The House Across the Lake

This was my first Riley Sager book and I thoroughly enjoyed it.... until the last 20ish percent.

Summary: Following the tragic death of her husband, actress, Casey Fletcher, is sent to her family's lake cabin to stay out of the media's eye as she recovers. There, she meets her new neighbors. Supermodel, Katherine Royce, and her husband, Tom, who helped create a Facebook-like app. One drunken night, Casey notices something amiss at the Royce house across the lake and something feels off about Katherine's disappearance. Casey must work to find out what happened to this woman she barely knows, yet feels oddly drawn to her. Only in her investigation she learns there is something far more sinister happening on Lake Greene.

We begin with an unreliable, alcoholic, grief-stricken narrator. Most of the book was extremely well done. I was captivated by Sager's writing style and enjoyed the character dynamics. It almost felt like A.J. Finn's “The Woman in the Window” but better. I genuinely had no idea who was at fault for a majority of the story, which was refreshing.

However, Sager tried to share commentary on women's issues but missed the mark in the context it was shared. Also the last 20% of the book was just plain wild. Until this point I had been flying through the book. It felt as if the plot was out of place but was happening too fast yet felt so slow. It was confusing to say the least.

I still rate it 4.5/5 stars because I had a genuinely good time reading it and this was the best thriller/mystery I've read recently. As I have come to learn, Sager is a master at creating twists you never see coming. Highly recommend checking out this book.