The House Across the Lake

Len is Casey’s husband of five years who lives a secret life as a serial killer. While traveling for work or vacationing at the lake, Len abducts and kills three girls in the area. Later, he confesses to Casey that he did these things because he felt a compulsion to do them and enjoyed the feeling of acting on these urges. While he keeps his double life a secret from Casey, part of him wants her to find him out. However, when Len is confronted about his crimes, he refuses to take responsibility, instead begging Casey to keep his secrets and blaming his impulses on his difficult childhood. Instead, Casey murders him.

However, Len’s soul is trapped in the waters of Lake Greene, and later returns by possessing the body of Katherine. Through Katherine, Len professes love for Casey and claims he would have never killed her. Later, Katherine confirms this, saying she has residual memories of Len inhabiting her body and knows that Len truly loved Casey. However, Len uses his love as a manipulative tactic, playing on Casey’s sympathies and love for him continually as he seeks to be released from the consequences of his actions.

Katherine Royce is first introduced as a successful former supermodel who appears to have it all—fame, wealth, and beauty. She is described as magnetic: “Instead of smiling, she twinkles. A full-body sparkle that begins at her Cupid’s bow lips, spreads upward to her hazel eyes, and then radiates outward, into the audience, enveloping them in a hypnotic glow of talent” (32). However, as the story progresses, it becomes clear that she is not immune to the vulnerabilities that come with being human. Despite her glamorous lifestyle, Katherine’s marriage to Thomas Royce is far from perfect. He sees her only as a means to an end, and his attempts to kill her for her wealth are a stark reminder of the dangers that come with being a high-profile figure.

Katherine’s friendship with Casey Fletcher is one of the most significant relationships in the novel. Casey is a source of support and comfort for Katherine, providing her with the emotional connection and trust that she lacks in her marriage. Katherine’s willingness to confide in Casey shows her desire for a genuine relationship and highlights her unhappiness in her marriage.

Overall, Katherine’s character in The House Across the Lake is a study in contrasts. She is both a successful supermodel and a vulnerable human being. Her complicated marriage and her friendship with Casey provide insight into her character and the depth of her emotions. Through her struggles, she emerges as a resilient and courageous character who refuses to let her husband’s attempts on her life break her spirit, and at the end of the novel, her and Casey have bonded through being happy widows.

Thomas Royce is the husband of Katherine Royce and a successful CEO of a social media company in The House Across the Lake. He is described as a serious man, who is also very ambitious despite the lack of success his company experiences.

Throughout the novel, Tom Royce is poisoning Katherine, hoping that she will eventually die and he can inherit her millions of dollars of wealth. When Casey becomes suspicious of him, he repeatedly tells her that she doesn’t understand the full extent of what is going on. In fact, Tom is poisoning Katherine, as is revealed at the end of the novel. Tom ends up being defined by his greed for money, willing to kill anyone who stands between him and financial comfort.

Boone Conrad is a former police officer who was put on a six-month suspension after showing up to a scene intoxicated and almost shooting someone. After his suspension, he decides to go sober and pick up work as a handyman. Because Boone’s traumatic past has some resemblance to Casey’s, with both of them widowed young and struggling with alcohol misuse in the wake, he provides a foil to Casey’s downward spiral, showing that sobriety is possible and inspiring her to face her demons.

Boone also has secrets in his past. Boone’s most significant secret is the truth about his wife’s death by suicide. The guilt he feels for not being able to save his wife from her depression weighs heavily on him, and he struggles to cope with it. Like Casey, he is avoidant of confronting dark memories. He also keeps his brief flirtation with Katherine a secret from Casey, leading to her becoming suspicious of him when the truth comes out. Because of this secret, Boone briefly becomes a red herring, as Casey suspects he could also be the person poisoning Katherine out of anger at her rejecting him.

Despite his struggles, Boone is a compassionate and supportive person, and he helps Casey investigate Katherine’s disappearance and eventually choose the path to sobriety. He recognizes the signs of her alcoholism and encourages her to seek help, even inviting her to his AA meetings. Boone understands the importance of facing one’s demons and seeking help when needed, having faced his own struggles with guilt and grief.