Reviews tagging 'Dementia'

Home Before Dark by Riley Sager

33 reviews

chelbelle122's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No

3.5


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hannahpings's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

great construction. great case study (studies) in (un)reliable narration. whole lotta hill house references. maybe too many hill house references. who knew there was such a thing?

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astareads's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

If you, like me, are thinking of reading this because you expect the story to be more thriller than horror, then know that I was looking over my shoulder and scared until I was about into 60% the book. I'm a scaredy cat when it comes to ghost stories!

There were a lot of twists and turns at the last 40%, so much so that it felt a little too much to be plausible even though I enjoyed the reading experience.

That said, I think I'll rather take my crime stories without the added supernatural elements thankyouverymuch.

PS. The name has nothing to do with anything. That's annoying.

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sam_gartley91's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

Wasn’t sure at first if I would like this book bc I’m not usually a big horror and thriller person but I do like a good murder mystery! I ended up liking this way more than I thought I would! How everything was revealed and who ultimately did it was really well done. The back and forth between the present with Maggie trying to figure out what happened and the book of her father’s take on the events and moving towards the final plot twist and reveal were great! So sad but interesting and kind of a was there any supernatural or just all playing of the darkness and imagination. Excited to read more book by this author!

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rrrbkh's review against another edition

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dark emotional fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0


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chasingpages1's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5


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amyyp's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

I couldn’t read it at night because it made me paranoid and scared 😂 Did not see the end coming! 

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bookcheshirecat's review

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dark mysterious tense medium-paced

4.0

“Grief is tricky like that. It can lie low for hours, long enough for magical thinking to take hold. Then, when you’re good and vulnerable, it will leap out at you like a fun-house skeleton, and all the pain you thought was gone comes roaring back.”

Home Before Dark is among my favorite Riley Sager books! The story follows Maggie Holt whose family got famous for living in a supposedly haunted house back when she was a child. Her father wrote a bestselling book called House of Horrors about their ghostly phenomenon and Maggie's been dealing with its popularity for years. She's not thrilled to be famous in ghost-hunting circles and doesn't remember much of what happened. The only hints are in the book and Maggie's convinced her father made it all up. Her parents have never talked about it with her and Maggie got tired of being shot down. Now her father has passed away and left her the house ... and a lot of unanswered questions. She decides to renovate the House of Horrors and confront her past once and for all!

I love haunted house stories and I liked the fine line between truth and fiction! We get alternating chapters of Maggie renovating the house and experiencing suspicious phenomena and excerpts from the book told by her father when they last lived in the house! I loved how we were left guessing how much of it was true, especially as Maggie lacks any concrete memory of the time. Strange things are happening in the house, but she's never sure if it's supernatural or simply bad vibes. After all the house had a dark past, as it was the scene of a brutal crime. I loved all the twists and turns! I also liked the exploration of Maggie's grief and complicated relationship with her father. Now that he passed away, she can never directly ask him for the truth!

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spookychelle87's review

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adventurous dark mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0


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meaghanelizabook's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0


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