I enjoyed Home Before Dark. It was so atmospheric. I had to put the book down late at night because I don't f with spooky ass haunted house stuff and knew I was going to get scared. Books rarely spook me, but Home Before Dark did and that's impressive. I enjoyed trying to put the pieces together to figure out what was going on throughout the entire book. Usually the 'book inside a book' trope doesn't work for me, but it worked here. I loved how it cleverly allowed a duel timeline and a duel perspective. I've read all of Riley Sager's novels and look forward to reading his next book.

Sager does not disappoint. He has quickly become one of my go to and favorite thriller authors. His books are so well layered that you develop so many outcomes and thoughts of what the ending may be like and then he 100% surprises you every time! This one kept me on the edge of my seat and twisted and turned the whole way. I never see his endings coming, so this was not a surprise (while such a surprise all at the same time!) In other words, if you don't like to be punched in the gut at the end of a good thriller don't read this one (or any of Sager's). But if you love thrillers, spooky settings and OMG moments...grab them all NOW!!!

Loved this so much. It was a little different than the three Sager books I read before, but same great writing!! I read this straight through, I couldn’t get enough!

I really enjoyed this book. It was spooky and had satisfying twists and turns. I was always thinking and trying to figure out what was really happening. Definitely didn't guess all of the surprises in this one! A definite stay-up-late must read.

Home Before Dark by Riley Sager is another standalone psychological thriller that I have become accustomed to from this author. I am amazed how Sager continues to write intense exciting edge of your seat stories that have us holding our breaths from start to finish.

Home Before Dark switches between two POV’s; one set in the present and the other set 25 years ago. We meet our heroine, Maggie Holt, who inherits a Victorian estate in Vermont from her father, who recently deceased. Maggie has spent most of her life knowing about this scary mansion, as 25 years ago her parents bought the rundown Baneberry Hall; and after staying only 20 days, they run out of the house to never come back. Her father wrote a bestselling book (House of Horrors) about their horrifying experience with spirits/ghosts, and Maggie has hated this book, believing it all to be a lie. She remembers nothing about the place, especially since she was only 5 years old at the time, and neither of her parents would ever talk about it.

Despite her mother trying to convince Maggie (she is an interior designer) to not go there, just sell it, she decides to go and renovate the estate, and then sell it. Maggie will begin to hear strange noises in the night, and we learn more about those who lived in the house and the so-called spirits from her POV. I liked seeing Maggie’s POV, but it was her father’s (Ewan) POV that was scary, crazy and horrifying, as we saw through his eyes what was happening. In Ewan’s POV, most of it is from his book, which details the horror, ghosts, etc; which eventually drove them out of the house.

In the present time, Maggie begins to see shadows and noises, which she tries to shake off as her imagination. Having hated the book as a lie, she begins to worry that maybe she is wrong, especially after talking to those who were still alive and were part of the mansion. There are so many twists and surprises that we see in Maggie’s present time that slowly changes the game, and it is here where during the last 1/3 of the book it becomes a wild, exciting, riveting race to the climax. I was on the edge of my seat, as one surprise after another kept me unable to put the book down; a couple of times I needed to step away, as I felt parts being downright creepy.

What follows is an intense, exciting, creepy, edge of your seat gothic horror thriller that a had so many surprising twists, keeping us engrossed to the very end. Riley Sager once again gives us another fantastic story that was so very well written. I do not want to give any spoilers, as you really need to read Home Before Dark from start to finish. If you enjoy thrillers, suspense, and mystery, look no further than reading anything by Riley Sager

When she was a kid, Maggie and her parents lived in Baneberry Hall for 20 days. She was very young and doesn't remember it, which is probably a blessing; her dad wrote a book about it and it became a huge success. (Think Amityville, but scarier.) The book is marketed as nonfiction but Maggie believes that it's all made up. Because if the things her dad said happened actually did, she's pretty sure she'd remember.

But then she has to go back to the house and, of course, strange and creepy things begin to happen almost immediately.

I've been a huge fan of Riley Sager's since his first book (Final Girls) came out. Every release since has been met with a lot of excitement and, while reading, just as much enjoyment. This one is my new favorite. Part of it is because I am completely obsessed with the Amityville house (they left everything behind! EVERYTHING!) but most of it is that it's just an incredibly good and unsettling book.

This book is creepy fun and I highly recommend it.

