If you liked Woman In The Window, then The House Across The Lake may just be your cup of tea.
Casey Fletcher, a Broadway actress based in New York City is spending time away in her childhood home in Vermont. Living alone, it can get boring in such a big house, and it just so happens that her new neighbors across the lake have very large windows.
While sitting on her porch, Casey spots Katherine lying face down on the water and jumps in to save her. After all, Casey’s husband drowned in that same water a year earlier. To repay Casey for saving her life, Katherine and her husband Tom bring over wine.
After many hours of chit-chat and a passed-out wife, Tom and Katherine head back home. The next morning, Katherine is missing.
As the nosy neighbor, Casey is always watching the other houses on the lake. However, with her constant snooping, it was only a matter of time before she would see something she wasn’t supposed to.
Everyone tells Casey she is delusional for suspecting anything but a wife simply getting tired of the water life and heading back to the city. Although, what is she supposed to do when all clues point toward a murderer living just across the lake?
The House Across The Lake by Riley Sager
Published June 21st, 2022
Genre: Mystery, Thriller, Paranormal, Suspense
Pages: 369
Casey Fletcher, a recently widowed actress trying to escape a streak of bad press, has retreated to the peace and quiet of her family’s lake house in Vermont. Armed with a pair of binoculars and several bottles of liquor, she passes the time watching Tom and Katherine Royce, the glamorous couple who live in the house across the lake. They make for good viewing—a tech innovator, Tom is rich; and a former model, Katherine is gorgeous.
One day on the lake, Casey saves Katherine from drowning, and the two strike up a budding friendship. But the more they get to know each other—and the longer Casey watches—it becomes clear that Katherine and Tom’s marriage is not as perfect and placid as it appears. When Katherine suddenly vanishes, Casey becomes consumed with finding out what happened to her. In the process, she uncovers eerie, darker truths that turn a tale of voyeurism and suspicion into a story of guilt, obsession and how looks can be very deceiving.
Spoiler-Free
With only a bottle of bourbon, the painter next door, and a really expensive pair of binoculars, Casey must find Katherine by any means necessary.
The House Across The Lake is about a missing wife, a lying husband, a suspicious neighbor, an obsessive mother, and a paranoid watcher. Casey has skeletons in a closet of her own and she refuses to let history repeat itself.
Although I rated this a 3-star read, I still thoroughly enjoyed reading it and would likely pick it up again. The chapters weren’t too long and I had so many burning questions that I couldn’t waste any time turning the page.
However, I did find the first half or so of the book to be a bit slow, although still important to the plot. The main reason I didn’t enjoy this book entirely was because of the plot-twist at the end.
If you read the book, you’re probably wondering which one and I will say one word to that: Cee.
I found the ending to be cliché and almost forced but it was definitely unexpected. I guess it is true that some secrets won’t stay buried forever.
Or should I say drowned?
Not everyone is as good as they claim to be and with everyone being suspects in Katherine’s disappearance and possible murder, the only person we (the reader) can trust is a 85% of the time hungover Casey Fletcher.
But she can lie too.
Spoilers
I can see the appeal in making the lake haunted but as I said, it seemed forced. Her dead husband taking over Katherine’s body? Really?
This narrative has potential and while it was unsuspected, that is the exact reason I couldn’t like it.
If the book had concluded with Boone being the murderer I would give this an easy 4-stars at the least. The resurrected husband route wasn’t it for me. Honestly, an even better plot would have been the whole circle of houses surrounding Casey’s being in on the murders.
Now that might have been a five-star.
I definitely was shocked to find out Casey killed her husband but who wouldn’t have been in her position? Well probably most people but you get what I’m trying to say.
That was a twist but an even better one was the devoted husband, Tom, turned murderer, turned savior, turned murderer again. The fight scene at the end on the porch had me holding my breath for pages.
Final Thoughts
I loved reading The House Across The Lake. Although I found the ending to be mostly ridiculous, I had a fun time.
I absolutely loved Woman In The Window (which I highly recommend you check out) and this book had some crossovers that made me nostalgic and desperate for more.
In this book, you can trust no one and Sager makes sure that you don’t expect the unexpected. With unreliable neighbors, sometimes all you have is yourself and your trusted pair of binoculars.
