Reviews tagging 'Death'

The House Across the Lake by Riley Sager

280 reviews

dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Plot
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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miss_moon98's review

3.75
dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Plot
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

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sarah0328's profile picture

sarah0328's review

5.0
adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious tense slow-paced

Wow... this one was actually really twisty,  I didn't see the plot twist coming. The book was excellent. Chapters are pretty long (at least for me) 

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mysterious slow-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

I really struggled to get into this one.  There were a few moments that just didn’t seem like they fit well with the genre and some of the paranormal stuff just wasn’t that interesting to me.

Read For 
✓ Lake House
✓ Paranormal 
✓ Mystery Thriller
✓ Unreliable Narrator 
✓ Loose Ends Are Tied Up by the End

𓍊𓋼𓍊𓋼𓍊𓋼𓍊𓋼𓍊𓋼𓍊𓋼𓍊𓋼𓍊𓋼𓍊𓋼𓍊𓋼𓍊𓋼𓍊

Spice Level: n/a
Sad Level: 💧

Plot: 5/10
Pace: 3/10
Ending: 6/10
Characters: 4/10
Enjoyability: 3/10
Writing Style: 5/10
Would I Recommend? No
Favorite Character: n/a

Favorite Quote: ❝there’s no such thing as happily ever after. There’s only happy for a short period of time before everything falls apart.❞

POV: First Person
Pages: 384
Format: Paperback 
Language: English
Release Date: 06, June 2023

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challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

I was really enjoying this as a mystery book, but then the twist about 3/4 of the way through was so unnecessary that it ruined the entire book for me.

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isabellemay14's profile picture

isabellemay14's review

2.75
dark mysterious tense fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Plot
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

In my opinion there’s a difference between a plot twist you never see coming and a plot twist with absolutely no hints or build up that could have ever primed you to see it coming, and this book was definitely the latter. The big reveal—while shocking—came entirely out of left field in a way that didn’t feel satisfying or even particularly logical, and I personally wasn’t a fan of the
supernatural/paranormal
twist. This book also relied HEAVILY on having an unreliable narrator, and the way she was made unreliable was by repeatedly mentioning her alcoholism what felt like every other line. While I did enjoy the first half of the book, the thriller trope of “drunk housebound woman witnesses something sketchy going on at the neighbor’s house” has been done before and better. 

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tmluke's review

4.25
dark mysterious tense medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Plot
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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the_vegan_bookworm's profile picture

the_vegan_bookworm's review

2.5
mysterious 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

This just felt really underwhelming! While I didn't see the twists coming and can offer the credit for originality on that front, they just felt random and poorly thought out. The exploration of alcoholism was surface-level at best and none of the characters felt like real people so much as caricatures in the plot.

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kalexcassady's review

3.75
dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced
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

So slow. But good twist at the end finally worth it. 

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