Rear Window with a View

The House Across the Lake by Riley Sager

Publication Date: June 21, 2022

Summary from NetGalley:

Be careful what you watch for . . .

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. Armed with a pair of binoculars and several bottles of bourbon, she passes the time watching Tom and Katherine Royce, the glamorous couple living in the house across the lake. They make for good viewing—a tech innovator, Tom is powerful; and a former model, Katherine is gorgeous.

One day on the lake, Casey saves Katherine from drowning, and the two strike up a budding friendship. But the more they get to know each other—and the longer Casey watches—it becomes clear that Katherine and Tom’s marriage isn’t as perfect as it appears. When Katherine suddenly vanishes, Casey immediately suspects Tom of foul play. What she doesn’t realize is that there’s more to the story than meets the eye—and that shocking secrets can lurk beneath the most placid of surfaces.

ARC provided by Penguin Group via NetGalley for an honest review.

Confession:

This was the best thriller that I have read this year, maybe ever! There were times when I really thought I knew what was going on and then on the next page I was hit with a twist that I never saw coming. There are a lot of references to the movie Rear Window, and this very much has that kind of feel to it.

Casey is a bit hard to like, but she does grow on you. She drinks way too much and has made some questionable life choices, but despite that she is a survivor. She does kind of grow on you though, and I could see that she could be a good person and someone that would be fun to spend time with. Her drinking does make her a rather unreliable narrator, but I was ok with that. I like unreliable narrators in my thrillers.

There are some other characters worth noting, like Boone, the man living next door, and the detective Wilma Anson. They certainly add to the story and plot in unexpected ways. Of course Katherine and Tom, the couple across the lake are an interesting pair, and there is way more going on there than you might expect.

I don’t want to say too much about the plot as it is something you need to go into pretty blind to really appreciate the twists. The start is a bit slow, but I still found it quite riveting and often had a hard time putting it down. The back and forth between present and recent past was also very well done and made the story all the more exciting. I could have easily read it in one sitting, if work and life hadn’t interfered. When the action picks up toward the end, I found myself reading late into the night to finish it!

Another great thriller by this author. I have decided that I am going to be spending some of my summer reading the other books he has written that I haven’t yet. This is definitely one you will want to spend time with on the beach or wherever you are headed on vacation this summer.