This review is Home Before Dark by Riley Sager. One of my favorite ways to rest is by curling up with a good book. Like movies and music, all genres appeal to me, and I give all books a chance to be ‘heard’!
Riley Sager gives the fans exactly what they want with his newest thriller 'Home Before Dark' - a thrilling tale about a haunted house and the horrifying truths at the heart of it. #brandisbookcorner #bookreviews #thriller #rileysager Click To Tweet
Home Before Dark by Riley Sager
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I’m a Riley Sager fan and I was excited to read his newest thriller, Home Before Dark, published June of this year. Just as I was anticipating, his novel didn’t disappoint and I found myself sucked into the horrors of the haunted Baneberry Hall estate.
Maggie Holt was the main character in her father’s popular nonfiction book, ‘House of Horrors’, and she gained notoriety through it, much to her dismay. The Book, as she refers to it, has always brought Maggie a difficult life. Because of it, she was seen as a freak, and classmates called her names or avoided her altogether. As she got older, the boys that weren’t scared to date her did so in hopes of learning more about the author or the main subject of the book – the haunted house.
The novel recounts the short period of time their family lived at Baneberry Hall, the supposed haunted estate nestled in the small town of Bartelby. After several ghost sightings by five-year-old Maggie at the time, mysterious happenings, and constant noises throughout the night, the family is starting to become worried about their safety. Then in the middle of the night, the family flees their home leaving behind all their belongings never to return.
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Despite the countless deaths that have taken place in the house, Maggie believes the Book is a fake. She has no recollections of any of the terrifying events within ‘House of Horrors’, and she’s certain she’d have memories of it. Her suspicions are confirmed when she repeatedly asks either of her parents about the Book and they flat out ignore her. She’s determined to find the truth of why they fled so long ago, and when her father passes away leaving her to inherit Baneberry Hall, she finally gets her chance.
Returning to Baneberry Hall has two agendas working in tandem. First, she needs to get the house repaired in order to sell and be rid of the burden it’s been once and for all. The second is finding the truth as to why her parents fled so long ago. While she does believe the hauntings of the house are fictional, she believes her parents had a good reason to leave.
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Maggie starts to unearth the truths of Baneberry Hall piece by piece and while doing so, she discovers there are more truths to the Book than she wants to believe. She begins to have memories of her time there, and even the ghosts of her past – literally – are paying her visits. She struggles to make sense of all the happenings within the house but it’s difficult to come face to face with her past. Especially when the past won’t let go.
I enjoyed this tale of ghosts and mysterious events happening within this great estate. The story alternated between Maggie’s father’s retelling of Baneberry Hall in ‘House of Horrors’ and Maggie’s discovery of the truth of the estate. I liked reading what her father wrote about the hauntings and seeing how Maggie made sense of it twenty-five years later.
While this was a great tale by Riley Sager, it’s not my most liked by him. Having read all of his books, my favorite would have to be Final Girls. The ending to Home Before Dark did have a twist and was unexpected but it wasn’t a big gasp type of twist. However, my mom loved the ending and that it was perfectly fitting. Give it a try and see what you think of the ending.
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Home Before Dark Book Review with The Bookclectic
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Each book I review is based on my opinion. This does not mean you will agree with the review or love/like/dislike the book, too. There’s a quote that says, “No two persons ever read the same book” by Edmund Wilson, and it’s quite true!
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