The House Across the Lake - Riley Sager

The Hitchcock references aren't hard to spot in The House Across the Lake, principally Rear Window. It serves of course to generate a highly effective tried and tested atmosphere of menace, but Riley Sager sets out an intriguing, dark situation of his own for Casey Fletcher and her relationship with the house and the people across on the other side of the sinister Lake Greene in Vermont.

Casey is a former actress and daughter of a famous star (with a sister called Marnie moreover) who has been living there alone since the death of her husband Len in a fishing accident on the lake 14 months ago. Drinking heavily, Casey's life spiralled out of control after that until she was sacked from a Broadway Hitchcock-like murder thriller called 'Shred of Doubt'. She now spends her days looking over the lake at the glass-fronted luxury home of former supermodel Katherine Royce, who is married to tech giant Tom Royce. That's how she manages to prevent the lake claiming another victim when she rescues Katherine from drowning after getting into difficulties swimming.

That was then, now (the novel alternates between Before and Now sections) Katherine has gone missing and the police are looking for her husband. Casey, who we are aware has been using high powered binoculars and observing what looks like difficulties in their marriage - the Rear Window similarities are obvious even to her -  clearly knows more about this than she is willing to tell the police.

There's a suggestion of horror thrown in, just to add to the mood and paranoia, a horror writer who lives in a neighbouring house relating folk tales of how the reflective surface of a lake can be capable of capturing a soul. Revelations of other young women disappearing in the vicinity also suggest something more sinister. What is certain however is that Katherine has disappeared and Casey is sure that Tom has had something to do with it and is covering up. Can Casey trust what little she has seen, particularly when she has been drinking heavily? The Royce's know she has a drink problem and has likely been watching them through binoculars. Is this a setup of some kind?

The House Across the Lake is an old psychological drama formula that has been given new life recently (and parodied in The Woman in the House Across the Street from the Girl in the Window). There's even a hot handsome neighbour who has also recently been bereaved who doesn't escape the gaze of Casey's binoculars. Right down to the title, this one pretty much hits every button and cliché, even if you can't say for sure where exactly it is going. What matters of course is that it's done well, that it grabs you and keeps you reading and hopefully - but not necessarily - delivers a new twist on the genre.

I don't think you can say it delivers a new twist exactly, but there is no doubt that The House Across the Lake does a tremendous job of keeping you entertained throughout, serving up clever bait and switch sleights of hand - even as you think you've cottoned on to where it is going - and it certainly provides the requisite shocks and surprises to make this a hugely enjoyable read.

Reading notes: The House Across the Lake by Riley Sager is published by Hodder & Stoughton on the 7th July 2022. Thanks to the publisher for the paperback Advance Proof copy for review.