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.

That probably is just me and my reading tastes here speaking, but I guess I prefer my mystery/thriller without any monsters or ghosts or the like. One day on the lake, Casey saves Katherine from drowning, and the two strike up a budding friendship.

There were lots of twists, but they all came at the end, one right after the other and mostly unbelievable. With his trademark blend of sharp characters, psychological suspense and gasp-worthy twists, Riley Sager’s The House Across the Lakewill shock readers until the very last page.

The lakehouse does not provide the much hoped for solace, but armed with her binoculars and the inevitable drink, she finds her interest snagged by the couple in the house across the lake. Then one night she witnesses a domestic dispute in which Katherine hits Tom and then stares directly at Casey through the glass wall.She makes a deal with Katherine/Len that if she shows her, Casey will release Katherine/Len, though secretly intends to sacrifice herself to save Katherine. Overall, I give “The House Across the Lake” by Riley Sager a 2/5 as I did enjoy the plot twists but they came way too late. His most recent novels— Home Before Dark (2020) and Survive the Night (2021) —have been fun and a bit rickety.

One morning, she rescues her neighbor from drowning and sparks up a friendship that will have a lasting impact on her summer. The House Across the Lake is a thriller novel by American author Todd Ritter, writing under the pen name Riley Sager, published through Dutton in 2022. Needless to say I did not enjoy this book but kept reading it just to find out how the author would tie it all together for a happy ending. He’s read a few more of Riley Sager’s books than I have, so he has a better idea of what the author’s writing style is like, and I trust that he gave a good synopsis of the book with that knowledge in mind. This is a fast paced and entertaining psychological drama, there is the requisite unreliable narrator, but it does require a suspension of disbelief to get the most out of it.

This sends Casey off in a myriad of ways, trying to discover what is really going on in the house across the lake.