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A review by justinkhchen
Home Before Dark by Riley Sager
3.0
3 stars
The 'book-within-book' structure turned out to be a pretty clever repackaging of an 'unreliable narrator' story.
I also appreciate the last sentence of the novel brought the whole book full circle and gave context to the opening text. That was a neat touch.
The last 50 pages or so is a roller coaster, very thrilling with the relentless layering of new information. Home Before Dark doesn't end up being a horror novel (more of a mystery thriller with a dash of supernatural), I kind of enjoy this genre-bending turn of events, but I wonder if people would feel being cheated out of a promised haunted house story, based on its promotional materials.
The ending fixed one of my complaints from earlier, which is the mediocrity of the House of Horrors section; looking back through the lens of Ewan Holt writing it in desperation as a cover-up, it made sense why it is filled of haunted house cliches (a wife in insistent denials) and convenient scenarios (the communication with Curtis through the bells was hilariously stupid—and worked perfectly on the first try!).
Even with the clever ending, Home Before Dark still has some lingering issues, with its clunky story logic (the discovery of Dane in the Polaroid is equivalent to the CSI 'Let's Enhance' meme) and inconsistent character development (Maggie often reacts very dramatically for no apparent reason), which is why it sits at a 3 ranking for me overall.
The 'book-within-book' structure turned out to be a pretty clever repackaging of an 'unreliable narrator' story.
I also appreciate the last sentence of the novel brought the whole book full circle and gave context to the opening text. That was a neat touch.
The last 50 pages or so is a roller coaster, very thrilling with the relentless layering of new information. Home Before Dark doesn't end up being a horror novel (more of a mystery thriller with a dash of supernatural), I kind of enjoy this genre-bending turn of events, but I wonder if people would feel being cheated out of a promised haunted house story, based on its promotional materials.
The ending fixed one of my complaints from earlier, which is the mediocrity of the House of Horrors section; looking back through the lens of Ewan Holt writing it in desperation as a cover-up, it made sense why it is filled of haunted house cliches (a wife in insistent denials) and convenient scenarios (the communication with Curtis through the bells was hilariously stupid—and worked perfectly on the first try!).
Even with the clever ending, Home Before Dark still has some lingering issues, with its clunky story logic (the discovery of Dane in the Polaroid is equivalent to the CSI 'Let's Enhance' meme) and inconsistent character development (Maggie often reacts very dramatically for no apparent reason), which is why it sits at a 3 ranking for me overall.