Reviews tagging 'Stalking'

Home Before Dark by Riley Sager

21 reviews

karen_lo's review

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

A page turner from cover to cover. I really enjoyed the arrangements of chapters between the father and Maggie. 
This book is perfect for the spooky season and for getting out of a reading slump 📚 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Death of parent, Child death, and Murder

Minor: Stalking, Grief, and Pedophilia

julienicole1106's review

dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Cursing, Death, Grief, Cancer, Suicide, Vomit, Murder, Stalking, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, Car accident, Child abuse, Blood, and Death of parent

mfrisk's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

For me this book was a comfort horror/thriller read. I enjoyed the split perspective of the book and present day, the visuals of the house, and while the ending wasn’t entirely surprising I was ok with that because to me this book was more about the journey then the conclusion anyways. This book is about family, perceptions, and the difficulties which come with navigating grief and loss. For those who enjoy a mix of supernatural and realistic horror this is a great pick. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death and Suicide

Moderate: Murder, Grief, Stalking, and Blood

sharkleggings's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Minor: Suicide, Murder, and Stalking

paulrichard's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder and Stalking

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship and Child death

Minor: Death of parent

bookishgoob's review against another edition

dark emotional lighthearted tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

Riley Sager does it again. and by does it again i mean writing a “not like other girls” main character and using “ample bosom” as a descriptor for no apparent reason. Maggie was so annoying to me. she oozed pick me energy to a point where it made me want to DNF. another thing i don’t like about sagers writing is that he literally waits until the end of the book to do the final twist which is predictable but often annoying. plot twists are fine at the end once in a while but damn, every book? i don’t know man. i have a lot of problems with riley sager and his writing. i would almost recommend you watch haunting of hill house (5/5 show) than read this but i do have to admit that the atmosphere was creepy and would be a great “spooky szn@ read. it’s quick. it’s creepy. it involved and old house. so i’m torn.  either way the characters were so bland but the story was good. do with that information what you want. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death of parent, Mental illness, Death, Gaslighting, Grief, Cancer, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual content, Stalking, and Suicide

seawarrior's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

3.0

Home Before Dark is an engaging read that glued me to its pages, but began to lose my suspension of disbelief near the end. The title is narrated by the text of the notorious House of Horrors and the inner thoughts of its now grown feature character Maggie Holt, who lived her life in the shadow of her father's writing. Early on it becomes obvious that we're not reading a story of a haunting, but rather one of a series of lies that spirals into a decades old "whodunnit". Sager presents just the right amount of description for us to richly imagine Baneberry Hall without losing momentum in the plot, or creating something that felt like a drudgery to read. Yet to me, the ending twists were more annoying than satisfying, as the sheer amount of them seemed unnecessary and almost silly. I would still recommend this book to others who enjoy a mystery novel that it almost effortless to read. There was never a period where reading this book felt tedious, and I repeatedly looked forward to spending more time with it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Death, Death of parent, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Murder, Stalking, and Suicide

toofondofbooks_'s review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

I don't even know what to say y'all
I don't know what I expected but it wasn't this. This book scared me so much. I'm scared of armoires now. I feel like I can't really talk about this book effectively while still keeping it spoiler free, but I think what I will say is that I did not see the ending coming and I can't tell if I was disappointed by it or not. I opted for the 4 star rating bc of my confusion in relation to that, but overall this was a very immersive and well written book that I think you'll love if you're into horror.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Violence, Suicide, Cancer, Body horror, Toxic relationship, Stalking, Medical content, Injury/Injury detail, Gaslighting, Fire/Fire injury, Emotional abuse, Death of parent, Death, Cursing, Child abuse, Animal death, and Grief

Moderate: Infidelity

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Excrement, and Forced institutionalization

davidrb's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

Oy vey. Just...not my favorite. Twists weren't fun, story didn't go anywhere...it had some interesting things to say about the lengths that men will go to justify their actions, and then it just didn't use them for anything. But, despite all that, a fun and easy read. Definitely good fodder for this time of year just to get into the mood.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Animal death, Cancer, Child death, Death, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Grief, Mental illness, Murder, Stalking, Terminal illness, and Violence

camillesuzanne's review against another edition

mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, and Suicide

Moderate: Stalking

Minor: Adult/minor relationship and Terminal illness