Casey, a widowed young actress who has retreated to her family’s lake house begins to suspect something unusual going on in the house across the lake. As she watches her new neighbours through binoculars, she witnesses what she believes to be a crime, and soon finds herself entangled in a web of secrets and lies.

Sager’s choice to write in first-person present-tense is an interesting stylistic decision that honestly wasn’t for me. His writing style leans heavily on exposition, which may not appeal to readers who prefer a more show-don’t-tell approach. The dialogue occasionally feels stilted, with characters sometimes talking at each other rather than engaging in natural conversations. I found it challenging to connect with Casey or the supporting characters, who felt more like familiar tropes rather than fully fleshed-out individuals. The female protagonist didn’t feel like a real person, more a one-dimensional idea of what a “troubled” woman is supposed to look like: beautiful, but not too beautiful, and troubled but not too messy. 

The plot aims to be twisty and thrilling, with varying degrees of success. While some twists felt predictable, there was one genuinely unexpected turn about two-thirds through the book that caught me off guard. However, this revelation seemed to rely more on the author’s misdirection than on clever storytelling. The other twists were thrown so close together near the finale that it was almost like literary whiplash.

I didn’t love this book, but if you enjoy ‘Rear Window’-type mysteries, you may find elements to appreciate in “The House Across the Lake.