Reviews tagging 'Drug abuse'

The House Across the Lake by Riley Sager

11 reviews

monloesco's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.5

I didn’t fully love the

paranormal aspect of the book

and thus started reading it slower. At the end I thought some things were gonna be left unresolved but like if the author was reading my mind it all got explained and I liked it! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Murder, and Drug abuse

cheypreston's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction and Drug abuse

infjkiki's review against another edition

dark emotional tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Death, Alcohol, Grief, Confinement, Stalking, Alcoholism, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Drug use, Gaslighting, Suicide attempt, Suicidal thoughts, and Drug abuse

Minor: Physical abuse, Suicide, Excrement, Vomit, and Infidelity

joshi_the_pumpkin's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Grief, Drug use, Drug abuse, Death, Alcohol, Addiction, Violence, and Alcoholism

hmatt's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.0

With the (MAJOR) exception of one very-spoilery aspect, I thought this was a fine, if cliché, thriller. Maybe a little on the long side, and certainly not without about 7 plot twists. One non-spoiler comment is that the narrator does a fine job, but also sounds like someone who is 30+ years older than the main character is supposed to be. This bugged me. 

I cannot express just how disappointed I was to have the major plot twist be a ~~~supernatural thing. I kept reading in the hopes that this was another fake-out and it was actually something of-this-world, if horrible. Which would have been a very cool way to deke IMO. Alas, the author stuck with the woo-woo.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Violence, Murder, Physical abuse, Alcoholism, Death, Drug abuse, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Confinement, and Addiction

throwback682's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Domestic abuse, Death of parent, Death, Drug abuse, Alcoholism, and Suicide

annabulkowski's review against another edition

challenging dark funny hopeful mysterious sad medium-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Domestic abuse, Death, Drug abuse, Murder, Drug use, Alcohol, Cursing, and Addiction

sammhoff's review against another edition

dark funny mysterious sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• 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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Alcohol, Death, Addiction, Drug abuse, Grief, Suicide, Domestic abuse, and Murder

mari_books's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

2.5

Hmmm…I think it can only be said that this book is entertaining. I didn’t find any of the characters likeable or really interesting. The “plot twists” seem to come out of no where and are unhinged, then have their backstory filled in by flashbacks. I dislike how much of the story we as readers learn from Casey’s phone calls or texts with other characters. I also think we could have done without 50% of the character backstory and a lot more detail on the actual plot twists

Way more attention is paid to how Casey has a damaged relationship with her mom than to the actual details of how her SERIAL KILLER HUSBAND hid the bodies, got away with murder and CAME BACK TO POSESS ANOTHER CHARACTER

This is the second book I’ve read from this author, some of the characters repeat quite a bit. I would only recommend this book if there were no other options and you were like in an airport or something.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Drug abuse, Alcohol, Physical abuse, Alcoholism, and Blood

tspice24's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Alcoholism, Addiction, and Alcohol

Moderate: Kidnapping and Murder

Minor: Drug abuse and Drug use