New Riley Sager!! I’d be so happy if this guy manages to pump out a new book every year, mainly because they’ve all been thoroughly enjoyable. And honestly, I’m a little surprised I’m saying that about his newest release, The House Across the Lake, but you’ll just have to keep reading to find out why. And on that note, just know there are some SPOILERS ahead.
We meet Casey at a remote lake house (lake mansion, it sounds like), who we learn is spending time there not of her own accord. She’s a well-to-do actress in her mid-thirties, but suffered the sudden death of her husband at this very lake a year prior. Since then, alcohol has become her best friend as a means to forget. It’s at the lake again where her life is about to take another supremely unexpected turn. While outside, she notices a hand waving for help in the lake and Casey manages to save former model, Katherine. The two form a quick friendship, but almost as quickly, Katherine disappears. Casey immediately suspects Katherine’s husband Tom is behind her disappearance, but this is Riley Sager and just when you think you know something, you don’t.
About half way through this novel, Sager introduces so many twists so quickly that I hardly have time to come to terms with one before he’s dropping another twist! Each one had me surprised, but then something a little different happened. Sager took a slight detour into the supernatural, and at first I was extremely disappointed by this. His books typically deal with the real world and that’s what makes them so thrilling. However, having recently read a bunch of novels by Grady Hendrix, an author who manages to also successfully switch between reality and realism, I was able to get back on board with this story almost instantly. So be warned, it’s not Sager’s usual fodder.
Overall though, this book was a treat! I could see this getting adapted in the near future and it would be so fun to watch. In the meantime though, I am very satisfied with the book. There is also a possibility for a sequel if it ever tickled Sager’s fancy. I know none of his other stories have spawned additional novels, but it could definitely be done with this one. All that being said, I still think last year’s novel, Survive the Night in my favorite of his, but I did enjoy the pop culture elements that bled through on this story, too. As I’ve said in the past, go check out all of his works!