Book Review: "The House Across the Lake" by Riley Sager

3-3.5 stars/5 stars

Spoilers ahead. You have been warned!

I feel conflicted about The House Across the Lake. (Disclaimer: This is my first Riley Sager novel.)

Casey Fletcher is our main character, an alcoholic actress retreating to a family lake house in Vermont. She's recently widowed and does not seem to be taking it well. Understandable, considering her now-dead husband, Len, was the love of her life, and the five years they had together were happy, until they weren't. 

Because Casey is alone at her cabin, and wallowing in her sorrows, she doesn't have much to do. She feels isolated from the few neighbors that surround Lake Greene and Casey's family lake house, including family friend, and former author, Eli. 

She stumbles across some binoculars Len used for birding, and finds herself ogling the house across the lake, belonging to rich power couple, Katherine and Tom Royce. 

Tom is a tech tycoon, while Katherine is a former model. They live well, of course. Their house has huge front-facing glass windows that look out onto the lake, a metaphor of seeming transparency that is almost too much, or cliche. But, I digress.

Casey is often up at odd hours, due to the sleeplessness her grief and binge drinking often cause. She notices something bobbing out in the lake, and doesn't think it's a fish. It's Katherine Royce.

She springs into action, acting on a hunch, but half of her is already feeling preemptive self-loathing at her own stupidity, because it probably is just her brain playing tricks. Pulling Katherine out of the water, Casey saves her from drowning. It appears that it was just a freak accident, that Katherine had some sort of accident while swimming, such as cramping muscles. 

Of course, because this is a psychological thriller, things aren't as they seem.

My hackles rose immediately when we get to meet Tom for the first time, when he and Katherine come over to thank Casey for saving Katherine's life. He just gave off wrong vibes, especially with the disdain he shows towards his wife when she's had one too many cups of wine, and faceplants near the lakeshore. 

Casey's stalker-hobby (clearly unhealthy, voyeuristic behavior) becomes a job all of a sudden, as Casey watches the house constantly for signs of things going wrong. She and Katherine have a budding friendship and is genuinely concerned for her safety.

One day, after fighting the previous night, Katherine vanishes. All hell breaks loose, including the author's various red herrings. Because I have trust issues after reading The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides, I suspected everyone. Everyone. The recently widowed contractor guy, Boone, (of course, he's hot) that's staying at another lake-house in exchange for doing work for the owners. (Did I mention that Boone is a recovering alcoholic?) Casey's author friend, Eli, also widowed. Of course, Tom. But, I even suspected Katherine herself. 

Things escalate between Casey and Tom when Boone and Casey, having teamed up to do some impromptu sleuthing, cross some lines, and muddy the waters for Boone's detective friend, who reluctantly is on the job. 

Okay, so I'll admit that some of the tropes used in the book, such as the single, hot neighbor guy and his teaming up with the leading lady, made me squirm a bit. The later introduction of a supernatural entity, something hinted at before, threw me off a bit. I was a bit disappointed by that, as I felt it allowed the author to explain away some of the twists with more ease.

However, I am not denying that I enjoyed the book overall, even if I had some quibbles with the aforementioned tropes and plot points, as well as the ending. I felt like Casey got away with a lot and should face some legal consequences after all that happened. 

The House Across the Lake was a satisfying enough read to keep me going and reading until the end, even with my various aforementioned quibbles.

Happy reading!

--BookOwl