I come to Riley Sager as a horror enthusiast who just wants to be entertained by his twisty take on classic horror tropes.
This time, Sager takes his pen to the well trod Rear Window.
Actress Casey Fletcher, recently widowed after her husband drowns in the lake outside their home, is exiled to her family’s remote lakehouse manor following a tabloid scandal. Casey spends her time drinking the days away and spying on her new neighbors in the house across the lake (*snap snap*). After Casey saves the wife, Katherine, from drowning they strike up a friendship. Casey’s continued voyeurism has her increasingly worried Katherine’s marriage is abusive, she eventually thinks husband Tom killed Katherine after she goes missing and is determined to prove it.
The plot of The House Across the Lake is bound to be somewhat divisive, the ending gets kind of wild and the whole neighbor witnessing a murder, unreliable/drunk narrator thing has been done ad nauseam, but that’s exactly why I appreciate a fresh look at it. Just when you think you know exactly how everything ends Sager pulls the rug out from under you.
Not my favorite Riley Sager (at this point I think it’s bound to remain Final Girls – but I’m open so keep’ em coming!) but a fun little page turner on par with Sager’s other offerings.
That Bookish Life 