this book is giving the woman in the window and layla all wrapped up in a paranormal spooky cozy vermont blanket — i loved the twist and the twists kept twisting !!!

I didn't mind the idea of the story - a somewhat unreliable, nosy, and isolated woman spying on her neighbours - but hated the whole possession / paranormal angle. I probably wouldn't have read this book if I had known that was the progression. In my opinion, this wasn't so much of a twist as a bait and switch, which really ruined the book for me.

To be honest I was only giving this book a chance to see if there is a book by the author that I might actually like because I’m fairly certain I haven’t liked any of the books I’ve read so I should have known better. Didn’t like this one either, I won’t be reading anymore Riley Sager books.

3.5 stars! Next to the other Riley Sager book I've read Lock Every Door this fell a tiny bit flat. But I will say I loved the setting of this story on the lake and the characters. I found Casey being a struggling actress and Katherine being a model really fun to read about. The whole cast of characters I enjoyed I just didn't connect or really care about them like I would've liked. This is Riley Sager after all so of course I thought this was well written and nicely paced.

Not my favorite thriller ever but it was a quick read with a fun mystery!

Oh Riley Sager, why did you have to go and do that? Anyone who knows me knows I am a huge fan of Sager and will forever read his books. More often than not, I adore them, and they take me on a wild ride like no other. Well, The House Across the Lake certainly does that, but between Casey's excessive drinking (The Woman in the House Across the Street from the Girl in the Window anyone?) and the ridiculous twist, I just could not get behind this one. It also probably didn't help that that audiobook was truly terrible. I don't know who chose Bernadette Dunne to be the narrator, and goodness I hope it wasn't Sager, but they need to be fired. As a narrator for another book, she would be amazing and there is NOTHING wrong with her, but for this book? absolutely not. She sounds way too old to be Casey, and because of that was just another reason this book was ruined for me.

Knowing what I know now about the twist and the audiobook, I may end up trying to read The House Across the Lake as opposed to listening to it and see if that helps my feelings towards it. If you take out the most unbelievable twist I've ever seen and Casey's drinking to excess, the rest of the story was quite interesting to me. It was fun watching her spy on her wealthy neighbors and I was really into the mystery surrounding Katherine's disappearance. The amateur female sleuth is one of my favorite tropes and Casey is one that just won't quit. I am also a huge fan of the illustrations in the physical book and thought they were a nice touch. While I may not have loved this one, there are plenty of people who did, so I highly recommend READING (not listening), and finding out for yourself what all the fuss is about.

I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

I keep reading Riley Sager thinking this one is going to be like my favorites, and it's never quite hitting the right notes for me

The plot twists just wouldn't stop coming omg. I think at first this was giving me Woman in The Window vibes with the whole nosey neighbor looking into another home but the way the events transpired I was at the edge of my seat. Also I'm all for any book that starts with a Taylor Swift lyric.

Thank you to NetGalley for an advanced copy of this book.

I think this is my third Riley Sager book, and like the others they have an interesting plot and are easy to read and follow.

I found the setting and characters interesting in this story, but it went in a different direction that completely threw me off and lost me a bit.

The House Across The Lake
By Riley sager

I am a huge Riley Sager fan and usually I will not stop reading once I start, but with this book I kept on putting it off.
I hate to DNF a book, because I am a moody reader and think it’s me and not the book, but I just could not get myself to pick this up and finishing other thrillers.

I finally had to finish this book and though it was thrilling and the writing well done, the story just was not exciting enough for me and quite predictable, and Sager has written such amazing thrillers, I was quite surprised with this one.

However, I still love Sager and will read anything he writes.

I think thriller fans will enjoy this, it may just not have been for me.

Thank you for my early copy. I am such a huge fan of Riley saver and The Last Time I Lied is one of my favorites, but this one just didn’t live up. It was a very slow burn book for me. I wanted to love it, but it took me way too long to finish. The last 1/4 was really good though and the reason for raising my 2 star to 3 star. This just sadly wasn’t for me.

Ok, this is a weird one for my to review and definitely not my favorite Sager book of all time. I mostly have it 3 starts since there were definitely some plot twists I didn’t see coming. But that’s where the strangeness comes in lol. This felt like two different plot lines mashed together and just felt really weird to me.

If you’re into books that will throw you through a loop then this is definitely it. There were even plot twists until the very end which is why I gave it a higher rating but I did feel like it went on longer than it needed to lol. Like parts of it definitely dragged but it still was entertaining enough to finish!

I received a free ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I don’t even know quite how to describe this book. Let me start by saying I really enjoyed it. It had great characters, a fun setting, and was easy to follow. I expected it to continue in a certain way, but boy did it prove me wrong. There was such a huge twist that I didn’t see coming! It took the story in such a unique direction. It tied up pretty nicely at the end, but that didn’t take away from my enjoyment.

Another great book by Riley Sager!

As we are introduced to Casey, we question how reliable she may be, due to her excessive drinking and her spiraling behavior. She is staying at her lakehouse after some recent problems in her acting career.

