I absolutely loved this book! I'm a sucker for a creepy, atmospheric old house in a thriller. I really enjoyed the dual timeline/ 'book within a book.' I loved how things unfolded in House of Horrors and then something similar would happen in the present timeline in the next chapter. this was definitely creepy and maybe it wasn't the best idea to stay up late reading it 😂

But it honestly didn't scare me as much as I thought it would! Throughout this book, you didn't really know what was the truth and what was a lie and I really enjoyed that aspect and having to guess what was reality. Sager, as always, does an amazing job of planting seeds and giving you clues as to how the story unfolds. And there were lots of twists. I definitely did NOT see the ending coming! I truly couldn't put it down. Also snakes. IYKYK.

Wow! Another addictive, amazing, MUST READ novel by Riley Sager. I have read and LOVED all of his previous novels and this book did NOT disappoint! I was thrilled when I learned he was coming out with another novel, and couldn’t wait to get my hands on a copy to read! SO of course as soon as I received a copy of this book I began straight away!

Can we just take a few moments to admire the beauty (and creepiness!) of this book cover!! I absolutely LOVE it. P.S. The hardcover copy of the book actually glows in the dark! Super creepy right!? I love it!! How eerie and creepy the cover is only adds to the creepiness of the novel, and fits perfectly with the storyline.

I loved reading about all that went on in Baneberry hall. Not only do we get to read chapters here and there of the book “House of Horrors” that Ewan wrote about the time he and his family lived in Baneberry Hall, but we also get to compare the stories he recounts in his novel to the experience Maggie has now that she moved into the house all these years ago and was skeptical about the stories he wrote. Afterall, she has no memory of any of the events he talks about in his book actually taking place.

Strange and creepy, unexplainable things begin happening and they were so creepy to read about and I absolutely loved reading about them. I cannot imagine living in a house like this and having all of those strange things happening.

Maggie was a very likeable character and I loved reading about her life and her braveness to move into the house and get it ready for resale. She uncovers and discovers a lot of things while staying in the house and begins to learn that maybe not everything her father said and wrote about in his book was made up but actual truth. Many shocking revelations and discoveries are to be had in this house.

All the stars for this addictive and creepy book and I cannot recommend this book enough! You need to grab your own copy of this book today! You’ll love it!

Way to go Riley Sager! I cannot wait to see what book you come out with next! I’ll definitely be waiting for it!

Right off the bat, this novel reminded me of a reimagining of The Amityville Horror by Jay Anson. In Home Before Dark, the Holt family briefly lived in the house where an unspeakable crime once occurred. Sinister supernatural events began to happen, resulting in the family fleeing for their lives in the middle of the night, never to return again.

Home Before Dark is creatively told through two timelines. Twenty-five years after the events told in “House of Horrors”, now thirty-years-old Maggie Holt returns to Baneberry Hall to renovate it so that she can sell it. At least, that’s why she says she’s there. She has a lot of questions about what really happened twenty-five years ago. She doesn’t believe in ghosts, and she wants to finally understand exactly why they really left and why her father lied to her all these years.

There’s also a past timeline told through chapters of the novel “House of Horrors”. This is a version of events that cannot be trusted, because it was written by her father shortly after they fled. He needed the money, and Maggie doesn’t believe any of it is true. However, as the story progresses, it becomes clear that some parts of the “House of Horrors” are true. But just how much?

Both the version of the “past” and the present timeline are equally compelling. There are frequent cliffhangers that kept me turning the pages far beyond my bedtime.

The town and the history of Baneberry Hall are well-fleshed out by Riley Sager, and I was intrigued by the mystery behind historical events which may or may not have occurred the way they were reported. This novel also plays upon the small-town mentality, where everyone knows everyone and their business. When Maggie returns to town, everyone is talking about the infamous book that was published twenty-five years ago as if it were yesterday. The town has been greatly affected by the publication of this “true” account of what happened at Baneberry Hall, and everyone from the building’s handyman to the sheriff has an opinion about the house and Maggie’s father.

