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A review by sarahsamaa
Home Before Dark by Riley Sager
3.0
Solid 3 star read
Overall, this book was a very fun and entertaining horror novel that provided most of what your average horror/mystery/thriller reader would want – easy to recommend to most readers.
However, if you consider yourself a horror fan/enthusiast this may not be right for you. I personally prefer to consume horror stories in visual formats and have only read a handful of horror novels - which were primarily King. So, my experience is limited in terms of written horror storytelling. But I was very excited to read this when it came up as a potential book club choice, but I’d say it was a bit of a letdown.
Mild Spoilers ahead***
Pros:
-it was a fun and enjoyable read and aside from a few instances, I would go so far as to call this a ‘light’ horror read – at least it felt this way on audiobook
-the description of the environment and the gothic feel of the house was quite well done and I am a sucker for stories about old gothic mansions with rumors of hauntings and/or prior deaths
-very interesting ending with great twists, multiple reveals, and several red herrings – I was genuinely shocked by the killer and had not really given that character much thought
Cons:
-I did not need it to be a hardcore horror story, but my favorite thing about the horror genre (and I suspect most fans would agree) is the deeper meanings and layers beneath the murders and ghost stories. This often includes commentary on the human psyche, death and loss, and sometimes even wider social topics. Think the exploration of loss in Pet Sematary or the stages of grief in Netflix’s The Haunting of Hill House. The absence of these deeper layers in the book made it feel incomplete and like the story would not stick with me the way Hill House has.
-the characters really fell flat and did not feel like well-written human beings, but rather one-dimensional people who just existed for the sake of moving the plot forward. This made them, especially Maggie, difficult to like and made her chapters feel boring
-for a big chunk of the book, except the ending, it felt like a sub-par copy of the events in Hill House, I kept having the thought, “wait that’s just like ____ on the show”
TLDR
A pretty good read if you want a quick thrill but not up to snuff for true horror fans. Whether you liked this book or not- if you haven’t seen Hill House yet, go watch immediately!!
Overall, this book was a very fun and entertaining horror novel that provided most of what your average horror/mystery/thriller reader would want – easy to recommend to most readers.
However, if you consider yourself a horror fan/enthusiast this may not be right for you. I personally prefer to consume horror stories in visual formats and have only read a handful of horror novels - which were primarily King. So, my experience is limited in terms of written horror storytelling. But I was very excited to read this when it came up as a potential book club choice, but I’d say it was a bit of a letdown.
Mild Spoilers ahead***
Pros:
-it was a fun and enjoyable read and aside from a few instances, I would go so far as to call this a ‘light’ horror read – at least it felt this way on audiobook
-the description of the environment and the gothic feel of the house was quite well done and I am a sucker for stories about old gothic mansions with rumors of hauntings and/or prior deaths
-very interesting ending with great twists, multiple reveals, and several red herrings – I was genuinely shocked by the killer and had not really given that character much thought
Cons:
-I did not need it to be a hardcore horror story, but my favorite thing about the horror genre (and I suspect most fans would agree) is the deeper meanings and layers beneath the murders and ghost stories. This often includes commentary on the human psyche, death and loss, and sometimes even wider social topics. Think the exploration of loss in Pet Sematary or the stages of grief in Netflix’s The Haunting of Hill House. The absence of these deeper layers in the book made it feel incomplete and like the story would not stick with me the way Hill House has.
-the characters really fell flat and did not feel like well-written human beings, but rather one-dimensional people who just existed for the sake of moving the plot forward. This made them, especially Maggie, difficult to like and made her chapters feel boring
-for a big chunk of the book, except the ending, it felt like a sub-par copy of the events in Hill House, I kept having the thought, “wait that’s just like ____ on the show”
TLDR
A pretty good read if you want a quick thrill but not up to snuff for true horror fans. Whether you liked this book or not- if you haven’t seen Hill House yet, go watch immediately!!