Reviews tagging 'Alcohol'

Home Before Dark by Riley Sager

22 reviews

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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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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saintmaud's review

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mysterious fast-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? Yes

2.5

unbelievable how this would have all been avoided if everyone learnt to mind their own business and before you get started about how tragedies look avoidable from the outside know that the writing isn't good enough to justify it. I read Sager's books (and others similar in genre + format) because I want something fast paced and twisty, writing quality aside, but this just felt too trite and derivative (a pet cemetery on the property?? wow) and I'm just more irritated now.  

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caityg22's review against another edition

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

4.0


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kirstyyreadsbooks's review against another edition

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adventurous mysterious sad tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0


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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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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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jessspeake's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense medium-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

5.0


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ilaxaria's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Diverse cast of characters? No

3.5


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brittishliterature's review against another edition

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dark 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

Started listening to the audiobook because I'd caught snippets of it while my husband had it playing on the way back from our honeymoon. It sounded interesting, and then I needed to know what happened haha. 

I think listening to it on audio had its pros and cons. The narrators were good, but I also think it kept me from being fully absorbed in the spooky/creepy/thriller aspect of it all, which isn't all bad because I was able to listen and find out what happened but also not feel too scared.

I enjoyed the switching POV between Maggie and excerpts from her dad's book. It kept me guessing at what was real or not. I thought the ending was very interesting, I thought I had suspected it but then it still had some twists. I didn't feel that all the loose ends were tied up as nicely as I'd hoped, but I still thought it was good.

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