The House Across the Lake by Riley Sager

Hello everyone. I hope you're having a great day.

In the US we are celebrating July 4th.  It's a holiday that often extends around the actual date and has become a popular vacation and family visit time. When I was a kid, we would spend the morning of the 4th watching the men's finals at Wimbledon, which was always held that day.  Then we'd go to my Aunt Mary and Uncle Don's house.  My uncle was on the beach at Normandy on D-Day.  My aunt was amazingly creative. She would decide to reupholster her winged back chair. While I don't think she had any sewing experience, her chair would look like a pro did it.  When she wanted window boxes, she got out the wood and made them herself. She also had amazing doll houses. My aunt and uncle had a big picnic in a great driveway-garage set up, with a makeshift baseball field behind and later a pool.  Okay, it might "sound" weird, but it was summer holiday perfection.  The whole family came, allowing us a day of getting to play with all our cousins.  So fun. Always topped off with sparklers, something my parents would have never allowed.  It was a major part of our summer vacation and I miss it and my aunt and uncle terribly.

I recently read The House Across the Lake by Riley Sager.  This is the story of Casey, who is a popular actress.  She has lost her husband and her grief has driven her to drink.  Her drinking caused her to lose her job, starring in a Broadway show. Casey tries to escape the gossip mill by taking an extended summer vacation at a beautiful lake in Vermont. At her waterfront home, she spends most of her time on the back porch, drinking bourbon and watching people through her binoculars. Specifically, she is watching the fancy house with loads of glass, owned by supermodel Katherine and her tech savvy husband, Tom.  Casey's spying losses it's attraction when Katherine goes missing and she suspects Tom.

This book is quick moving and a true thriller.  This has that, hold your breath, something is about to happen any second feeling.  It is very successful at raising your pulse. It's really amazing the story that Sager weaves with a limited cast and setting.  I think you'll be surprised by the numerous twists.  The author is masterful at making you think you have the story figured out only to slap the back of your hand with a twist that says, "guess again."

A word of warning.  There have been quite a few reviewers either talking the book down or rating it poorly because they don't like the main character.  The issue seems to be they feel that Riley Sager doesn't represent women well, making them drunk, stupid, or gullible.  I almost passed on this book because of those discussions.  Please, PLEASE, don't be led, decide for yourself.  If you are in doubt, don't buy the book but get it from your library.  There are only two sexes, and an unreliable narrator has to be unreliable for a reason. Just do me a favor, forget reviews, judge for yourself.  As a thriller, this ticks all the boxes.

The funny thing about American independence is that now, most Americans feel a respectful link to Great Britian and great affection for the people.

Survive The Night by Riley Sager

Hello everyone.  I hope you are having a great day.

Not to push you to other book reviewers, but do you ever watch reviews on YouTube?  I don't like to watch reviews, I don't want to be influenced and I definitely want to be surprised. However, I love seeing people's hauls.  Heck, it's like shopping without spending my money...what could be better (hubby would certainly agree).  Sadly, I saw a complete review from someone who had an advanced copy of the new Riley Sager book.  Not a review, a piece of hell on earth!  They jumped in telling everyone what happened in the book, that they hated it because of the ending, then gave away the big twist of the end!  Arrrrrgggh!  I've been waiting months for the next Sager thriller.  How?  Why?  I sat here in shock.  What do I do now? Read it, knowing it sucks because of how it ends.  Read it anyway, because I've read so many Riley Sager books that I know the others bouncing around in my brain would like a new playmate?  Dag gum it, I hate this decision and I don't want to waste my book money on something I'm not going to like.  God Bless Book of the Month, who had it listed as an add-on, which means you can buy it for $9.99.  Dilemma solved.  For a deep discount I would take a chance.

I recently read Survive the Night by Riley Sager.  This is the story of a girl, Charlie, a college student whose roommate was tragically murdered.  She decides to go home but needs a ride, so arranges to travel with Josh, who she meets through a campus ride board. As they head into the hills of Pennsylvania in the middle of the night, Charlie realizes all is not as it should be and Josh might not be who he says, in fact, Josh might be the killer.  

Beside already knowing the ending, I thought perhaps because of it's limited scene, the car, that this would be boring.  It isn't.  I feared this would be a slow read, watching the miles tick by with nothing to do but talk.  A book full of endless dialog.  It isn't all dialog and it isn't slow, not at all.  Okay, I'll stop being so coy.  The book was good.  It was a real Riley Sager.  Fast paced, exciting, and nerve-wracking.  The ending that had been spoiled for me, was only half true, and there were plenty more twists.  Just go into thinking this is just a book, it's fiction and you're reading for fun.  Set your expectations and criticisms aside and you'll very much enjoy this book

If you're in college, maybe think twice before carpooling home.  I hear the bus is quite lovely this time of year.

