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A review by magis1105
The House Across the Lake by Riley Sager
dark
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
It's a fast read and I read it in a single day. You have a female MC, you get the whole story from her POV and she's an unreliable narrator because she's an alcoholic. To start off that is 50-50, because it has been overly done in mystery/thrillers.
You get a woman who is idling her sorrow by turning to booze and has nothing better to do than to spy on her neighbors across the lake and the couple seems to have problems. Sound familiar?
Then throw a very handsome next-door neighbor who is creepy but good looking so she's interested in a way. That didn't make sense to me.
Katherine hints that her husband might want to kill her. When she fights with her husband it looks like she knows the neighbor is watching; in a conversation, she implies that she would spy on them. The story does curve and realign several times, you're lead to believe Tom is the main culprit and possible serial killer.
My main issue was that the MC knew this piece of information, who the serial killer is since the start. Yet she acts like she thinks the serial killer is actually Tom and in another part, she practically accuses Boone, the hunky neighbor of being the serial killer. Why does she blame them, in her head, she already knows it's not them. She knows who did it, so why does she act as if it might be them? It can be well done but the fact that the reveal was just made for the reader and that she knew all along means that she was lying to herself in her mind the 3/4 of the story.
There is a paranormal part of the story, which I didn't see coming, that foreshadowing of scary stories around a campfire doesn't count. It seemed like the big reveal, but it just kept going downhill.
It felt over the top because we find that Tom did have a nefarious plan but that section felt rushed. The book could have easily ended in the paranormal section and them making up a story to feed to the cops.
So it wasn't my favorite but it might be a not-for-me type of story.
You get a woman who is idling her sorrow by turning to booze and has nothing better to do than to spy on her neighbors across the lake and the couple seems to have problems. Sound familiar?
Then throw a very handsome next-door neighbor who is creepy but good looking so she's interested in a way. That didn't make sense to me.
Katherine hints that her husband might want to kill her. When she fights with her husband it looks like she knows the neighbor is watching; in a conversation, she implies that she would spy on them. The story does curve and realign several times, you're lead to believe Tom is the main culprit and possible serial killer.
My main issue was that the MC knew this piece of information, who the serial killer is since the start. Yet she acts like she thinks the serial killer is actually Tom and in another part, she practically accuses Boone, the hunky neighbor of being the serial killer. Why does she blame them, in her head, she already knows it's not them. She knows who did it, so why does she act as if it might be them? It can be well done but the fact that the reveal was just made for the reader and that she knew all along means that she was lying to herself in her mind the 3/4 of the story.
There is a paranormal part of the story, which I didn't see coming, that foreshadowing of scary stories around a campfire doesn't count. It seemed like the big reveal, but it just kept going downhill.
It felt over the top because we find that Tom did have a nefarious plan but that section felt rushed. The book could have easily ended in the paranormal section and them making up a story to feed to the cops.
So it wasn't my favorite but it might be a not-for-me type of story.
Content Warnings
Minor: Drug use, Domestic abuse, and Alcoholism