Hot take: this was not my favorite Sager book, but it was also his best yet.

You see, this book has a very specific audience. If you love ghost stories, haunted houses, stories similar to “The Haunting of Hill House,” and the supernatural mixed with a bit of psychological thriller, you will really like this. While I’m a huge fan of psychological thrillers, I’m not one for ghost stories. There are very few I enjoy. That’s just my preference.

However, Riley Sager wrote a book, so obviously I had to request to read an early copy. Though I didn’t enjoy all of it, I am SO impressed with the way he wrote it. His writing style has evolved and risen to magnificent levels since his first book, Final Girls.

After I finished, my first thought was “wow, this is like Stephen King lite.” That’s probably one of the highest compliments I can give an author. The descriptions were just perfect, and the suspense was heart-stopping at times. The story is told in a very unique format: we first meet the main character, Maggie, in present-day, and every other chapter is dedicated to her father’s book about the house – a book within a book. This had the potential to fall completely flat, but it didn’t. In fact, the book within the book was creepily endearing. Maggie’s father’s account complemented the actions in present-day and provided just enough context without giving away spoilers. Every detail was significant in some way, and there were zero plot holes – which is a breath of fresh air for this genre. Home Before Dark poses a lot of important questions and highlights some great themes: who are the real ghosts, anyway? How far will a family go to protect one another? Do we have to see things to believe them?

Since Sager’s previous book, Lock Every Door, had a few nods to the supernatural, I’m not surprised that he wrote Home Before Dark. I will unselfishly say that I believe he has found his niche. Selfishly? I hope he writes another Final Girls.

Home Before Dark is released on 6/30. Thank you @Duttonbooks @netgalley for allowing me to read an early copy.

This book was so much better than I expected! (And I expected it to be great.) Unsurprising, really, since Sager’s writing always WOWs me. This book was exactly what I needed to get me out of my reading slump!

This book is about Maggie, a woman whose family lived in a haunted mansion when she was a child. Her father wrote a book about the history of the old house and all the happenings they experienced there. All her life, Maggie has had to live in the shadow cast by the infamous book. She is certain that none of it happens and that her father made all of it up to profit off the book. Upon his death, Maggie returns to the house looking for answers.

This book was so immersive and suspenseful! I could not put it down. Im about to make a really bold statement and say it may be his best book yet.

Perfectly paced suspense novel with just enough scares! Had to read this one straight through, every chapter I said just one more but then had to see what happened next! I really liked the novel within a novel. Maggie’s life has been defined by the horror story her father wrote about her childhood home. Maggie returns to Baneberry Hall and her father’s book unfolds for us as it criss-crosses the current timeline and she is caught up with the same supernatural forces she had always believed were a lie. Exciting and scary to the last page. Thank you to Dutton and NetGalley for the advanced reader copy.

I enjoyed Lock Every Door and Final Girls, and I really enjoyed this wonderful, haunting mystery. A great summer read book, good for reading around the campfire. Another book for the great Summer Reads table for my customers!

Riley Sager has done it again! Another fantastic, atmospheric thriller. I absolutely loved this one.

The Plot:
When Maggie was young, her family moved in to Baneberry Hall, a creepy house with a sinister reputation. But, their stay was cut short. After just twenty days Maggie and her parents fled the house in the middle of the night. Maggie's dad claimed the house was haunted. He then went on to write a book about the house. The book, House of Horrors, was an instant hit. It gave her dad notoriety and brought in enough money for her family to live comfortably.

When it comes to ghosts, Maggie is skeptical. She isn't convinced any of it is real, as far as Maggie is concerned, Baneberry Hall is not haunted. She thinks her family made up the story just to sell a book.

Fast forward to present day: Maggie just inherited Baneberry Hall after her father dies. Maggie decides that now is the time to find answers. She needs to know if anything from the book is real. And if it was all made up, why did her parents lie?

Determined to find answers, Maggie stays at the house and talks to as many people as she can. Even though she keeps telling herself ghosts aren't real, she can't deny the odd occurrences in the house- doors left open, lights turned on, and odd sounds in the middle of the night.

The Characters:
One of my favorite things about this book was the characters. In each of his books Riley Sager has had a strong female lead that you can't help but love. Maggie was tough, quirky, and determined. All of the secondary characters were intriguing as well. I couldn't quite figure out their motives and I didn't know who to trust.

Another thing I loved was the gothic feel of the house. It took on an eerie persona, and was like another character!

The Writing:
Riley Sager's books are always so easy to read and his writing feels effortless. I get so engrossed by his books. In Home Before Dark, the writing is unique becuase the chapters alternate between present day Maggie, and excerpts from her dad's book. I thought this was a really fun way to tell the story! And it definitely added to the experience!

