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hapalyn's review
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
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcohol, Alcoholism, and Addiction
Moderate: Death, Kidnapping, and Murder
Minor: Vomit, Torture, Suicide, Injury/Injury detail, Child death, Suicide attempt, Grief, and Cursing
mel_issareads'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? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Oh my goodness, what a wild ride of a book! I enjoyed all the characters, the drama, the boozed up issues, the mystery, the scary aspects! This was quite a story and I really liked this one a lot. It was entertaining, thoughtful, and had me on the edge of my seat.
shit! Len was the murderer and he possessed Katherine!? What the hell!? Did I read that right?? I loved the crazy ass twists in this one SO much… I was not expecting any of it
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Torture, and Murder
lovelymisanthrope's review
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Riley Sager quickly became one of my favorite authors in 2020 after I read "Lock Every Door". I have read all of his books at this point, and I have had mixed feelings. I have always enjoyed them, but some of them were simply very okay and lacked the magic that I fell in love with while I read "Lock Every Door". I was very excited to pick up this story because I thought it sounded like it had great potential to be very atmospheric.
"The House Across the Lake" follows Casey Fletcher, an actress who is residing at her family's lake house and trying to move forward following her husband's death in the lake. While she is looking out over the lake, she takes notice that the new husband and wife across the lake are not as picture perfect as they seem. When the wife goes missing, Casey finds herself swept up in a mystery that will force her to finally reconcile with the death of her own husband.
As soon as I started to read this novel, it reminded me of "The Woman in the Window" and "Misery". I kind of felt like Casey's character was a combination of characters that I have read before. Unfortunately, she kind of bored me as a character. I could not connect with her, and it left me not fully invested in her story. About halfway through the book takes a magical turn based on some folklore. I was really interested in the folklore, but I was hoping Riley Sager would write it in a way that the character saw it as magical, but it was truly rooted in reality (like "Home Before Dark").
Overall, this book was fine. It told an interesting story and had some mysterious twists that were fun to figure out. I will still pick up Riley Sager's future books, but I hope he can captivate me further in the future.
"The House Across the Lake" follows Casey Fletcher, an actress who is residing at her family's lake house and trying to move forward following her husband's death in the lake. While she is looking out over the lake, she takes notice that the new husband and wife across the lake are not as picture perfect as they seem. When the wife goes missing, Casey finds herself swept up in a mystery that will force her to finally reconcile with the death of her own husband.
As soon as I started to read this novel, it reminded me of "The Woman in the Window" and "Misery". I kind of felt like Casey's character was a combination of characters that I have read before. Unfortunately, she kind of bored me as a character. I could not connect with her, and it left me not fully invested in her story. About halfway through the book takes a magical turn based on some folklore. I was really interested in the folklore, but I was hoping Riley Sager would write it in a way that the character saw it as magical, but it was truly rooted in reality (like "Home Before Dark").
Overall, this book was fine. It told an interesting story and had some mysterious twists that were fun to figure out. I will still pick up Riley Sager's future books, but I hope he can captivate me further in the future.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Torture, Alcohol, Murder, Death, and Alcoholism
Moderate: Sexual assault
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