Reviews tagging 'Vomit'

The House Across the Lake by Riley Sager

44 reviews

pookiee's review against another edition

mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

for some reason, i like ‘alcoholic voyeur’ narrators, like The Girl on the Train, The Woman in the Window, and now this. the writing is nice and also refreshingly modern; the internet, social media, and entertainment industry are mentioned naturally.

there’s a

paranormal

twist which i HATE but in this case it aided the plot so it wasn’t too bad. but really that’s cheap when it’s not established it’s that kind of story.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Death, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Violence, Vomit, Kidnapping, Stalking, and Murder

sp34kn0ww's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Body horror, Death, Gore, Infidelity, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Grief, Stalking, Murder, and Alcohol

crystalleighwrites's review against another edition

dark tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, and Alcohol

Moderate: Violence, Vomit, Kidnapping, Grief, and Murder

Minor: Confinement, Domestic abuse, Gore, Suicide, and Kidnapping

julied's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Murder, and Alcohol

Moderate: Confinement, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Kidnapping, and Injury/Injury detail

madhmillz's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

The best Riley Sager book I’ve yet to read!

Personally, the twists gave me everything I wanted and then some! Still t keeping with Sager’s overall style while breaking the mold at the same time. I hope to see more like this one in the future!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism and Death

Moderate: Violence

Minor: Blood and Vomit

arthur_ant18's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Cursing, Death, Violence, Grief, Stalking, Murder, and Alcohol

Moderate: Drug use, Blood, Vomit, and Injury/Injury detail

hapalyn's review against another edition

dark hopeful mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, and Alcohol

Moderate: Death, Kidnapping, and Murder

Minor: Child death, Cursing, Suicide, Torture, Vomit, Grief, Suicide attempt, and Injury/Injury detail

mallory10100's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

this was so insanely twisty i had absolutely no idea where it was going 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Kidnapping, Grief, Stalking, Murder, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Confinement, Cursing, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Suicide attempt, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Infidelity, Blood, and Vomit

toofondofbooks_'s review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

The stars I give this book are for the following: the creepy atmosphere, the writing that at times made me feel like I myself was on Lake Greene, the reference to "Lock Every Door," the fact that there were some pieces of this story that sent a couple of chills down my spine, and the decent pacing.

Other than that, things get a little dicey...

I wrote down in my journal around page 100 that the star rating of this book was very much going to depend on the twist(s)...and friends, I just thought that all of these twists were weak at best and goofy at worst. There was one twist that made me actually LOL and I really don't think that was Sager's intent.

When I wasn't rolling my eyes out of confusion or snort laughing at how dumb that one twist was, I was just...bored. I dunno, Riley. We'll try again next time.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Grief, Stalking, Murder, and Alcohol

Moderate: Child abuse, Suicide, and Abandonment

Minor: Racism, Sexual content, and Colonisation

house_of_hannah's review against another edition

dark mysterious fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

If I ever have to read the word "bourbon" again it will be too soon ! I swear 2/3 of this book is simply talking about how many drinks this woman has had. It gets tiring very quickly, and if alcoholism is a needed content warning for you, then I would not pick this one up.

This book is a lot. The first 2/3 are very generic, and full of stereotypes that are bizzarely self aware. It gets pretty boring, feels slow, and is honestly just a whole lot of nothing. Then for the last third everything shifts into an entirely different story, and even the pacing completely changes. It feels like this has three different endings with how it just keeps going and going at the end. 

I think at least 50 pages could have easily been shaved off. It feels so drawn out, and I even grew to hate the main character. As usual, if you pay attention to what people say in the beginning you can see where this is going early on. 

I do feel like the final third of this book almost invalidates the previous part. We see things through the main character, Casey's, eyes so there is information we should have known from the get go, but is purposely withheld from us to make the twists more impactful. You cannot tell me that there was no point where she was thinking about these things. It just feels like lying by omission, and is weird with the point of view we are given. 

Even though there are things I majorly disliked in this book, I still think it comes out as an average read. It's quick and easy to get through, kept me intrigued enough to want to know the ending, and gives us a proper, albeit not very believable, ending. The last third is what bumps it up to 3 for me though, as the first 2/3 is sadly just a 2. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Death, Violence, Grief, Murder, and Alcohol

Moderate: Suicide and Toxic relationship

Minor: Infidelity and Vomit