The House Across the Lake

DNF at about 20%-ish.

God, is this book bad. I've read something else by this same author previous and found that book stupid as well, but I was willing to give him another chance.

I have zero issue with a man writing a woman character (or vice versa). I have an issue with authors who feel like they have to go with the lowest hanging fruit to make you feel like they totally get what they are doing and they care so much. No, a male author who just has two women meet 2 minutes ago in a situation where one of them almost died and has them talk about “UGH, objectification” is not doing a good job. Nobody cares he knows jargon like that.
I read the end of the book to know what really happened. He does at least one more round of trying to tell us that he knows women, because he makes his female character say that we all live in constant fear. Men who think that is empowering, us being told we must be nothing but fearful wrecks... they are not helpful, they are fucking annoying. Stop performatively pitying women. It's not productive, it's not a good look and I'm tired of it.

Other than that, in the roughly 20% of this novel that I've read, I had to realise that some authors are not clever enough to write suspense and whodunnit mysteries. What do I mean?
At one point, the protagonist is surprised that another character is going swimming in a very deep natural lake, not wearing her wedding ring. She finds it suspicious and we are supposed to take it as a big thing. Ignoring the fact that if you drop your jewellery in one of those lakes, they are gone forever. Maybe she just didn't want that? I would be careful as well, because I don't want to be Kim Kardashian screeching about losing a diamond earring in the sea. Totally understandable sentiment.
Another moment is when the protagonist is observing this same character talking on the phone. She is leaving a message, which you can determine by how she is just talking without stopping for an answer. Which... again, what sort of a shitty Sherlock Holmes is this? Sometimes one person can just talk for an extended time, explaining something. Especially funny as the author says that the woman is covering her mouth with her hand. How do you know she is still speaking? Some of us can speak without our whole entire head moving???????

All in all, I will never understand why people like these books. The author does bogus stuff with the “investigation” that don't even make sense. He is condescending and very 2022 Tiktok feminist about his characters. It all has this half-baked feel.
So yeah, I don't think I will keep trying with him. Just pick something else.