“Every house has a story. Ours is a ghost story. It’s also a lie. And now that yet another person has died within these walls, it’s finally time to tell the truth”.. When Maggie Holt was a child her parents purchased Baneberry Hall aware of the history of the home, which included the previous owners deaths the father killing the daughter and then taking his own life and only the mother surviving, they decide to make happy memories and renovate the home. Not soon after moving in weird things happen which end with them fleeing in the middle of the night and promising to never return. Maggie’s father writes a bestselling book about the haunted home and what happened to them, and the stigma has followed Maggie throughout her childhood and now as an adult. The only problem is she cannot remember what happened those fateful days at Baneberry Hall. Now after her fathers death she’s shocked to hear she inherited the home she didn’t know her father still owned it. Now Maggie plans to restore the old home and also get answers to what happened to her family while living there for only twenty days. She believes her father was lying about the whole situation. When she arrives and begins to fix the home things begin to happen noises, lights turned on, a record player playing music, items missing then reappearing. Maybe her fathers book wasn’t a complete lie. I was immediately drawn in the book gave me The Haunting Of Hill House and Amityville vibes. I mean just the names Mr Shadow and Miss Pennyface give you the creeps! I loved it! The book alternates between Maggie’s fathers book and Maggie during the present! Five stars!

4.5/5

Ingredients for scaring the bajeezers out of me: spooky house with a history of spooky stuff ✅, spooky kids ✅, spooky adults✅, snakes ✅, thuds ✅, My mother-in-law. (Uhhh... ok 5 out of 6 🤷🏼‍♀️)

Shortest Summary Ever: Maggie Holt was 5 years old the last time she was in Baneberry Hall; it was in her mother’s arms as her family fled, terrified... never to return. So she thought. Her father wrote a bestseller about the incident and Maggie has spent her life claiming the book is all lies. Now she’s an adult who restores homes and low and behold - she’s baaaaaaaaaack. Was her dad writing fiction or could he, maybe, possibly, be right all along?

My thoughts: I’m in “escape” mode, reading- wise and this was the perfectly-timed book prescription needed (I ain’t afraid of no ghosts!) Twists and turns abound and the pace is fast, the scares plentiful, and the suspense well-drawn. My first Sager novel, and I definitely felt a “been there” vibe as far as plot creativity goes - the basis is a bit Stephen King-Amityville-esque (Pennyface? C’mon now yo), but Sager adds his own flavor to keep it fresh and thrilling. Though writing this review I just scared myself seeing my dog’s white tail in the window (I MIGHT be afraid of those ghosts).

Loved the alternating POVs between the book Maggie’s dad wrote and what’s happening to Maggie now.

All my reviews available at scrappymags.com

Genre: Horror/Mystery - spooky old house

Recommend to: Ready to get the tingles? Jump at sounds? Yeah... you’re my people. Read this. Beach worthy too!

Not recommended to: oh it’s spooky, not cozy. If you don’t like to be scared. Uh huh, honey turn back now (drag queen voice and head shake).

Thank you to the author Riley Sager, Penguin Group Dutton, and Netgalley for the ARC and my always-honest review and making me fear waking at 4:54 a.m. (seriously, not cool!).

25 years ago, the Holt family fled Baneberry Hall in the middle of the night with nothing but the clothes they were wearing. Ewan Holt’s account of the twenty days spent in the house instantly shot to the bestsellers lists, and in each interview, article, and Oprah appearance, he and his family repeated the horrors they faced.

Two and a half decades later, Maggie is now 30 and has learned she’s inherited the House of Horrors. A surprise to her, as she assumed her parents got rid of it ages ago. Despite her mother’s insistence she not return, Maggie heads back to Baneberry, determined to finally get the answers she’s been searching for. Unlike her parents – and millions of readers worldwide – Maggie didn’t believe a single word of the book. Her father wanted to make his big break as a novelist and this is how he did it. Unfortunately for Maggie, the longer her stay at Baneberry Hall, the more she learns her father’s book held far more truth than she originally thought.

I thought his previous books were great..Home Before Dark blows them out of the water. This was a 5-star read if I ever saw one. I was immediately hooked and delighted in the alternating chapters: Maggie in the present day and excerpts from her father’s book detailing events and experiences the family encountered.

This is not a book I want to spoil for anyone, so I’ll keep it brief, but I will say that I had to pace myself. While I wanted to tear through this in one sitting, I also wanted to be able to sleep – which meant not only closing the book WELL before the sun set and forcing Matt and both dogs to come to bed hours early so I wouldn’t be alone! If you only grab one book for vacation or poolside lounging, make it this one. It was heart-pounding, intense, SO unbelievably captivating. I loved every single second spent with this one.