One thing I love about these types of books is that it’s unclear if there are supernatural elements at play. Sure, the excerpts from “House of Horrors” have clear paranormal events, but this is, of course, a seemingly unreliable telling of the events. In present day, strange things are happening once again at Baneberry Hall, things that could be caused by ghosts, or could be something much more sinister. I love books that have this uncertainty to them, and this is what makes Home Before Dark such a gripping read. It kept me guessing until the very end!

Home before dark small

I recommend this book to those looking for a thriller that borders on horror, and to those who love a good ghost story.

This was an okay read for me. I found the first half of the book quite slow, and it took a lot to get my attention. I found myself constantly putting the book down, and not interested in picking it up. The last bit of the book was interesting! I just wish it was like that through the whole book.

Although I like Gothic stories with creepy houses, I don't usually enjoy books that are just about haunted houses because I'm not a believer in ghosts, so they don't really spook me.  The only reason I decided to read this book is because I have enjoyed all the other Riley Sager books he's written.  All of them have been different (although his previous one was about a creepy apartment building), compelling, and kept me turning the pages quickly.  This one turned out to be no different.  Sager is quite the storyteller and drew me in even if I wasn't buying the house being haunted.  It is a book within a book which I found captivating, and I enjoyed the back and forth between the past story being told in the published book Maggie's Dad wrote about the house and the present day.  It kept my attention because I kept wanting to know what the truth was even after the main character who was skeptical herself about the haunting finally became convinced the house was haunted.  It always seems that I think I know how it's going to end,  I'm wrong.  There are a few authors that I feel like I can consistently rely on for a good read and Sager is being added to that list.

Thank you to Netgalley for a copy in exchange for an honest review.

A rollercoaster from beginning to end! A perfect, fun, summer read to give you a chill before Halloween.

Mystery/Horror (but more spooky than horror) | Adult
What a delightfully creepy book! I seem to be reading a lot of ghost stories of late, and this one is almost as good as The Ghost in the House, reviewed a couple of weeks ago. Maggie Holt was five years old when her parents bought Baneberry Hall, despite its tragic history. Within a month of moving in, the family fled in the night, and dad Ewan Holt wrote House of Horrors: A True Story telling the terrifying tale of the supernatural haunting that drove them out. It’s now 25 years later, and Maggie returns to the Vermont house after her father’s death. With no memories of that brief stay in the house, she’s never believed the book her father wrote, though its impact on her can’t be overstated. Now a home designer and renovator, Maggie intends to spruce up the place for a quick sale. Instead, she finds herself confronting the same frightening noises and visions her father described, and her memories are starting to return.
Sager tells the story in alternating voices – Maggie’s contemporary perspective and and the chronological chapters from her father’s book; together the two perspectives help advance the plot and build suspense as the creepy events start to repeat themselves. There are lots of twists and red herrings, in a Hitchcockian way, and the final reveals are a satisfying surprise. We get to know Maggie and her family well; I would have liked Allie to have been a bigger part of the story, along with more development of a couple of important characters. The setting is great, and the creepy plot development is riveting. My thanks to Dutton Books for the advance reading copy provided digitally through NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.
More discussion and reviews of this novel: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/50833559

Home Before Dark was spooky alright but it still ended up disappointing me. I ended up feeling rather confused than scared. I loved the book inside a book trope and the major twist in the end, but overall it was a bit of a let down.

Thanks to Netgalley, the publisher and the author for the eARC in exchange for my honest review.

Sigh. This unfortunately was not a winner for me. The authors previous novel was a bust for me and I should have stopped there. I just could not stay engaged with this story. It felt very drawn out and only to have an ending that had me saying “who cares.”

Not my favorite Sager but maybe top three. I loved the idea of this one and was thoroughly creeped out until the vibe gave me whiplash at the end. The mystery was solved and all the creepiness was analyzed with answers for everything. That was fun seeing how well thought out everything was and how everything tied together so well, but also lost a bit of the creep factor I was loving so much about this one.

This book is fantastic- an unsettling journey of one woman's return to her brief childhood home, digging to uncover the truth she's sure has been buried beneath and overshadowed by the infamous book her father wrote about their time spent there, and that horrible night her family fled, the night she herself can't remember. Forgotten memories and unreliable narration from both others and herself are a huge theme in this book; can Maggie Holt even trust the things lurking in the depths of her memory? How much of what her father wrote was the truth- and how much of it does she want to be the truth, especially when the information she uncovers paints a very different picture of the time spent in the purportedly haunted house?

