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4.01 AVERAGE
4.01 AVERAGE
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
dark
tense
medium-paced
emotional
mysterious
sad
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:
No
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
A pretty solid ghost story with some unexpected elements. I didn’t love the characters but for this one you don’t really have to. It had good flow and kept my attention.
Riley Sager has developed quite a reputation in several genres, the consistent blur between reality and fantasy always present, creating an atmosphere within his books that seems eerie and dreamlike despite the frequently action-packed plot. Home Before Dark is the latest in his series of bestselling standalone books, another cinematic experience that seems ripe for some Hollywood producer to come along and snatch up the rights for a stunning movie. We follow the theme from his last novel, Lock Every Door, as we are introduced to a mysterious and tentatively haunted building right off the bat. In Lock Every Door it was a bizarrely famous hotel, in Home After Dark, we return to a staple of the horror genre: a haunted house.
Home Before Dark is two books in one, taking place in different time periods. A book within a book. The text of House of Horrors, making up about half the book, was written by Maggie Holt’s father, an autobiographical depiction of his and his family’s time at Baneberry Hall, at the time, his new house. Ewan Holt and his family stayed there for just a little over two weeks before fleeing the house, spurring on a police report, then a newspaper article, then finally, a book deal, which resulted in young Maggie’s life being forever defined by her father’s bestselling phenomenon. Maggie, now about thirty and not remembering any of the events in House of Horrors, finds herself the unwitting owner of Baneberry Hall following her father’s death and the surprise he had never sold it despite the terrible memories that supposedly haunted him. Armed with a desire to know the truth and her business in house-flipping, Maggie returns to Baneberry Hall to attempt to discover why her father wrote such bizarre lies about their family, only to realize perhaps not the entire book was fiction.
This, on a general basis, is not an entirely original plot. There are a lot of horror movies with a similar idea, but considering Sager’s consistent homages to horror cinema, this could be forgiven as an authorial quirk. The problem is: if you watch any kind of horror movies or probably even read enough horror books, you can tell mostly where the plot is going. While unpredictability and plot twists do not a good novel make, I was surprised at Home After Dark and the well-tread passage it took, considering Lock Every Door was not predictable at all. It feels like Sager wanted to take on a well-known horror trope, the haunted house, but didn’t exactly have the creativity to have a fresh spin on it.
However, like mentioned above, unpredictability isn’t everything. Home After Dark is still a completely likable novel, full of mystery and atmosphere. There’s a reason tropes are popular; hearing footsteps on the floor when no one’s home, music randomly turning on, mysterious figures in the yard, none of this diminishes in creepiness just because we’ve heard it before. The appeal to this novel is the discrepancies between our two timelines: Ewan and Maggie Holt have two very different ideas of what’s happened at Baneberry Hall, and its great fun picking apart what’s real and what’s fiction in the minds of the family. Ewan writes about terrifying happenings: Maggie, a toddler, is seeing apparitions, her friends are being harassed by an unknown force, he hears noises and music but can never catch the culprit, and the presence seems determined to drive a wedge between him and his wife. Maggie, on the other side, is annoyed by the noises and music but has rational explanations for them, and is completely unconvinced by her dad’s claims of ghostly activity. Maggie was a very fun protagonist, despite her being trapped in a plot we’ve seen before. There’s something charming about this lumberjack-like lady living in a haunted house and steadfastly ignoring all the spookiness going on around her. We don’t see enough female protagonists like her, and while I’m not sure if Sager intended for her to be as funny as she was, she was great.
Baneberry Hall evokes an almost gothic atmosphere, with its majestic stature, its Victorian craftsmanship, and of course, its bloody history. We get to see this estate in two different time periods: as a home in House of Horrors, and as a decrepit, abandoned tourist attraction in the main timeline. There are plenty of spooks in both eras to satisfy any haunted house fan, and as per Sager’s style, the experience is very cinematic. The writing is upbeat and fast-paced, keeping up a consistent amount of bizarre happenings without the novel getting too zany or without sacrificing its eerie buildup.
As much as Maggie made for a good protagonist, her relationships within the novel weren’t entirely standout. There is, of course, a man involved who is helping her renovate the house who is neither charming nor important enough for readers to get attached, either to his character or his romance with Maggie. Maggie also has a best friend that at the time of writing this review, I can’t remember the name of, because her part in the novel is so small and insignificant despite their apparent closeness. However, Maggie’s relationship with her mother is stellar. Jess, who appears both as Ewan’s lovely wife and later as Maggie’s coldhearted mother, is a character I could have a whole spinoff novel about. The difference in her character between the two timelines is fascinating; we are introduced to her in House of Horrors as a kind wife and doting mother and in the main timeline as a snobby socialite who disparages her daughter’s clothes and drinks too much gin. She is only tenuously Maggie’s mother-figure and yet their relationship is the strongest part of the characterization. This was one of the most interesting mysteries of the novel, the most intriguing character: what happened to Jess Holt? If Home Before Dark is anything, it’s terrific in its mother-daughter dynamics.
