Book Review: The House Across the Lake by Riley Sager

My Rating:
2.5⭐

After a drunken debacle causes her to lose her latest role and earns her bad press, 35-year-old actress, Casey Fletcher retreats to her family’s vacation home on Greene Lake in Vermont. A little over a year ago, Casey's husband drowned in the lake which seems to have triggered her alcohol dependence. Haunted by her memories, she spends most of her time in an alcohol-induced haze and spying on her neighbors with her late husband’s binoculars. The “house across the lake” is owned by a power couple - tech entrepreneur Tom and his wife Katherine, a famous model. After saving Katherine from drowning in the lake, Casey and Katherine become friendly. Casey witnesses ( with her binoculars, of course) what she thinks is a disagreement between the couple ( very “Rear Window”, which coincidentally was her and her late husband's favorite movie), and when Katherine disappears, Casey suspects that Tom had something to do with it. As Casey tries to find out what happened to Katherine, she seeks the help of Boone Conrad, an ex-cop who is temporarily staying in the neighborhood while doing some work on another resident’s home, who also has secrets of his own. Will Casey be able to find Katherine before it is too late?

To be honest, up to the 70% mark, the story seemed formulaic –alcoholic protagonist/unreliable narrator, Rear Window style snooping into a neighbor’s window witnessing an altercation of sorts between a couple in a presumably troubled marriage, the wife goes missing and then alcoholic nosy neighbor becomes alcoholic super sleuth et cetera et cetera. Long-drawn and overly descriptive, I found the first half of the novel more than a tad boring. But then, everything I predicted turned out to be WRONG! Usually, I love being proved wrong but in this case, I would have preferred a predictable ending. While the initial 70% was boring and unoriginal but readable, the final segment and the major twist made things worse. Given the time I had already invested in the book, I forced myself to finish it. I wasn’t particularly thrilled with the weird direction the story took but yes, I was surprised as all my theories got tossed into the lake! Though not quite original in concept, Riley Sager’s The House Across the Lake is suspenseful and twisty and I can see how it might appeal to others but unfortunately, it did not work for me!