Ummmmmm............ there's times in life where we swing and we miss

Riley tried to put a new spin on an old trope with this one and it was so painful...

The trope is very played out already: a woman with trauma drinks too much and spies on her neighbors. It's a tired concept. Exhausted, even. We know how these stories go. She drinks because she can't cope with her trauma, she has pushed everyone away and is painfully lonely, she meets her female neighbor and gets overly attached after one night because of lack of human contact, then she spies on her neighbors just to feel something and is shocked to witness something alarming while spying. Did I just describe The House Across the Lake or The Woman in the Window? Or an entirely different third book?

I mean, there's literally that new Kristen Bell show on Netflix with the title that parodies all these books that are the same: The Woman in the House Across the Street from the Girl in the Window lol and that sums it up better than I can. They're literally all the same and ARE they demeaning to women? Mostly written by men, about us drunky stupid overly nosy little women who are gaslit into complicity by men, with their addictions cited as the reason their eyes *had* to have deceived them? Maybe that's a conversation for another day, but keep it in mind.

Plenty of people use substances (and abuse them) as a means of dealing with trauma. Plenty of women. So it's not that, not wholly. But it's becoming an archetype that I see as potentially harmful, especially coupled with the whole "I was really drunk, so maybe I *didn't* witness a murder after all!" concept.

But, anywho, Riley tries to subvert expectations by introducing a twist. This twist was DEFINITELY stupid, and verging on just painful. I kept thinking, just because you're an author, doesn't really give you the room to write ANYTHING you want. Lmaooo I mean you obviously can, but it doesn't make it make sense or flow with your narrative just because you want to say it. The twist was such a forced "I bet you won't see THIS coming" and it was so out of left field that it was actually at the tennis court two blocks over.

And of course the twist twists back at the last second, in a sort of Friday the 13th ish vibe, and even that was anticlimactic.

I'm just sooooo unimpressed with this book that I was so excited to love, and I'm mad because I broke my reading slump for THIS?????????? This is serving more Are You Afraid of the Dark on Nickelodeon than anything that's actually meant to be thrilling... and that's actually an insult to the old classic. Idk man, read it if you feel like it, because I know Riley Sager's releases are kind of traditional to all of us at this point, but if he continues on this decline (last year's Survive the Night was my 2nd least favorite from him after this one) I'm gonna have to find a new thriller bestie to latch onto

Started at the beginning of a nor’easter with power out, I quickly and gratefully devoured The House Across the Lake. Disgraced actress Casey Fletcher retreats to her family’s lake home where she rescues supermodel Katherine Royce from drowning and they become friends. Casey can’t resist spying on them in their glass house across the lake and quickly notes all is not what it seems in their marriage.
I was thinking great book but another regular suspense novel, I know how this ends. But the plot kept twisting as surprise after surprise was revealed. Riley Sager has delivered another great book!

At first this just seemed like a domestic thriller but what a twist! Usually this author tends to shy away from paranormal explanations but not with this title! Had me eye-rolling at some parts but overall it was a good read!

I’d like to thank netgalley and the publisher for an advance copy in exchange for an honest review. I have been a huge fan of Riley Sager’s books and look forward to every new one. This one is no exception especially since it’s set at a lake house. When Casey, a recently widowed actress saves the life of her across the lake neighbour, a supermodel no less, this causes a turn of events, and connects the lives of these two women. I couldn’t put this one down, especially after a plot twist that I didn’t see coming! Can’t wait for his next book!