What unfolds is a slow-burning mental and physical trek all over an old, beautifully-described but historically tragic Gothic house in a small town (one who's inhabitants are none to happy about the notoriety that Ewan Holt's book brought upon them). In a house full of strange noises, of inexplicable happenings, Maggie must ask herself: what happened all those years ago at Baneberry Manor?

Riley Sager's writing gets better each book he publishes; more taut, more shocking. Extremely and deliciously unpredictable, his books pull the rug from under me every single time I think I have it figured out. Now that I've read all 4 of his works, I can see the formula he writes with, but make no mistake- it's a damn good one. What could be a lazily written, generic pattern is laid out masterfully in his books, suspense and clues you didn't even realize were put in front of you until you look back at the tiniest of details. Everything, somehow, makes sense when you rewind your brain back through the pages you just read. There are no wishy-washy, badly sprung and nonsensical plot twists, no shoehorned motives- just an unwinding story done extremely well, enough that his books are my go-to recommendations for readers seeking a good mystery.

All I can say is I endlessly hope his books gain more traction and more popularity, and I'll eagerly await the next one.

Thanks to NetGalley and Dutton Books for an advanced readers copy in exchange for an honest review.

4+ stars

Excellent ghost story by Riley Sager. Maggie Holt and her parents fled from Baneberry Hall after living there for three weeks when Maggie was five. Maggie’s dad writes a best selling horror book detailing the hauntings in their home. Neither parent will talk to Maggie about their time at Baneberry Hall. Now 25 years later, Maggie inherits the house and goes back to prep the house for sale and to solve the mystery.

The book goes back and forth from current day Maggie’s POV to her father’s book as she tries to figure out what is truth vs. fiction.

Well done book with lots going on. Highly recommend.

Home Before Dark was a little dull in the beginning, it took me a hot minute to really get into but by 45% through I was hooked. This is my 3rd book by Riley Sager that I've read, and so far this is the only one where I kind of saw the ending coming... the very end because I definitely didn't catch on to that one thing. Although I was able to put some of the story together myself I still loved it. We have Maggie Holt who has a past she can't quite remember and basically after her father dies she does her best to uncover what she believes are the lies that made her family rich. She returns to the house of horrors, the haunted house that her family fled from in the middle of the night and slowly she pieces together what's true and what's a lie. The story switches perspectives from Maggie to different chapters from her fathers books, and it was executed just so perfectly. Riley Sager has aced that in each of his novels I've read. I absolutely adore how this author builds slow suspense in normal everyday events, fixing up a house, camping, etc...

I loved the Final Girls and I really liked The Last Time I Lied, so I'm ready to jump into Lock Every Door.

What a ride! Home Before Dark is a haunted house mystery with a book within a book. This suspenseful read is tough to open after dark.

4.5 stars. A good, creepy psychological thriller told with a story within a story. A family moves into an old house only to discover that there have been multiple deaths and murders in its past. Strange things begin to happen. An old phonograph starts to play music at odd hours of the night, a chandelier repeatedly turns on by itself, items go missing, bumps are heard in the dark, and the 5 year old daughter sees ghosts. A bit repetitive at times but still an intriguing tale with clever twists at the end.

Riley Sager is one of my favorite contemporary thriller/mystery writers and I never go away disappointed. And this may be my favorite book yet!

With strong Haunting of Hill House vibes (and that is a good thing!) we learn that our main character Maggie left Baneberry Hall in the dead of night with only the clothing on her back to escape the evil darkness that supposedly haunted the house. Her parents, Ewan and Jess, claimed they left due to the malevolent spirit trying to harm them and most importantly Maggie, but Maggie doesn't remember any of it. After they leave, Ewan writes a blockbuster tell-all (think Amityville Horror) and the rest goes down as legend.

Maggie as an adult doesn't believe any of it and MUST find out what really happened but her parents will not tell her. They just warn her to stay far away, that it is dangerous for her to be there. Surprisingly, when Ewan dies, Maggie learns that he never sold the house and now Maggie owns it. Determined to learn the truth, Maggie travels back to Baneberry Hall to learn what really happened that night and to finally put to rest her past.

