge thank you to Dutton for my advanced copy in exchange for my honest opinion. If you liked this review please let me know either by commenting below or by visiting my instagram @speakingof_books.

I wasn't impressed with this book. It reminded me of another book that recently became a Netflix hit. After reading into it a bit, the premise was too similar. It might be completely different, but the beginning wasn't enough to convince me of that.

This is a highly disappointing new thriller from Riley Sager. It's just… boring. I think it's time that Riley Sager mix up his narrative style rather than trying to recreate the success of his previous books.

Disclaimer I received a copy of this book from the publisher.