House Across The Lake: A Novel

Riley Sager never disappoints! The first chapter of this book is a little slow, but after that, things really pick up. The ending is a jaw-dropper with so many twists and turns I found my head reeling as I tried to keep up. I’ve read everything Sager has written, and always look forward to each new release. What makes him such a unique storyteller is that you never know what kind of book he’s going to deliver, each tale wonderfully unique.

Casey Fletcher, an actress suffering from recent bad press, is banished to her family’s house on exclusive and remote Lake Green after the death of her husband and her subsequent deterioration into alcoholism. She’s a train wreck to say the least, but the perfect narrator for this unusual tale that is part crime mystery, part psychological suspense, and part supernatural thriller.

The story has a bit of Rear Window vibe with Casey watching her neighbors across the lake through binoculars—a tech mogul and a supermodel who live in a lavish glass house. There’s also a former cop with a murky past who lives next door. The way in which the lives of these four characters intertwine kept me repeatedly second-guessing what I thought I knew about each. Oh, such a clever author! I love the way in which Sager introduces a plot thread only to have it corkscrew it in an entirely different direction later. Fair warning that the ending is “out there,” but for pure story satisfaction and reading enjoyment you can’t go wrong with The House Across the Lake!

The book was very enjoyable and very well written although some of it made me laugh a little. I enjoyed the plot twists and suspense.

Very good and suspenseful book. Enjoyed.

Just when you think you have to figure it out , the author throws a loop And really plays with your mind! I loved the characters,, they were so exciting to read and try to figure out their story. The story line was wonderful!! There were so many twists and turns that I didn’t see coming. This book will keep you on your toes!

Riley Sager’s “The House Across the Lake” is a murder mystery combined with a thriller. Because the promotional materials (the “blurb”) and some of the reviews so adequately describe the premise, I’m not going to summarize the plot, especially since I don’t want to risk giving away any of the twists, turns, or surprises. And there are more than a few!

As Mr. Sager states in his “Acknowledgments” at the end of the novel, this book has a “bonkers plot.” Which means it has plusses and minuses. On minus side, the beginning of the novel seemed, in places, not believable. Characters said and did things that had me scratching my head. The main character suffers from alcoholism that seems to have been brought on by parental neglect, if not abuse, not to mention the death of her husband, also the victim of parental abuse. All that, combined with a glaring similarity to Alfred Hitchcock’s “Rear Window,” almost had me closing the book to move on to something else.

But on the plus side, I found the book well-written, scenes well-constructed, the Vermont lake setting well-described and utilized, and the characters well-drawn and interesting. They include a successful “working actress” (as opposed to a glitzy movie star), her musical-comedy mega-star mother, a retired super-model, her tech-titan husband, and a hunky ex-police officer with something of a checkered past. And so, I kept going.

Only to find that the plot is devilishly “bonkers” and that Mr. Sager seems to delight in leading his readers down false trails as foggy and mysterious as the paths around his fictional Lake Greene.

Now, that’s not to say that readers won’t have to “willingly suspend their disbelief” sometimes, and in some pretty big ways. The “reveal” of what’s actually going on is fairly stunning and certainly creative and original. Indeed, I don’t believe I’ve ever read or heard of anything quite like it. Those who are able to “just go with it,” should find themselves enjoying what I ultimately thought was a very entertaining novel.

Dans un coin paisible, où des maisons isolées se dressent entre une forêt dense et un lac silencieux, le calme est trompeur. Les souvenirs d’anciens meurtres jamais élucidés planent toujours, mais ils semblent oubliés jusqu’à l’arrivée de nouveaux voisins. Une des habitantes, sensible à l’atmosphère étrange qui les entoure, commence à avoir des doutes sur ces nouveaux venus. Leur comportement suscite en elle des soupçons grandissants, la poussant à se demander si ces voisins ne sont pas liés aux sombres secrets qui hantent encore les rives du lac.
Les personnages sont magistralement construits, avec une profondeur qui les rend aussi fascinants que troublants. L’intrigue est tout aussi habilement menée : chaque fois que l’on pense avoir percé le mystère, l’auteur nous déroute avec une nouvelle révélation, nous entraînant dans une autre direction. Ce thriller captivant est un chef-d’œuvre de suspense, bien ficelé du début à la fin.