Reviews with content warning for Death - The House Across the Lake

This book really had me hooked from the get go! Was one of those books that just kept you engrossed and wanting to find out what happens next!
This book follows our main character Casey Fletcher, a failed actress and widow, who lives in a house on Lake Greene, when one night she discovers a body floating on the top of the lake, she immediately jumps on her boat to go and aims to bring the ‘dead’ body back to land, only she suddenly comes back to life, coughing and spluttering. This is when we are introduced to Katherine Royce, a former model.
Katherine and Casey spend time talking after Casey saved her life, even having a beer or two while they are there. Eventually, Katherine goes home as it’s getting late but Casey tells her to keep the blanket. Soon after, we are also introduced to Tom Royce (Katherine’s husband) who also comes over to Casey’s house to meet her and thank her for saving Katherine’s life by bringing over two bottles of $5,000 red wine to celebrate. Except, Tom seems rather suspicious as he has to be one to open the bottle and decant the wine into glasses for the two women… it’s only when Katherine proclaims that she isn’t feeling good and collapses outside of Casey’s house that Casey realises something isn’t right.
Along the way, we also meet Boone Conrad who is staying at another house on the lake to do maintenance for the owners of the house. Boone and Casey become close and often talk. Casey even sneaking little looks at Boone skinny dipping through her binoculars.
However, the focus of this book is discovering what happened to 3 young women after they suddenly just vanished, except one of the people living on the lake know who’s done it and they have even dealt with it in their own way.
I loved all the characters in this book, right up until the very end when we saw the change in Tom Royce. I really felt for Casey keeping that massive secret, but in other ways she didn’t need to try and ruin someone else’s life by trying to frame them for the disappearances.
Such a great read and had me so hooked all the way through!

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kelseybonello's review against another edition

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dark mysterious 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

4.5

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bkyng313's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious 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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ltulisiak's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.0

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restupkin's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense medium-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

2.5

Well this was… disorienting to say the least. If it weren’t for the 100+ pages of Casey drinking herself numb and doing nothing but spy on her neighbours I think this would have some good potential. But like I said this book spent too much time with unnecessary things (constant drinking, more drinking, come up with theories but never actually investigating them, more drinking). I understand why those things were included but it took too much space in such a short book. I wish we would have gotten more of the mystery aspect of the book. More engagement. The plot twist was predictable 🤷 it was actually one of my first theories. Which is fine but I would’ve love more investigative work. Also everything felt like it was lacking, nothing felt mysterious or even scary. The final 50 pages were the best part of the book. I actually enjoyed everything coming together and being put to rest. The characters were fine. Nothing special. Enjoyable but not noteworthy.

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celina246's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense medium-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

3.75

i didn't see that twist coming, i have it give credit where it's due - and it was a wild one. could have done with a different ending tho I think.

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boba_nbooks's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.75

What is it with male thriller authors writing about nosey alcoholic women? The House Across the Lake follows a main character who is quite similar to the one in The Woman in the Window.

Casey is an actress born into a famous family who owns a beautiful lake house on Lake Green. Ever since her husband, Len, passed away, Casey has been spiraling and turning to alcohol. An embarrassing press stunt leads her mother to send Casey away to the lake house in the fall for some time alone. Lake Green is quite popular during the summer, but once the offseason hits, anything goes. With nothing better to do, Casey starts to spy on her neighbors who live in a glass house across the lake, and what she finds disturbs her. Her neighbor goes missing, and Casey decides to take the investigation into her disappearance into her own hands.

This was the slowest of slow burns. Riley Sager books are hit or miss for me, but this one fell in the middle. I enjoyed the twists but will not be praising it til the end of time. It was a fun thriller, though!

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