While at the lake, she saves famous model, Katherine Royce, from drowning. After this incident, she watches Katherines house from her porch and notices strange behavior from her and her husband. When Katherine goes missing, she gets help from the man staying next door and she investigates on her own.

Little did she know the lake held more secrets than she was prepares to acknowledge; including secrets of her own.

This is one of my favorite thrillers of all time! I love Riley Sager and this book has my head spinning so fast with all of the twists and turns! I will never forget this lake or house! The characters in this book were so interesting to follow and had my mouth hanging open throughout half of the book! 5/5 must read!!!!!

Reminiscent of The Woman in the Window by AJ Finn, this takes a new spin on the genre by taking us into the life of a former actress whose husband drowned and she's recovering--or pretending to recover while drinking herself into oblivion--at her lake house. When a neighbor she's been spying on suddenly disappears with no clear answers, she feels obliged to investigate for herself. Driven by grief over her loss, she slips into obsession as she searches for answers about what's real and what's in her head.

Thank you to the publisher and Net Galley for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for my honest, personal review. Casey Fletcher is having issues. Her husband has died and she has started binge drinking which has cost her everything. She retreats to her mothers cabin for to try sobriety but she finds a mystery instead. What is really going on with the neighbors across the lake? The twists and turns are decent enough, but the ending wasn't what I was hoping for with this story.

Short summary -
Casey is looking for retreat and perhaps closure at her family’s lake house in Vermont after recently becoming widowed after her husband drowned in the same lake. She takes solace in watching the rich couple across the lake through binoculars and “drowning” her sorrows with tons of alcohol. She strikes up a bit of a friendship after a chance encounter saving former model (and neighbor from across the lake) Katherine from drowning. As the two chat, Katherine reveals that perhaps her marriage isn’t what it seems to be and something is amiss. She also doesn’t feel quite like herself and she can’t pinpoint what’s wrong. Not long after their chance encounter, Katherine goes missing and Casey begins to dig to try to find out what’s really going on.

Overall review -
I’m usually a pretty big fan of Riley Sanger’s thrillers, but without saying too much, this one was a l little out there there for me! I’ve read all of his books and this one prob ranks at the bottom of the list for me. It did keep me entertained though, and I was eager to see how it ended. Still worth a read, IMO.


Overall rating - 3.5 ⭐️, rounded up to 4 ⭐️ for Goodreads

This book saved Riley Sager for me! My first Sager book was Survive the Night, and I hated it due to its predictability and silly character choices. Going into The House Across the Lake, I thought I knew what all of the twists were going to be. Even as I read, I thought I had it figured out.

N O P E. I couldn’t have been further from wrong! There were several audible gasps along the way! I can’t wait to pick up more of Sagers books!

Out of all of Riley Sager's books, this is definitely my least favourite so far, which actually says something because I didn't particularly enjoy any of them.

In The House Across the Lake recently widowed actress Casey Fletcher moves into her family's lake house after a streak of bad press. At the beginning of the book Casey saves her neighbour, former model Katherine, from drowning in the lake. They become friends.
One day, out of boredom Casey takes her late husband's binoculars and starts spying on Katherine and her husband, Tom - as one does. Please note the sarcasm. It turns out that Katherine and Tom might not actually have the picture perfect marriage everyone seems to believe they have, and when Katherine disappears Casey is alarmed and starts investigating.

So let me begin by talking a little about the main character, Casey. She's a former drug addict turned alcoholic and I found her extremely unlikable. It was hard to root for her and it didn't help that Sager just doesn't write women well. More on that later.
Anyways, Casey doesn't want to stay at the lakehouse because she used to spend a lot of time there with her husband, therefore there are too many memories of him attached to it. She compensates by drinking too much. The astute reader might start wondering now: why doesn't Casey leave the lakehouse if she's so miserable there? Well, it's because her mother told her to stay there. It makes no sense.
Okay, back to Sager and the way he writes women badly. Imagine the scenario: you - a woman - are completely alone at a lakehouse, outside, spying on your neighbours with your binoculars. It's dark. A stranger shows up and startles you. What do you do? If your answer is "I'm checking the stranger out, then we make casual conversation", you're going with Casey's decision. Sorry, but this is so unrealistic. What woman would react that way? And in case you were wondering: Casey decides he's hookup material.
Later in the book it gets more and more obvious that Casey is in danger. Still, she doesn't leave. Why? I don't know.
Casey's character is written in a rather inconsistent way overall.
Then there's that plot twist. It was so ridiculous and terrible. It felt like a joke.
In the end the only reason I’m not rating this 1 star is that the ending was so bad that I actually found it hilarious to read, but as a thriller I can't take this book seriously.

This was a great book. I love how Riley Sager can mix mystery with horror. In this book, you don't even really see the true paranormal aspects till near the end of the book. I liked seeing the noisy neighbor who thought she was helping to find out that it wasn't exactly what she thought was happening. I have recommended this book to several people along with his others but have had a hard time trying to explain what it is about without giving things away. I can't wait for the next book that comes out by Riley Sager.