Reviews tagging 'Grief'

The House Across the Lake by Riley Sager

86 reviews

juanat77's review

dark emotional mysterious sad tense 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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Alcohol, Violence, Addiction, Cursing, Grief, Alcoholism, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Death, Confinement, Vomit, Kidnapping, Murder, Toxic relationship, Abandonment, Gore, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, and Infidelity

sonygaystation's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcohol, Alcoholism, and Death

Moderate: Violence, Murder, Grief, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Blood, Vomit, Suicide, and Infidelity

meghanlamar's review

mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief and Alcoholism

snoopyfanclub's review

challenging dark hopeful mysterious sad tense medium-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

2.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Alcohol, Blood, Violence, Grief, Murder, Suicide, and Death

lilalhreads's review

challenging dark mysterious tense slow-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Blood, Death, Addiction, Alcoholism, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Vomit, and Grief

slaywithsteph's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious 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

5.0

There’s no such thing as happily ever after. There’s only happy for a short period of time before everything falls apart.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcohol, Dysphoria, Grief, Alcoholism, Confinement, and Death

Moderate: Domestic abuse and Stalking

Minor: Drug use

romorel's review

adventurous 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? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

My third Sager thriller since December,  this may be my favourite in terms of technical construction. The plot builds steadily, opening up questions for the reader early on that will keep the reader guessing til the end. 

Sager delivers excellent and satisfying twists, and for once a

supernatural

element that I hadn’t encountered in his previous works. He also has a knack for compelling sexual tension between his protagonist and their love interest. I just wish we’d gotten

a kiss

. 

I can say with certainty that Riley Sager (Todd Ritter) is one of my favourite writers, and I look forward to reading more of his work. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Murder, and Grief

Moderate: Violence, Suicide attempt, Confinement, Stalking, and Death

chapters_and_pages's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious fast-paced

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

4.5

This was so close to a five star read for me… I have now read every book by Riley Sager and it’s safe to say that he is one of my favourite authors. 

I finished this book in two sittings, honestly I could not put it down. I loved almost everything about this book. 

Now, the one thing that stopped me from giving this book five stars was one of the plot twists. I won’t spoil it, but this book went down a strange path that Sager has never done before (if you know you know…). I didn’t hate it, but I also didn’t love it, it was just not what I expected and I didn’t really know how to feel about it… but overall, amazing book! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Grief, Murder, Emotional abuse, Alcoholism, Death, and Alcohol

pinkparentheses's review

dark emotional mysterious tense fast-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

3.5

The story is a wild ride. If you want a very grounded story, this is not for you. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Alcohol, and Grief

This entire story is mostly about the main character’s alcoholism.

missgrangerr's review

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

2.0

To be honest, I was a bit disappointed when it is revealed that what was happening was all supernatural, I prefer a more realistic ending. The drunk single female / unreliable narrator is getting a bit tired and would have enjoyed a more well rounded character for a protagonist.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Alcoholism, Death, and Grief