Book Review: Home Before Dark by Riley Sager
In the latest thriller from New York Times bestseller Riley Sager, a woman returns to the house made famous by her father’s bestselling horror memoir. Is the place really haunted by evil forces, as her father claimed? Or are there more earthbound—and dangerous—secrets hidden within its walls?
What was it like? Living in that house.Maggie Holt is used to such questions. Twenty-five years ago, she and her parents, Ewan and Jess, moved into Baneberry Hall, a rambling Victorian estate in the Vermont woods. They spent three weeks there before fleeing in the dead of night, an ordeal Ewan later recounted in a nonfiction book called House of Horrors. His tale of ghostly happenings and encounters with malevolent spirits became a worldwide phenomenon, rivaling The Amityville Horror in popularity—and skepticism.
Today, Maggie is a restorer of old homes and too young to remember any of the events mentioned in her father's book. But she also doesn’t believe a word of it. Ghosts, after all, don’t exist. When Maggie inherits Baneberry Hall after her father's death, she returns to renovate the place to prepare it for sale. But her homecoming is anything but warm. People from the past, chronicled in House of Horrors, lurk in the shadows. And locals aren’t thrilled that their small town has been made infamous thanks to Maggie’s father. Even more unnerving is Baneberry Hall itself—a place filled with relics from another era that hint at a history of dark deeds. As Maggie experiences strange occurrences straight out of her father’s book, she starts to believe that what he wrote was more fact than fiction.
Alternating between Maggie’s uneasy homecoming and chapters from her father’s book, Home Before Dark is the story of a house with long-buried secrets and a woman’s quest to uncover them—even if the truth is far more terrifying than any haunting.
What was it like? Living in that house.Maggie Holt is used to such questions. Twenty-five years ago, she and her parents, Ewan and Jess, moved into Baneberry Hall, a rambling Victorian estate in the Vermont woods. They spent three weeks there before fleeing in the dead of night, an ordeal Ewan later recounted in a nonfiction book called House of Horrors. His tale of ghostly happenings and encounters with malevolent spirits became a worldwide phenomenon, rivaling The Amityville Horror in popularity—and skepticism.
Today, Maggie is a restorer of old homes and too young to remember any of the events mentioned in her father's book. But she also doesn’t believe a word of it. Ghosts, after all, don’t exist. When Maggie inherits Baneberry Hall after her father's death, she returns to renovate the place to prepare it for sale. But her homecoming is anything but warm. People from the past, chronicled in House of Horrors, lurk in the shadows. And locals aren’t thrilled that their small town has been made infamous thanks to Maggie’s father. Even more unnerving is Baneberry Hall itself—a place filled with relics from another era that hint at a history of dark deeds. As Maggie experiences strange occurrences straight out of her father’s book, she starts to believe that what he wrote was more fact than fiction.
Alternating between Maggie’s uneasy homecoming and chapters from her father’s book, Home Before Dark is the story of a house with long-buried secrets and a woman’s quest to uncover them—even if the truth is far more terrifying than any haunting.
Where do I even begin with this book?! What a stunning read this was. It instantly became one of my favorite reads of 2020. It is a hold your breath, edge of your seat, spooky read. From the beginning of this book I was sucked in. I adored how they book was written and how Riley told their story.
Diving into the father and daughters experience in the house. The story follows the Holt family that moves into a home, that has a haunting past. Ewan and Jess can't turn down the price for Baneberry Hall. It's too cheap and they know that they could make it their own. There forever home. But when their daughter Maggie starts seeing things and talking to people that aren't there. Ewan becomes frightened that maybe they aren't the only ones living in Baneberry Hall.
Now twenty five years later, Maggie, Ewan's daughter, has inherited Baneberry Hall and it's the last thing she wants. After they fled the house all those years ago, her father wrote a Non- Fiction story about their experience in the house and it has done nothing but haunt her. The House of Horrors, her father wrote about are fake and she wishes that she could prove it. So people could leave her alone about living in the house and what her father says really happened.
But stepping foot back in Baneberry Hall, is the last thing Maggie wants to do but she knows she has to. As a restorer of old homes, she decides to restore the home and sell it. Get it off of her hands and our of her life. Though when things start to go spook in the night, Maggie finds herself thinking maybe what her father wrote wasn't all fake. What if he was telling the truth?
I found myself not being able to put this book down. It's one of those books that you will never forget. The perfect amount of horror, to get your hair raised and enough suspense to keep the pages turning. This was my first read from Mr. Sager and it definitely won't be the last.
Riley Sager is the pseudonym of a former journalist, editor and graphic designer. Now a full-time author, Riley's first thriller, FINAL GIRLS, became a national and international bestseller and was called "the first great thriller of 2017" by Stephen King. Translation rights have been sold in more than two dozen countries. His second book, THE LAST TIME I LIED, was a New York Times bestseller. His latest novel, LOCK EVERY DOOR, was an instant New York Times, Publishers Weekly and USA Today bestseller. A television adaptation is being developed by Paramount TV and Anonymous Content.A native of Pennsylvania, Riley now lives in Princeton, New Jersey. When he's not working on his next novel, he enjoys reading, cooking and going to the movies as much as possible. His favorite film is "Rear Window." Or maybe "Jaws." But probably, if he's being honest, "Mary Poppins."
Recently order (Home Before Dark) book by the Joyce Meyer Coupon Code badly I neglect to study this book. I just trying to read it in my free time. Next period I can deliver a book analysis.
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