This is Riley Sager's best book yet. It has an Amityville Horror vibe. It pulls you in from the start weaving the past with the present slowly unravelling the storyline up to its creepy culmination.

Goodness! This was deliciously creepy! I loved the ghost element, the creepy house, and the interspersed sections of The Book. Despite some similarities to The Haunting of Hill House, I really enjoyed it overall!

I love love love Riley Sager, who writes scary/creepy novels and who I just realized was male. And a pseudonym. I never paid any attention before. Oh well, doesn't matter, on with the review!

I, like many of you, came to know Riley Sager from Final Girls, which had an ending I could not have predicted and if anyone tells you they predicted it, they are LYING. Here we have Home Before Dark, a title I have issues with because it doesn't make any sense. Why not call it House of Horrors, in reference to the novel within the novel? Or Baneberry Hall? I just hate titles that don't help you recall what happened in the book when someone mentions it later. Weird but true. Whatevs.

Maggie was five when she and her family left Baneberry Hall, and her father, a struggling writer, immediately wrote a "true story" about what happened there, very reminiscent of Amityville. It was a huge bestseller, in part due to an article that went viral as they sometimes do. Her entire life, Maggie has been defined by this book, and she cannot remember any of it and thinks it's all a lie, but her mother refuses to talk about it and her father swears it's the truth and has never wavered on this. The book opens with her finding out that her father never sold Baneberry Hall, and she has inherited it, and she wants THE TRUTH.

The book flips back and forth between chapters of the book and what is currently happening with Maggie, who is back at Baneberry for not only the truth, but to get her HGTV on and renovate the place as she's a designer by trade. Helping her out is Dane, a hot dude descended from the caretakers who have been taking care of the house since Day 1, which is so weird, like no one else wanted to get another job? BUT I DIGRESS. They end up getting zero work done because shit immediately starts going down, and Maggie is dealing with her mom, who is like "lemme buy that house," trying to be all casual but not pulling it off. In the words of my current favorite youtube artist Bailey Sarian, "SUSPISH." The town is not happy because they are so over Baneberry Hill, and this creepy reporter guy who wrote the original article is thirsty for follow up and wears bow ties. Gross.

So immediately, Maggie starts getting weird shit happening in the house, much of the same stuff that happened in her father's book, but she tells us 500 times that she doesn't believe in ghosts and she swears it's a person. Things like the lights being on when she turned them off, record player playing songs, seeing what looks like a person in the woods (ofc there are woods). The house is old and creepy itself but it's named after a poisonous berry, so it's expected. Maggie is sure that her Nancy Drew self will figure this stuff out and she will prove that nothing in the book happened, her parents are liars, and she will be free from all this. She is certain there is an explanation. But could that explanation be....ghosts??? Turns out, there have been several murders/suicides/accidents in that mansion...

So Maggie continues her hunt for the truth, not really having time to do any of her designing with all the chasing shadows in the woods and whatever (apparently there are groupies who dare each other to get inside the property, which is surrounded by a 10' tall fence). I got to around 90% on my kindle and I'm thinking, "Shit. Is this going to be tied up in a neat little bow for me?" Because Riley Sager makes sure shit is FINISHED. And it was...mostly. I gave it four stars instead of five because the ending was too rushed and some major plot points were "explained" in one or two sentences after being built up for the entire book and some were never explained at all . It's one of those books that, having finished it and knowing what is going on, I want to go back and reread.

A couple of things: her father references The Wiggles during this time, and they were not a thing (note to editor/publisher). Allie had literally not point in this story. Dane had almost no point, and Sager tried to make him have a point towards the end but it didn't really come to anything and could honestly be completely cut out. The back and forth between the original book and the current happenings is awesome because it really did make me want to keep reading. I read this entire book in probably 24 hours and stayed up way too late to do it. And some of that was late at night and it was creepy af.

Riley Sager, I love your work, and please keep coming out with books as often as you do!

I have been a fan of Riley Sager's book since I read 'Final Girls'. I loved that book and after that, I have read all his books. He has become my auto-buy author and I eagerly await his books.
I was absolutely overjoyed to get an ARC for this book.
I went into this book blind. I did not read the blurb, reviews, anything. For me, it was a Riley Sager book and that was enough!

Where do I start? This book is so so good. I love haunted house stories and when I started reading the book and realised this was one such story I was thrilled! I could not wait to see how this would unravel. I was ready for the chills, the creeps, spooks and the thrills!
And boy I wasn't disappointed. Baneberry Hall was everything and Maggie Holt was a realistic protagonist. And there is also a book involved. A book in a book? This could not get better!