Overall, if you're looking for a fun, spooky read, Home Before Dark is the perfect book for you! I think both long time Riley fans will like this one as well as readers new to his work.

Riley Sager has done it again!

Every house has a story.. no house forgets.

For 20 days, Molly’s family lived in the famously haunted Baneberry Hall mansion. But she was 5, and doesn’t remember anything, nor does she believe anything that’s written in her fathers painfully famous book about their so-called “House of Horrors”. So when she inherits the house 25 years later, she sets out to find the truth about why her family fled from it in the middle of the night and told her from then on to never go back.

Alternating chapters between Maggie’s real-time return to the house and her fathers accounts of what happened 25 years ago in the book make this such a fun read. It has terrifying scenes and is purely imaginative. Read it with the lights on! I think his best book yet!

This cover is supposed to glow in the dark, which means I will need to add it to my collection!

Thank you to NetGalley, Dutton and the horrifyingly good Riley Sager for this ARC!

Absolutely unputdownable!!! From start to finish in Home Before Dark, Riley Sager has once again created an epic thriller that will have you on the edge of your seat! The storyline is so incredibly well-crafted with equal parts bone chilling eeriness and intriguing suspense! I have enjoyed all of Riley Sager’s novels, but Home Before Dark is my new top favorite from him! This 5 star gem is a MUST READ so go run and 1-click it now! I have already told friends to pre-order Home Before Dark because I really need to discuss this novel in depth lol!!

Huge thank you to Dutton books for my advance copy of this one! It was JUST what I needed. You guys MUST mark your calendars for June 30th!

I’ve loved Riley Sager’s previous books so was very excited by a new creepy, twisted thriller release, and this one did not disappoint! (swipe for plot)

The beginning was definitely a bit slower than the last ones, but it made for some fantastic eerie scene setting/character background which really helped make this book!

It wasn’t long before things then got really terrifying…….. I mean the story centres around a Haunted House so we knew it would, right? … I hadn’t expected the ride this book took me on!

A must read for Sager AND Mystery/Thriller fans!

- review up tomorrow on blog/instagram

This was my second Riley Sager book and it did not disappoint!

Maggie has just inherited the house she briefly lived in, as a small child, from her late father. As a child her and her family lived there a total of 3 weeks before the house sent them out running and screaming in the middle of the night.

Maggie’s father decides to write a tell all book about their experience which thrusts them in the spotlight with interviews and television appearances forcing them to retell their story countless times.

Strange coincidences, unexplainable noises, music playing in the wee hours of the morning, and lights being turned on after they were turned off led them to believe the house was haunted....... or was it?

Alternating between the past and the present the reader is taken on a fast paced, page turning thrill ride. You won’t want to miss it.

Thank you Netgalley for the advanced copy in exchange for my honest review.

Holy. Crap. That was amazing! I’ve read every single Riley Sager book the second I could get my hands on them and this is BY FAR-100%-hands down my favorite! There was suspense, mystery. ghosts, and a whodunnit vibe that kept the plot rolling constantly. The pacing was perfect, the characters were entertaining, and the setting was so creepy. I honestly can’t think of a single thing I would change. You’ve done it again Riley Sager! Thank you to Dutton and Netgalley for sending this book in exchange for an honest review.

Riley Sager does it again in this newest ghost story tale.

I loved this book and could not put it down.

This is a book inside a book where where the story alternates between what is happening to present day Maggie and what her father wrote as happening in his novel that was a "true ghost story" from when Maggie was 5 years old.

The alternating chapters created a great framework for Maggie to uncover what really happened to lead her family to leaving the seemingly haunted and creepy home, Banesbarry Hall.

Riley Sager is one of my favorite up and coming authors, I say up and coming because his newest book (releasing June 30th) is only his 4th book published under this name. His books are creepy and occasionally horrifying, but also completely believable. It's that realism that makes his books stand out. They are average people put in extraordinary circumstances, and his latest read Home Before Dark is no different. In it, we meet Maggie Holt, a home flipper and designer, who has grown up in the shadow of some horrible event that her family has profited from. We go into the story and slowly fall down the rabbit hole, as Maggie comes to terms with the event that changed the course of her family's life. Through her return to the presumably haunted Baneberry House, we find out through alternating chapters what really happened to her family. Is the home haunted from all the previous tragedies, does Mister Shadow come with a warning or threat, are her parents right when they tell her not to return, that it isn't safe for her there? You'll have to read this one to find out, all I can say is... Every house has a
story.

Thank you to Dutton Book and NetGalley for my advanced copy of Home Before Dark, this book was received in advance for an honest review.

