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A review by camscornerbooks
The House Across the Lake by Riley Sager
3.0
So off the bat I am going to agree with a lot of low star reviews that don’t like that the book isn’t up front with the genre this book fits into. It definitely diminished my overall feelings about the book that the central plot twist/reveal feels deceptive. Some readers are fine with that (Check out Bowties & Books on YouTube to see Jessie’s take on it which was really well articulated and entertaining) and other readers aren’t cool with it. I’m in the latter.
That said though it doesn’t make me 1 star it. The writing was decent if the dialogue was a little repetitive and less than realistic at times. I felt the portrayal of alcoholism was well depicted and not glamorized or made a joke. It’s ugly and dangerous and harmful and hurtful but the person dependent on alcohol is suffering and is a victim of a medical condition oftentimes out of their control. The main character was treated as a complex human being and not a passive victim of circumstance or a femme fatale. Thank you for that!
The mystery itself I felt was well done and the obvious similarities to Rear Window were addressed and done so with a good sense of self deprecating humor. The starting mystery of the missing wife leading to a larger mystery of poisoning, gaslighting, domestic abuse, mental abuse, financial abuse, along with other themes was well built from an initial uncomfortable worry to a hair raising race for answers.
In my opinion the big twist (there were multiple…) actually diminished the build up of the mystery. It changed how and why things were unsettling and terrifying which kind of spoiled the overall experience for me.
I really can’t explain the genre mixup without spoiling the essence of the book so if you want to see that just read around and someone will explain it all.
That said though it doesn’t make me 1 star it. The writing was decent if the dialogue was a little repetitive and less than realistic at times. I felt the portrayal of alcoholism was well depicted and not glamorized or made a joke. It’s ugly and dangerous and harmful and hurtful but the person dependent on alcohol is suffering and is a victim of a medical condition oftentimes out of their control. The main character was treated as a complex human being and not a passive victim of circumstance or a femme fatale. Thank you for that!
The mystery itself I felt was well done and the obvious similarities to Rear Window were addressed and done so with a good sense of self deprecating humor. The starting mystery of the missing wife leading to a larger mystery of poisoning, gaslighting, domestic abuse, mental abuse, financial abuse, along with other themes was well built from an initial uncomfortable worry to a hair raising race for answers.
In my opinion the big twist (there were multiple…) actually diminished the build up of the mystery. It changed how and why things were unsettling and terrifying which kind of spoiled the overall experience for me.
I really can’t explain the genre mixup without spoiling the essence of the book so if you want to see that just read around and someone will explain it all.