There are a lot of negative words in this review for a book I quite liked. Read it in one sitting. It doesn’t entirely live up to the hype and I maintain that Sager’s last book was better, but it still stands well on its own. Home Before Dark keeps up its cinematic qualities and mysterious happenings that we’ve gotten used to in Sager’s writing, and combined with Maggie, her mother, and the interesting split timeline, it’s a book you can get engrossed in quickly. The writing is haunting enough to give us chills at the Baneberry Hall’s descriptions but not dense, a commercial read that may not keep you up at night but will keep you wholly satisfied for the time you’re reading.
Home Before Dark is two books in one, taking place in different time periods. A book within a book. The text of House of Horrors, making up about half the book, was written by Maggie Holt’s father, an autobiographical depiction of his and his family’s time at Baneberry Hall, at the time, his new house. Ewan Holt and his family stayed there for just a little over two weeks before fleeing the house, spurring on a police report, then a newspaper article, then finally, a book deal, which resulted in young Maggie’s life being forever defined by her father’s bestselling phenomenon. Maggie, now about thirty and not remembering any of the events in House of Horrors, finds herself the unwitting owner of Baneberry Hall following her father’s death and the surprise he had never sold it despite the terrible memories that supposedly haunted him. Armed with a desire to know the truth and her business in house-flipping, Maggie returns to Baneberry Hall to attempt to discover why her father wrote such bizarre lies about their family, only to realize perhaps not the entire book was fiction.
This, on a general basis, is not an entirely original plot. There are a lot of horror movies with a similar idea, but considering Sager’s consistent homages to horror cinema, this could be forgiven as an authorial quirk. The problem is: if you watch any kind of horror movies or probably even read enough horror books, you can tell mostly where the plot is going. While unpredictability and plot twists do not a good novel make, I was surprised at Home After Dark and the well-tread passage it took, considering Lock Every Door was not predictable at all. It feels like Sager wanted to take on a well-known horror trope, the haunted house, but didn’t exactly have the creativity to have a fresh spin on it.
However, like mentioned above, unpredictability isn’t everything. Home After Dark is still a completely likable novel, full of mystery and atmosphere. There’s a reason tropes are popular; hearing footsteps on the floor when no one’s home, music randomly turning on, mysterious figures in the yard, none of this diminishes in creepiness just because we’ve heard it before. The appeal to this novel is the discrepancies between our two timelines: Ewan and Maggie Holt have two very different ideas of what’s happened at Baneberry Hall, and its great fun picking apart what’s real and what’s fiction in the minds of the family. Ewan writes about terrifying happenings: Maggie, a toddler, is seeing apparitions, her friends are being harassed by an unknown force, he hears noises and music but can never catch the culprit, and the presence seems determined to drive a wedge between him and his wife. Maggie, on the other side, is annoyed by the noises and music but has rational explanations for them, and is completely unconvinced by her dad’s claims of ghostly activity. Maggie was a very fun protagonist, despite her being trapped in a plot we’ve seen before. There’s something charming about this lumberjack-like lady living in a haunted house and steadfastly ignoring all the spookiness going on around her. We don’t see enough female protagonists like her, and while I’m not sure if Sager intended for her to be as funny as she was, she was great.
Baneberry Hall evokes an almost gothic atmosphere, with its majestic stature, its Victorian craftsmanship, and of course, its bloody history. We get to see this estate in two different time periods: as a home in House of Horrors, and as a decrepit, abandoned tourist attraction in the main timeline. There are plenty of spooks in both eras to satisfy any haunted house fan, and as per Sager’s style, the experience is very cinematic. The writing is upbeat and fast-paced, keeping up a consistent amount of bizarre happenings without the novel getting too zany or without sacrificing its eerie buildup.
As much as Maggie made for a good protagonist, her relationships within the novel weren’t entirely standout. There is, of course, a man involved who is helping her renovate the house who is neither charming nor important enough for readers to get attached, either to his character or his romance with Maggie. Maggie also has a best friend that at the time of writing this review, I can’t remember the name of, because her part in the novel is so small and insignificant despite their apparent closeness. However, Maggie’s relationship with her mother is stellar. Jess, who appears both as Ewan’s lovely wife and later as Maggie’s coldhearted mother, is a character I could have a whole spinoff novel about. The difference in her character between the two timelines is fascinating; we are introduced to her in House of Horrors as a kind wife and doting mother and in the main timeline as a snobby socialite who disparages her daughter’s clothes and drinks too much gin. She is only tenuously Maggie’s mother-figure and yet their relationship is the strongest part of the characterization. This was one of the most interesting mysteries of the novel, the most intriguing character: what happened to Jess Holt? If Home Before Dark is anything, it’s terrific in its mother-daughter dynamics.