Wow!!!! This book is a keep you up at night unputdownable wild ride!!!! I was freaked out the whole time reading this! The best Riley Sager book yet!!! This is an absolute must read!

Hmm...3.5 stars rounded up. This is in a similar vein to Lock Every Door with the gothic feel and creepy big house. I liked this a bit better because of the ghostly/haunted house vibe. Sager can certainly write and create an atmosphere! My problem was the last three chapters...again. Just like Lock Every Door’s ending, it seemed convoluted and a bit far-fetched. But the overall book was a fun read.

I have spent the weekend relaxing and completely engrossed in Home Before Dark. This is definitely the most complex Sager novel yet and the creepiest read I have read so far of his! Combining a ghost story a la Amityville Horror with some other elements I love about thrillers.

This was a gripping page-turner that literally had me on the edge of my seat! I have been a fan of Riley Sage since Final Girls and after being unimpressed by The Last Time I Lied and Lock Every Door this was a breath of fresh air!

Home Before Dark is much more than a psychological thriller--it reads easily as part ghost story meets a classic horror film. This was unpredictable at every turn and I found myself unable to sleep without hearing creepy sounds in my bedroom at night.

It's been a while since I've read a 5 star thriller and with Home Before Dark Sager doesn't disappoint.

Thanks to Dutton and Netgalley for the ARC!

Such a fun book until the last fifteen pages.

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How a family could hide a teenagers body because they thought their six year old daughter would get in trouble for MURDERING her is beyond me. It would have just been considered an accident, regardless of “scratches.” That’s comical motivation to hide a teenager under the floor boards, that’s COMPLETELY bonkers.

Sager, you could’ve just left in the haunts and thrown in the Marta angle and I would have been delighted. Instead we have several psyche outs and a revolving door of “bewildered women” in a child’s bedroom.

I look forward to a new Riley Sager thriller every summer! His books always deliver a page turning mystery with just the right formula for his familiar characters: the survivors (Final Girls) of a horror movie-esque massacre and settings: creepy summer camps (The Last Time I Lied) and big city apartment buildings with a sinister history (Lock Every Door).

This time around, Sager is giving us a haunted house that has gained infamy thanks to a bestselling horror memoir and a woman determined to uncover the truth.

Baneberry Hall has set vacant in the Vermont woods for 25 years. Ewan and Jess Holt fled in the middle of the night with their five-year-old daughter Maggie less than a month after purchasing the estate.
Ewan eventually wrote a bestselling book about the family's experience which brought them a great deal of money but also led to the end of Ewan and Jess's marriage.

Maggie was too young to remember much of her time at Baneberry Hall. She's read the book, but as an adult she has a healthy skepticism of the events her father recounted featuring evil spirits and paranormal activity.
When Ewan dies, Maggie is shocked to learn she has inherited the estate --- she didn't know her father still owned the property.

Maggie tells herself she is returning to renovate the house and sale as quickly as possible but she has always wondered if there was even a shred of truth in her father's book. As she meets the people chronicled in the book and learns more about the history of Baneberry Hall, Maggie experiences some strange occurences of her own.

I freaking loved this thriller! It's atmospheric and creepy and Sager has the haunted house formula down to a science with some definite Amityville Horror vibes.
I've never been a fan of The Sound of Music but the song "Sixteen Going on Seventeen" will now send a chill up my spine instead of inducing an eye roll. Also, I will never sleep with a closet or armoire open ever again.
I loved the twisty ending and I honestly didn't figure it out beforehand.

A little campy (in a fun way!) and immensely entertaining, Home Before Dark is another perfect summer thriller from Riley Sager.

Thanks to NetGalley and Dutton Books for providing me with an ARC in exchange for my honest review. Home Before Dark is scheduled for release on June 30, 2020.

Sager has absolutely done it again. I was a big fan of his other three novels and this was no exception. Home Before Dark is a twisty narrative, told between different decades about a family in a “haunted” house. Maggie has to decide if the horror book he father wrote about their time in this haunted house really happened. Her memories start to come back when she stays in the house as an adult and experiences some of the same things her infamous author father wrote.

This was perfectly spooky and twisty, just what I’ve come to know and love from Sager. It’s such an accessible thriller, bringing you right to the edge and handing you an amazing story that you watch unfold before your eyes.

Riley Sager’s first novel Final Girls was almost unfair for a debut work. The mastery of this author, who operates under a pseudonym, reads more like a story you’d expect from a writer’s second or third book. The book released in 2017 to international acclaim, with hopes of another book sooner rather than later. Instead, the author followed up with two novels in each following year. In keeping with the trend, Sager will release Home Before Dark on June 30th, 2020 by Dutton/Penguin. Thanks to the publisher, I’m happy to bring this spoiler-free Home Before Dark review to Comic Years in what I think will end up being one of the year’s strongest works of fiction.

