Okay, this novel seemed very familiar (at least at first). The protagonist and first-person narrator is Casey Fletcher, an actress who has been recently widowed and is now living in her family's lake house in Vermont. Her husband drowned in the lake which leads to her daily binge with alcohol (mostly vodka and bourbon). Across the lake in a glass-windowed mansion lives a former model and her husband, Tom and Katherine Royce. Casey spends her time with a high-powered pair of binoculars that she uses to watch Tom and Katherine. Then Casey saves Katherine from drowning and strikes up a friendship with her but her spying on them shows that their marriage isn't perfect and when Katherine disappears, Casey fears the worst and thinks Tom has possibly killed her and disposed of her body. The police gets involved and Casey just keeps on drinking. And then there is a very unexpected and unusual twist to the story about two-thirds into it. So what is really going on?
Well, this of course reminded me a lot of Alfred Hitchcock's Rear Window with Jimmy Stewart spying on his neighbor who he thinks has committed murder. In fact, this movie is mentioned in the novel. There are other Hitchcock references as well: Casey's cousin is named Marnie (another Hitchcock movie) and a play Casey was last in is called Shred of Doubt, very close to the Hitchcock movie Shadow of a Doubt. Overall, I was kind of so-so on this novel. The first part seemed to go on too long and was sometimes very repetitious with Casey's drinking and her suspicions about Tom. Then the twist to the story was very bizarre and took the novel down a totally different path that I really was not on board with. Based on this one, I probably won't be reading any others by this author.
Well, this of course reminded me a lot of Alfred Hitchcock's Rear Window with Jimmy Stewart spying on his neighbor who he thinks has committed murder. In fact, this movie is mentioned in the novel. There are other Hitchcock references as well: Casey's cousin is named Marnie (another Hitchcock movie) and a play Casey was last in is called Shred of Doubt, very close to the Hitchcock movie Shadow of a Doubt. Overall, I was kind of so-so on this novel. The first part seemed to go on too long and was sometimes very repetitious with Casey's drinking and her suspicions about Tom. Then the twist to the story was very bizarre and took the novel down a totally different path that I really was not on board with. Based on this one, I probably won't be reading any others by this author.
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