Reviews tagging 'Kidnapping'

The House Across the Lake by Riley Sager

67 reviews

kasia_k_'s review against another edition

dark medium-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, and Grief

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Murder, Death, and Physical abuse

Minor: Kidnapping and Suicide

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

rebriley95's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious tense fast-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? Yes

3.0

I know this book was supposed to be a thriller but it was completely insane. The plot twists were unexpected but very unrealistic. Not a bad read, but probably wouldn’t recommend it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Kidnapping, Torture, and Murder

karensbookcorner's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Stalking, and Alcohol

Moderate: Kidnapping and Violence

Minor: Suicide

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: Stalking, Violence, Vomit, Kidnapping, and Murder

hmatt's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-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? Yes

3.0

With the (MAJOR) exception of one very-spoilery aspect, I thought this was a fine, if cliché, thriller. Maybe a little on the long side, and certainly not without about 7 plot twists. One non-spoiler comment is that the narrator does a fine job, but also sounds like someone who is 30+ years older than the main character is supposed to be. This bugged me. 

I cannot express just how disappointed I was to have the major plot twist be a ~~~supernatural thing. I kept reading in the hopes that this was another fake-out and it was actually something of-this-world, if horrible. Which would have been a very cool way to deke IMO. Alas, the author stuck with the woo-woo.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Violence, Murder, Physical abuse, Alcoholism, Death, Drug abuse, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Confinement, and Addiction

emig333's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious 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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction

Moderate: Kidnapping, Murder, and Death

Minor: Violence and Suicide

karly_ackley's review

dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Grief, Kidnapping, Addiction, Death, Gaslighting, Alcoholism, Child death, Suicide, Violence, Stalking, Mental illness, Self harm, and Alcohol

seetaylorwrite's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

The beginning of this book starts off like any other thriller/suspense novel. It’s starts with Casey, a famous star who’s screenwriter husband died of drowning 14 months prior. While at the family lake house, she meets supermodel Katherine and social media mogul Tom who have bought the house across the lake after rescuing Katherine from drowning. Just a couple of days later, Katherine disappears and Casey and Boone, the next door neighbor, suspect Tom has something to do with it. When Casey goes poking around, she finds more than she bargains for…

Around 60-70% through the book, it hits you with a plot twist and BAM!!!! Turns into a thriller/horror novel instead! It completely threw me off and sucked me in simultaneously.

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Content Warnings

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

Minor: Gaslighting and Suicide

hannanni41's review against another edition

dark mysterious 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

3.0

The biggest twist is barely even forecasted, so it makes very little sense. The POV character sucks and I think the author seriously misunderstood how to write a good unreliable narrator. However, it was still a pretty decent read that I didn't have to think too hard about. Just go with the flow on this one and read if you're in the mood for an entertaining popcorn thriller

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Murder, Addiction, and Alcoholism

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Gaslighting, Kidnapping, and Confinement