The House Across the Lake - A Book Review
By: Mallory Johnson
I read The House Across the Lake over the summer and I really enjoyed it. It is a thriller novel by Riley Sager and it follows a former theatre actress who was exiled to her family lake house after she got in some trouble. She spends her time fascinated by the couple who lives across the lake in a gorgeous home (which conveniently has a LOT of big windows). One afternoon she sees the woman she has been watching drowning and saves her. Then, she disappears… Trigger warnings for drowning, violence, alcoholism, murder, abuse, death, kidnapping, suicide, gaslighting, confinement, blood, drug use, cheating, vomit, mental illness, torture, cursing, toxic friendships and relationships, child death, and forced institutionalization. Before I go any further, MAJOR spoiler alert.
I went into this story without reading any other of Riley Sager’s books, so I truly did not know what to expect. I read it at my family’s cabin on Pistol Lake, which was the PERFECT place to read it. I expected it to be a classic thriller like The Girl on the Train and Gone Girl and felt those influences. What I did not expect was the supernatural twist! When the twist was revealed, at first, I was surprised and a little disappointed to be honest. I did not find the twist to be believable - but as it got fleshed out, I liked it more. I learned that Riley takes typical horror/thriller tropes and adds a major twist to shake it up a bit.
I loved the characters, and the reveals felt natural with exciting action and violence. The narrator is unreliable because she is an alcoholic, so it is hard to trust any of the characters, which works very well in a book like this one where anyone can be guilty. The supernatural aspect of the story reminded me of the Netflix show The Haunting of Bly Manor, which is one of my favourite shows.
Overall, I really enjoyed this book - it was a page turner! I give it a strong 10/10 and I feel like it should get adapted to either a movie or a television show. I am looking forward to reading more of Riley Sager’s work!