As Maggie starts to experience strange occurrences very similar to those in her father's book, she is starting to doubt herself, and just maybe the house is haunted. Or is it? There is always more than one way to be haunted and Maggie will come to understand the dark and terrifying truth of Baneberry Hall.

Thanks to Dutton Books for my free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review!

I have been a huge Riley Sager fan and have been dying to read Home Before Dark! I thought this was a fun, spooky, and thrilling book! I really enjoyed the format of this book, how it bounced between Maggie's perspective and her father's controversial book about her family's life at the haunted Baneberry Hall. It took me a little bit to get into this story and get a good feel for the characters, but then I did not want to put it down. I am not a scary movie/haunted house person, but I really enjoyed those elements in this book. It was fun and refreshing to read a book with a different kind of setting and background than the normal thrillers I have been picking up. Reading this late at night definitely freaked me out a bit, but it was fun to see where Riley took this story. It got crazy at the end and I enjoyed trying to put together all the pieces of the story before they were revealed to me (of course I was still shocked at the end and very wrong with my theories). I would definitely recommend picking this one up if you have read and enjoyed Riley Sager's previous books, like spooky and scary books and movies, and want a thrilling and dark story!

Overall I gave this one 3.5 stars, since it took me a bit to get into and dragged a little in some parts of the book, but it was very readable and I personally think a great summer beach thriller!!

This makes it the third book that I read by Riley Sager and this one is probably my favorite. I think Sager did an excellent job in bringing the house to life with the vivid descriptions. The presence of the house was a character in itself. I am kind of a wuss, so it took me a little longer to read because I could not read this at night- I know! This was a dark and twisty story that kept me guessing on what had happened in the house. This one definitely has some “Shining” vibes. The story was a mixture of the supernatural and a murder mystery. If I am honest, the house was my favorite part of the book. I found Megan to be a bit too much at times. Her dad’s POV was great by bringing in the story that as an author he was able to tell. I was definitely not expecting the ending, but it had a great ending to this creepy story. I can’t wait to see what else Riley writes.

Wow, did I love Home Before Dark! It takes a classic horror novel The Amityville Horror, which was turned into the 1979 horror film classic, and turns it into something even scarier-- and goes very meta with it. I thought the "twist" was well done and not too telegraphed in advance and I really admire the way Riley Sager can take a classic (in this case, a film and book) and make it fresh. Definitely a must read for fans and for those who love early Stephen King, as well as horror movies!

Riley Sager has done it AGAIN. I've read every book he has written since the release of his debut FINAL GIRLS, and I have to say, I am continually impressed by Sager's ability to create new, fresh thrillers/horrors. His books are so well-planned and thought-out, and HOME BEFORE DARK is no different.

HOME BEFORE DARK is about a family that buys Baneberry Hall, a historic mansion with a bloodstained past. The family starts experiencing supernatural happenings and don't even make it three weeks in the house before fleeing in the night, never to return again. The father, Ewan, eventually writes a book detailing what happened while they lived at Baneberry Hall and it becomes a huge phenomenon, much to the chagrin of Maggie, the daughter. Maggie was small when she lived at Baneberry Hall, so she doesn't remember much besides what her father has written in the book. When her dad dies 25 years later, Maggie discovers that she has inherited the estate. Maggie is convinced her parents made up what happened at the house for profit, so she travels to her former home to renovate it to sell, all while promising that she will uncover the truth of what happened there all those years ago. What Maggie discovers is much more than she could have ever imagined.

Like in the 2018 show based on the novel The Haunting of Hill House, this book switches up the POV in alternating chapters. The reader gets to see the three weeks that the family lives in Baneberry Hall through the eyes of Ewan, and then in other chapters you read about Maggie uncovering the truth of Baneberry Hall in the present. This is one of my favorite forms of storytelling and had me on the edge of my seat the entire time.

I thought HOME BEFORE DARK to be completely compelling and unpredictable. I think any fan of the thriller and/or horror genres will greatly enjoy the ride that this story presents. This is a new favorite of Sagers, without a doubt, and I can't wait to see what he comes up with next.