In Sager’s upcoming novel, we meet Maggie Hold 25 years after her family narrowly escapes from Baneberry Hall. The haunting Victorian estate holds a dark past and despite signs for concern, her parents Ewan and Jess move in. Ewan’s fleeting freelance career is buying the young father time until he can write the Great American Novel, which he plans to do at Baneberry.

What’s sort of funny is throughout the events following the Holt family’s move, all signs point to a hellish presence in the house. Despite these signs, Ewan seems more annoyed than frightened. It’s not until things begin to look fatal that Ewan escapes with his family. While staying in a motel, Ewan shares his suspected ghost encounter with the cops. The report leads to a saucy story in the local newspaper. The attention is as close to acclaim Ewan feels he might get, so he pens House of Horrors, a nonfiction account of his family’s time in Baneberry.

When Ghosts Become Demons
As an adult, Maggie finds people want to know all about her experience when they realize who she is. In reality, she spends her teen years and beyond believing her father made everything up. The book talks of Maggie’s “invisible friends” who serve as the home’s haunters, and she doesn’t remember any of it. As Home Before Dark plays out, we hear the full story of what happens, but we also get to review how the experience affects Maggie. Without any real recollection of the events at Baneberry, she still finds herself struggling after her family’s escape.

The fame of House of Horrors rivals that of The Amityville Horror, but Maggie ends up bearing the brunt of what follows. Countless instances place Maggie in the role of the victim. Instances include being shunned by classmates for her father’s “evil book” and never escaping the fame attributed to her surname. The experience all but demolishes her relationship with her parents, who get divorced shortly after the book becomes a hit. When her father passes away, his final words to Maggie are “so sorry.” But, for what?

Insanely Well Developed Themes Make Home Before Dark Effective
Without diving too much more into the story, Maggie finds out that her father never sold Baneberry, so she returns to assess the property. It’s here that she rediscovers the events that changed her family’s life 25 years ago. The story is far from a cookie-cutter walkthrough of typical ghost story tropes. Yes, the family experiences mysterious occurrences that cannot be explained. The Victorian layout of the house leaves room for great moments. Favorite highlights include ghostly chandeliers, record players starting without human intervention, and even an Ouiji board consultation.

What rings loudest in the novel are themes surrounding the relationship a father has with his daughter. Modern norms aside, the bond between a dad and his girl is complicated. There’s an element of fatherly duty to protect with plenty of room to overstep boundaries rooted in every one of these relationships. If a father oversteps this gentle line, then his darling daughter can either grow to hate him or encounter danger. As she grows up, any daughter desires autonomy from the man who raised her. One’s willingness to approach this natural departure from one another with caution can be the only thing keeping the process from spoiling family bonds.

The haunting backdrop of what Ewan and Maggie experience in Baneberry echos through generations of father-daughter relationships gone bad. Ewan has no desire to lose his daughter’s love. In protecting her and documenting what they go through in House of Horrors, Ewan saves and loses his daughter all at once.

Overall Impressions
I think Sager’s love of thriller and mystery novels helps guide this story smoothly. The author certainly doesn’t shy away from eerie subjects. 2019’s Lock Every Door also featured a dwelling rotted with past sins, but I think Home Before Dark nails frightening passages a little more smoothly. There’s not too much of a dependency on any gothic vibes. That said, the modern sense of the Holt family’s experience makes it scarier. In a weird way, I feel like this story seems more realistic than other haunted tales.

The ghostly portions of the book aren’t spine-chilling, but keep the reader nervous. Not to mention, plot points that seem obvious evaporate as Maggie discovers more about her past. All in all, Maggie is one of the more enjoyable characters I’ve encountered in fiction the past 18 months. Sager’s incredible novel is one I look forward to hopefully seeing adapted for film or TV. Sony Pictures and 21 Laps recently won the rights to the book’s adaptation via auction. The latter is run by director-producer Shawn Levy, who started his career directing family films like Cheaper by the Dozen and the Night at the Museum films. More recently, his efforts with his production company earned him a Netflix partnership where he helped launch Stranger Things as executive producer.

Home Before Dark Review Rating
I like to rate my book reviews on a scale of 1-5; five being something like Gone Girl and one being gone from my memory. I’d place the review score for Home Before Dark at a 5 for the many reasons above and because I’ll likely re-read it in the near future. Be sure to check out all reviews, interviews, and news coverage we provide for books on Comic Years.

Riley Sager’s Home Before Dark is scheduled to release June 30, 2020, via Dutton/Penguin. A digital copy of this novel was provided by the publisher for the purposes of this review.