edsbian 's review for:

Home Before Dark by Riley Sager

3.0

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The last few chapters of this book are really great, but not enough to salvage the rest of it. I keep trying Sager’s novels, but I just can’t seem to get into his style of prose or structure. His characters especially irritate me, and good god did Maggie really fit that pattern. I was bored of her constantly, and the side characters didn’t do much for me either. One thing I will say for Sager is he’s a master at the double or triple or quadruple combo plot twist in the very final act, which is always a lot of fun. The action packed madness revealed to Maggie and to us in the last few chapters is really great, but the rest of the book was a drag. Not a slow burn, exactly, but more like a loop that beats you over the head with the same ideas and themes a thousand times before finally saying something new, and thats when it gets good. It wasn’t an atrocious book or anything, but it was slow going and not quite rewarding enough to make it more than a middle of the toad 2.5-3 stars from me. Also, Maggie should have been gay, like - what? Her and her only friend and life partner flip houses for a living, and instead if making them lesbians, you made me read over and over again about her wanting to have sex with Dane? Riley Sager you are truly a sick individual.