Home Before Dark

Riley Sager

Mystery Thriller

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.

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?

-Excerpt taken from Goodreads.

Check Goodreads to see the book’s ratings.

My Opinion

(4.5 / 5) Maggie Holt has inherited her childhood home that she hasn’t been in for 25 years. Her father became famous for the horror novel he wrote based on that house and their experiences. Maggie is determined to get some answers to her long-asked questions.

The book is written in two perspectives; one is present-day Maggie, the other is the book her father wrote 25 years prior. This gave the book such a great pacing. With each jump to the past, her father fills in a few more gaps to the story and kept me on the edge of my seat.

An old childhood haunted house is a very familiar trope. However, don’t let that stop you. It was done well with unique elements I did not guess. Sager embodied such a chilling atmosphere from the first chapter. It was face-paced and I loved getting lost in this one. I hope to be reading more of Sager soon as the last 2 books of his I read were 4.5 stars.

AUDIO REVIEW: The narration added a glorious eerie feeling. It really added to the atmosphere and suspense of the story. Caty McClain, Jon Lindstrum were fabulous for the back and forth POV’s. Having both voices was essential to my entertainment!

General content summary: F words= 11

Ghosts 

Murder suicide (previous, child and parent, some details)

Sedatives (prescribed)

Suicide (previous, poisoned)

Parent death (cancer, few details)

Snakes

Skeleton found 

Previous deaths at house (drowning, fall, etc, no details)

Fall from large height

Body found (some details)

Death (fall, some details)

Thank you to PRH Audio for the copy!

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