Reviews tagging 'Toxic relationship'

The House Across the Lake by Riley Sager

42 reviews

kyrstin_p1989's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-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

4.0

So much I didn’t expect happened in this book. It’s a mix of mystery and horror that’s pretty well-done. The characters, are lovable despite their short-comings. This was a great book to end spooky season with and I look forward to reading more by this author. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Alcoholism, Addiction, Blood, Confinement, Fatphobia, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Murder, Grief, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Gun violence, Stalking, Suicide attempt, Toxic relationship, Kidnapping, Mental illness, and Violence

shahdirose's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide attempt, Alcoholism, and Alcohol

Moderate: Toxic relationship, Murder, and Death

aprilblues348's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious reflective tense fast-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Kidnapping, Addiction, Suicide attempt, Alcoholism, Blood, Death, Panic attacks/disorders, Stalking, Suicidal thoughts, Alcohol, Toxic relationship, Violence, Murder, Cursing, Grief, and Mental illness

bookcheshirecat's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced

4.25

“No matter how much you look, something just beneath the surface will always remain hidden. I should know. I’ve been watching.” 

➽ I have to admit that this is probably my favorite Riley Sager book as it's so entertaining!! The House Across the Lake is about Casey, a recently widowed actress who owns a lake house in Vermont. She's trying to escape the press and is struggling with her mental health. Casey's an alcoholic and lives alone at the house, without much outside contact. When a couple moves into the house across the lake from her, she quickly gets obsessed with them and starts watching them through her binoculars.

➽ I loved the premise and how Casey couldn't help but keep watching her new neighbors Katherine and Tom. She's getting invested in their lives but finds herself questioning how perfect their life truly is. When Katherine disappears, she's convinced that Tom might have done it and goes to investigate despite the dangers. I found the story very compelling and was actually shocked by some of the twists! We get chapters set in different times and they do a good job of letting you make assumptions. The more we get to know Casey, the more we unravel the secrets of the lake. I liked her friendship with Katherine and how she was dedicated to helping her! The story was suspenseful from start to finish and I couldn't put it down!

The reveal that Casey's husband was a serial killer and she killed him when she found out was SO good! The possession trope won't be for anyone, but I thought it was a sinister twist on what happened to Katherine. In the end, we're meant to believe that Tom's actually innocent unlike Casey suspected ... only for him to turn out to be the villain after all!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Kidnapping, Violence, Addiction, Alcoholism, and Murder

Minor: Suicide and Toxic relationship

infjkiki's review against another edition

dark emotional tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Death, Alcohol, Grief, Confinement, Stalking, Alcoholism, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Drug use, Gaslighting, Suicide attempt, Suicidal thoughts, and Drug abuse

Minor: Physical abuse, Suicide, Excrement, Vomit, and Infidelity

literally_mint's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Grief, Murder, Stalking, Toxic relationship, Addiction, Alcohol, and Kidnapping

cheeseandsausages's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic relationship, Kidnapping, Suicide, Murder, Violence, and Death

elthewallflower's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Stalking, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Physical abuse, Cursing, Injury/Injury detail, Death, Torture, Gore, Gaslighting, Emotional abuse, Alcoholism, Blood, Addiction, Violence, Toxic relationship, Murder, Mental illness, Grief, and Alcohol

_bookishbrina's review against another edition

adventurous dark medium-paced

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

4.0

Riley does it again! 4/5.

It took a while for me to actually get hooked on this book but once that was done, there was no coming back. the ending BLEW me away, I never saw it coming. 

Very entertaining! Definitely the kind of book that gets you out of a solid slump (you know, like I am).

TW: murder, alcohol, voyeurism 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic relationship, Murder, and Alcoholism

meeklovestoread's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

3.75

I liked the pacing of this book. It kept me entertained. And I like how the author handled the huge twist.

HOWEVER, my goodness! This book was messy and the big plot twists was outlandish and ludicrous. It was so out of left field and although I didn't mind it and it didn't make me angry I can completely understand why people would rate this low and/or dislike this book because of it.

I felt like the twist would've been awesome if the author actually forwarded/gave the reader hints throughout the book then maybe the twist would've been more effective. 

I didn't mind the female character, however, the withholding of information until the end made no sense considering we're already in her head anyways. And she was also picking another big secret from everyone else anyways so the author withholding said information from the reader made no sense.

The book just felt unorganized towards the middle-end because it felt like the author was jumbling multiple ideas at once and never wanted to just stick to one so he chose them all. Overall its not a bad book, but if you like thrillers that make sense and are symbolic through and through then you can skip this one. I did find it entertaining though so I'll give the author that.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Stalking, and Death

Moderate: Cursing, Kidnapping, Blood, Murder, and Toxic relationship

Minor: Gun violence, Gaslighting, Torture, Violence, and Vomit