WHAT LIES BENEATH THE SURFACE, WILL ALWAYS REMAIN HIDDEN...
Casey Fletcher has escaped to her family's lake house for peace and quiet to mourn her late husband. When the glamorous couple across the lake catch her attention, she's mesmerised. They're perfect - just like Casey and her husband used to be.
But is anyone what they seem?
Is Casey as perfect as she thinks?
She has a detective sat at her kitchen table.
She has a man bound and gagged upstairs.
She is about to uncover a dark truth so life-changing that nothing will ever be the same again.
Whilst mourning the loss of her late husband, Casey Fletcher, a 35 year old actress, returns to her families lake house. As well as being the perfect off-bridge location to deal with such a loss, it also happens to the place that Casey's husband, Len, died. Or more specifically, drowned. Caseys' mother, also a famous actress, forces her to take some time away from the prying eyes of the press, gagging for a front page piece about the widowed actress who'd gone off the deep end.
The press are not entirely incorrect in their deductions, as Casey has began excessively drinking, drowning her sorrows in a daily diet of whiskey, wine and whatever else she has lying around.
Whilst staying at the Lake House, she starts to watch her neighbours across the Lake from her through her late husbands binoculars. This begins after a chance encounter with Katherine Royce, one half of the rich Royce's, in which Casey winds up saving Katherine's life when she spots her drowning in the lake. Her obsession grows as she notices strange behaviour between the pair and feels the dynamic is off. As well as this, she distracted by her sexy, ex cop, next door neighbour, Boone.
Casey's obsession grows after witnessing what appeared to be a fight between the married couple. The next day, as Casey wakes up following a drinking binge, Katherine is nowhere to be found. Prompted by this, she launches her own investigation into Tom Royce, the husband, convinced he is not only guilty of murdering his wife, but also the 3 girls who had been reported missing nearby.
Nothing could have prepared me for the last 1/4 of this book. Nothing.
Honestly, I'm still trying to decide how to feel about it. I loved the first 3/4 of this book. Whilst I find Casey's character slightly frustrating, I felt for her. Publicly dealing with a loss like she did must have been an impossible situation to navigate. However, I did get irate at her sheer disregard for the feeling of her friends and family, although I can recognise that this behaviour is typical for an alcoholic.
When Casey reminisces on her life with her husband, you do understand her reluctance to sober up. They appear to be a happy couple with a charming meet-cute, and a relationship where they balanced each other out in all the right ways. We have nothing to believe otherwise. This also explains her desire to stay away from the handsome next door neighbour, as nothing will ever come close to the epic love story between her and her husband, so there is no point in trying.
As the story unfolded, my number one suspect must have shifted about 30 times. Numerous times I thought I was being smart, guessing the game before I even got there, but like I said, nothing could have prepared me for the real culprit. The story began to take on a slightly "Behind her Eyes'-esque vibe towards the last quarter, leaving me audibly gasping with both shock and confusion. I've never been one for fantasy or sci-fi, and personally, if my stories start realistic, I prefer that they stay that way. So I must admit, it did turn me off slightly when it started to change into something more supernatural, but I still had to know the outcome. Despite this shift, the end was a rapid whirlwind of events. Plot twist followed plot twist, and everything I thought I knew about the characters and their stories, was turned upside down. Guesses and assumptions are shattered page after page and justice was eventually served.
The ending does leave the reader satisfied. The characters I liked got their happy ending, well, as happy as they can given the circumstances. And all is well that ends well. Overall, this was an extracting read, and I tore through it in just a couple days. It kept me up at night, urgently craving some answers, and it gave that. However, I would say the supernatural, ghost-like twist makes it more of an acquired taste, one that I just don't have. I love Riley Sager, but this is certainly not one of his best. In conclusion, I'm going to give it a 6/10. Worth reading, but not worth reading again.
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