Home Before Dark by Riley Sager

Hello everyone, I hope you are having a great day.  Let's jump right into it, as I have a chicken to bake (certainly my seven thousandth). I just finished Home Before Dark by Riley Sager.  If this book isn't already on your radar, it is about a woman, Maggie, who inherits an old mansion in Vermont. When her family lived there years ago they found it to be haunted, so haunted that one night her family flees with nothing but the clothes on their back. Maggie was five years old when her family left and doesn't remember much.  The knowledge she has about the house comes from a best selling book her father writes after they flee, which Maggie believes is a complete lie.

Written with alternating chapters following the present day Maggie, and actual chapters from the book written by Maggie's dad, Ewan, the reading is quick.  Many sections end in a cliffhanger or revelation, propelling the reader forward.  It is full of atmosphere, a bit spooky, and in one section, quite gross.  It contains several mysteries and as thriller lovers prefer...many twists. If you are a romantic comedy reader, this isn't for you. However, if you like horror, mysteries, or thrillers, this, my friends, is the book for you. It's a wild ride that will grab you from the very beginning and doesn't lift the overhead harness until the very end.

Now the bad news, Home Before Dark isn't going to be released until June 30th.  I have a finished, hardbound copy. It isn't an advanced reader copy/galley. How did I get it so early (June 1st)? Book of the Month, that's how. Wait, don't close your laptop, I swear this is not a commercial. I get no kickback, they have no idea who I am.  Several years ago I received a gift subscription and have renewed it for several years. Books end up costing $14.99 hardbound.  Have you priced books lately, never mind, I know you have a reading addiction too.  Well for you library dwellers let me tell you they run from $26 to $31. That is more than a quarter of a hundred dollars for one book.  That just shocks me.  Anyway, Book of the Month (BOTM) gets you a discount because you're basically paying ahead. AND you can get up to two additional books each month.  Trust me here, any add on books, pay for instead of using credits. Credits cost $14.99 but add ons at $9.99, so save those credits for each months BOTM.

My mom used to get BOTM ages ago, thankfully, it is much better now. If you don't want a book, just skip a month. Nothing is sent automatically. There are five new books to choose from each month. Usually there is a thriller, but the choices are varied. One of June's choices was Home Before Dark, which they got early for their subscribers. My description is probably clear as mud, but their web site is much better. My husband said I looked like a kid on Christmas morning when I saw Home Before Dark as a choice.  What can I say, I've been waiting for this to come out and to get it early and at a discount, it's housewife heaven.

By the way, if you're thinking, like I was, that this might be a reworking of The Amityville Horror is isn't.  Riley Sager's novel is much more involved and so good.

Lock Every Door by Riley Sager

Hello everyone.

Have you ever really looked at your house? Really looked?  Several years ago we had a house built. It was a wonderful, but stressful experience. Once completed, we discovered a few feet "missing" from the interior. We finally decided that the missing space was an area that heat and air ducts ran from the first floor, through the second, to the attic.

Our current house is an early 1900's craftsman, a Sears house. Shortly after moving in, the previous owner came to the door and wanted to know if we found the secret room and met the ghost. Having lived in a haunted house I can tell you this house has no ghosts. The owner swears his wife was constantly losing her keys saying a ghost was moving them. Frankly, I think she just forgot where she put her keys. When your house is haunted, you know it. Someday I'll tell you about it. What the old owner was talking about was that there is stained glass in several places on our house. On the second floor there are two stained glass windows on the outside but only one on the inside. One window is in a walk-in closet in a guest room, the other in the master bedroom. Only the master has no such window. For some unknown reason it was long ago walled in on the interior. I'm guessing because it was difficult to decorate around. Our bedroom has double divided glass pocket doors, five windows, a fireplace, a radiator, and closet along with the entry door. Not many good places to put any furniture. I imagine putting a wall over the stained glass was done to have a section of plain wall. Old buildings were built differently, they seem to have a lot more nooks and crannies. Now that you want an English muffin, let's talk about a book.

I recently read Lock Every Door by Riley Sager. I finished this book in one day, something I (the admitted slow reader) have never done before, and we are talking 360+ pages. This is the story of a young woman who lost her boyfriend, job and place to live all at once. She has found a great offer that helps with her situation, apartment sitting. Not only does she now have somewhere to live for the next three months but a great paycheck as well. In addition, this apartment is in an old building in NYC that she has been interested in for years and is the pinnacle of plushness. Because of the noteable people living in the building, the job comes with several rules like no visitors, no discussing the building on social media, and you must spend every night in the apartment. A bit odd, but not that unreasonable for rich people that want their privacy.

This book is a thriller through and through. It starts calmly, gaining the reader's curiosity, but as strange things begin happening it quickly builds to a page flipping frenzy. While the story progresses we are presented with several possible explanations for the events at the old privileged apartment building. Racing from one solution to the next until finally the reader is given a satisfying ending you'll never see coming.

This was my first Riley Sager, but certainly not my last. As soon as my eyes recover and my hands stop shaking I'll have to purchase his other two books. Now I know to clear my schedule and get the economy size eye drops!