When it comes to thrillers, Riley Sager’s books leave you wondering how it’s all going to end once the plot presents itself. If I had to rank them, I’m not sure where I would place THE HOUSE ACROSS THE LAKE. Often playing with familiar thriller tropes, this story falls into the category of featuring an unreliable narrator spying on their neighbor, à la Rear Window, Disturbia, The Girl on the Train, and The Woman at the Window, but takes an unexpected turn that leaves me conflicted. 

Casey Fletcher is an actress who has retreated to her family’s lake house, using alcohol to cope with her husband’s death. While there she happens to casually watch the couple who live right across from her. Katherine Royce is a personable former model married to app developer, Tom Royce. After Casey saves her from drowning, they quickly become friends. Suddenly, Katherine disappears. Casey immediately suspects Tom, but maybe there are other suspects and more secrets that the lake holds that she cannot fathom to believe.

You know how you go into a movie knowing what you’re going to get, but then it turns out to be completely different from what you thought it to be? That’s how I felt about this book. On the one hand, I liked the mystery surrounding Katherine’s disappearance. It got a little slow in the middle, but I was still ready for whatever twist was about to be revealed. Instead of an “aha” moment though, it shifts into a different direction where I began to wonder if this was what I signed up for. I had to go back and see if any of it was implied or hinted at, and although there were inklings in the beginning, I kept putting it aside because none of Sager’s books ever had an ending like this before.

It’s a pretty bold move when an author decides to take a risk and subvert expectations, which I have to commend him for, but I think it could have been developed better. It kind of comes out of nowhere, but at the same time I have to ask if I feel this way because I didn’t see it coming. I think this is one where I will leave you to read and hear what you think. It’ll be interesting to see what his next book will be like now knowing anything can happen.