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sonygaystation's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Death, and Alcohol
Moderate: Violence, Grief, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Infidelity, Suicide, Blood, and Vomit
davidb71's review against another edition
1.0
And this is how I felt about this book - The House Across the Lake - for perhaps the first half of it. I felt it was a little blunt and heavy-handed in lots of ways, but I was still drawn into the mystery and quite happy to go along with it, eager to see where the story was heading.
But at around the two-thirds mark the novel went from being flawed and a little too heavy-handed for my taste, but basically okay-ish, to going completely off the rails. And I mean completely off the rails. I can't recall ever seeing a novel take such a jarring turn into total craziness like this one did. And for me it didn't work at all.
I couldn't believe what I reading - and not in a good way. There's a supernatural twist that comes from nowhere that I found totally jarring. For two-thirds of the book you're reading one type of novel - a mystery surrounding a missing woman at a lake house, with echoes of Hitchcock's Rear Window - and then, suddenly, you're reading a completely different type of novel involving supernatural elements and people being possessed by spirits. If this sounds like fun, it isn't. I thought it was a mess.
And it wasn't just the supernatural elements that I didn't like - there were other plot twists and revelations piled upon this supernatural nonsense - and none of it worked for me. Too much made absolutely no sense. None of it felt cohesive - I can't remember a less cohesive novel I've read in a long time, if ever. And it just kept getting worse and worse - to the final 'twist' that I thought was so poorly executed it had all the sophistication of a villain's reveal in an episode of Scooby Doo.
I finished this book feeling dazed, stupefied, in a state of disbelief - not because of the story itself, but because I couldn't believe how bad it was. I couldn't believe how anyone could think this was a good idea, from the writer himself, to the publisher, the editors, the whole litany of people involved in bringing a book to publication. I thought it was a complete mess. It's a book that will live on in my memory for all the wrong reasons. Truly awful.
Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, and Alcohol
dishaslibrary's review against another edition
- 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? No
3.25
Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, and Alcohol
fiercereadsfiction's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Graphic: Addiction and Alcoholism
Moderate: Murder
Minor: Suicide and Toxic relationship
asteria_'s review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.75
Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, and Alcohol
amie_mullane_sellers's review against another edition
Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, and Alcohol
peyviz's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Death, and Murder
Moderate: Infidelity, Blood, and Stalking
Minor: Drug use and Suicide
lilalhreads's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Death, Blood, Vomit, Grief, Murder, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail
caustin2511's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, and Alcohol
laallain's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Graphic: Addiction and Alcoholism