There are a lot of negative words in this review for a book I quite liked. Read it in one sitting. It doesn’t entirely live up to the hype and I maintain that Sager’s last book was better, but it still stands well on its own. Home Before Dark keeps up its cinematic qualities and mysterious happenings that we’ve gotten used to in Sager’s writing, and combined with Maggie, her mother, and the interesting split timeline, it’s a book you can get engrossed in quickly. The writing is haunting enough to give us chills at the Baneberry Hall’s descriptions but not dense, a commercial read that may not keep you up at night but will keep you wholly satisfied for the time you’re reading.
The beginning was very compelling and thrilling but the end was pretty disappointing
I absolutely loved this book and couldn’t stop reading it! This author is amazing, and is making me fall in love with horror books. I was constantly second guessing what was really happening and had no clue where this one would end up. The ending was really crazy - almost too crazy - but I still really enjoyed it.
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
I was almost disappointed in the ending, thank goodness there was more to it. I still don’t understand why the parents kept the entire thing such a secret. Like why couldn’t they tell Maggie like no there weren’t ghosts or the book is mostly not true. Other than that, i loved the mystery and history that surrounded the house.
TL;DR Review: While the story has some flaws, the building horror of the present makes up for the campy and repetitive nature of other aspects. Touching and chilling all at once, with a touch a grief thrown in as a cherry on top.
Content Warnings: Death, Murder, Abuse (Physical and Emotional) Mentioned, Suicide Mentioned, Terminal Illness, Cancer Mentioned, Parent Death, Child Death, Pedophilia Mentioned, Stalking, Home Invasion, Snakes.
”Finally, I cry for all the versions of myself that have existed through the years. Confused five-year-old. Sullen child of divorce. Furious nine-year-old. Inquisitive me. Defiant me. Dutiful me. So many incarnations, each one seeking answers, leading me to right here, to right now, to a potential truth I have no idea how to handle.”
Full Review - Contains Spoilers:
When I tell you I did not see the twist coming, I mean it - in fact, this book managed to take a step away from the formula I have become familiar with in Sager’s other works. It was refreshing, even if I find that I love his other work. It made this one stand out and the very minimal romantic subplot in general only benefitted the story overall. It allowed the focus to be on the family unit and the tragedy surrounding them, without weighing it down the unnecessary plot points.
It did not distract from all the flaws in the book, but it made what I didn’t enjoy as much more forgivable. The House of Horror chapters were the weakest link, in my eyes, as they often times became repetitive and ridiculous. While I have never come to expect the supernatural in Sager’s works, they convinced me right away that there was zero possibility of the supernatural being real becoming the twist.
Which, to be fair, could be the point. These chapters are very clearly based off The Amnityville Horror - a haunted house with a horrible past and a controversial book that seems to explain away all the bad things for the family.
And make them wealthy.
Unfortunately, while I understand why they were present - instead of keeping me engaged, they often pulled me out of the building horror. Almost resetting my emotions and easing my anxiety. It came off almost comical at some points, when the real truth behind what was happening was so horrific. It literally sent a chill down my spine.
Overall, a very enjoyable read that is not without flaws. Most excitingly though, it shows an improvement on my least favorite aspects of Sager’s first books. It makes me very excited for what comes next.
Content Warnings: Death, Murder, Abuse (Physical and Emotional) Mentioned, Suicide Mentioned, Terminal Illness, Cancer Mentioned, Parent Death, Child Death, Pedophilia Mentioned, Stalking, Home Invasion, Snakes.
”Finally, I cry for all the versions of myself that have existed through the years. Confused five-year-old. Sullen child of divorce. Furious nine-year-old. Inquisitive me. Defiant me. Dutiful me. So many incarnations, each one seeking answers, leading me to right here, to right now, to a potential truth I have no idea how to handle.”
Full Review - Contains Spoilers:
When I tell you I did not see the twist coming, I mean it - in fact, this book managed to take a step away from the formula I have become familiar with in Sager’s other works. It was refreshing, even if I find that I love his other work. It made this one stand out and the very minimal romantic subplot in general only benefitted the story overall. It allowed the focus to be on the family unit and the tragedy surrounding them, without weighing it down the unnecessary plot points.
It did not distract from all the flaws in the book, but it made what I didn’t enjoy as much more forgivable. The House of Horror chapters were the weakest link, in my eyes, as they often times became repetitive and ridiculous. While I have never come to expect the supernatural in Sager’s works, they convinced me right away that there was zero possibility of the supernatural being real becoming the twist.
Which, to be fair, could be the point. These chapters are very clearly based off The Amnityville Horror - a haunted house with a horrible past and a controversial book that seems to explain away all the bad things for the family.
And make them wealthy.
Unfortunately, while I understand why they were present - instead of keeping me engaged, they often pulled me out of the building horror. Almost resetting my emotions and easing my anxiety. It came off almost comical at some points, when the real truth behind what was happening was so horrific. It literally sent a chill down my spine.
Overall, a very enjoyable read that is not without flaws. Most excitingly though, it shows an improvement on my least favorite aspects of Sager’s first books. It makes me very excited for what comes next.