I am meandering but that's how much I enjoyed the book.
When Maggie was 5 years old her parents bought Baneberry Hall but soon after strange things begin happening. Weird noises are heard in the night and young Maggie has scary imaginary friends.
Her father, a writer becomes obsessed with the history of the house and is out to figure out what is happening. But one night the family ran for their lives and left the house forever.

Present-day Maggie is a restorer of homes and is troubled by her haunted past and her lack of knowledge of what transpired at Baneberry Hall. Her father has just passed and she finds out that she is the owner of the famed haunted house! Ready to finally face the house and its secrets and ghosts Maggie goes back to Baneberry Hall to confront her past and finally find out what happened those many years ago.

Told in two POVs this story has you by its spooky claws from page one. The past is told through the book written by Maggie's father and present-day by Maggie.

This is such a creative book, written so well. The story flows easily and the fast pacing makes an engrossing story.

Fully recommend. My new favourite Riley Sager book!

Thanks to Dutton and Netgalley for sending a digital ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I loved this book, as I do with all of Riley Sanger’s. It was the perfect amount of creepy and I am a sucker for haunted house stories. They explanations behind the ghosts and their identities was a little strange to me. I think that could have played out in a more interesting manner. But all around a great book

Say hello to one of the best thrillers of 2020 without a doubt 🤓 HOME BEFORE DARK is everything and more. It’s scary, suspenseful, unpredictable, spooky as hell, quick, sad, relatable, and just plain epic.⁣⁣⁣⁣
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⁣⁣⁣⁣I never do well with mega hyped books, as they usually always fall flat for me. Thankfully, that wasn’t the case here! HOME BEFORE DARK is truly unlike any of Sager’s other books. For starters, it’s a ghost story. So, if you don’t believe in ghosts (I sure do), then you might struggle with this one. It’s also very spooky and not to be read at night alone 🤣😅⁣
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This book is all about Maggie and her dad. After he dies, she goes back to the haunted house that changed their lives forever and made them famous, Thanks to The Book. She’s determined to figure out the truth about the home after 25 years. is it truly haunted? Why did her family leave after living there for only 20 days? There were SO many chapters that left me with shivers. Sager’s imagination is on another level here!⁣
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Despite the 5 stars, this book was not without flaws. I couldn’t emotionally connect with Maggie, there were snakes that didn’t seem to fit the overall story, and one or two twists at the end could have been predicted. Overall, this was the first Sager novel that had an ending I LOVED. Usually, his endings leave me wanting way more and quite unsatisfied. The ending of HOME BEFORE DARK was wrapped up nicely, but still had 1-2 twists that i thoroughly enjoyed—and found believeable!⁣⁣⁣ ⁣
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Save yourself the FOMO and pre-order this for pub day, June 30. thank you so much to Dutton and Netgalley and for the gifted copy 🖤💚⁣⁣
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Read if you like:⁣⁣⁣⁣
📖 THE WHISPER MAN⁣⁣⁣⁣
📖 LOCK EVERY DOOR⁣⁣⁣⁣
📖 THE CHESTNUT MAN⁣⁣⁣⁣
📖 THE TURN OF THE KEY

DNF at 50%.

Dear Dutton. I promise I love you, but your two major summer blockbusters are just awful.

I know ppl are diehard Sager fans, and don’t get me wrong, I loved Lock Every Door, but that doesn’t mean that I choose to turn my back on superficial writing in favor of a popular author.

This book was supposed to be a ghost story packed with all the gothic vibes. I think Sager confused this one for Lock Every Door because nothing about this story felt like a ghost story. Instead, we have a woman (Maggie) who has a dark past and refuses to buy into the whole “being scared thing” so she’s out to prove that Baneberry isn’t haunted and she uses the neighbor boy for her own personal gain.

Maggie is probably one of the most one dimensional characters that I’ve read in a while. She’s self centered and an adrenaline junky. There’s literally no redeeming qualities about her.

This is coined as a ghost story. Creaky sounds does not constitute a ghost story. Feel free to check out Ruth Ware’s The Turn of the Key or Simone St. James’ The Sun Down Motel if you want to actually feel what a chilling atmosphere should be like.

Overall, I’m highly annoyed that I wasted even 50% of my time on a book that lacks depth. So many ppl are quick to praise this book but it’s unoriginal and has nothing to offer.

Thank you Duttons Books for a review copy. This did not influence my review. All opinions are my own.

I'm not typically a horror story reader. Surprisingly, all the commotion made me question if I should try picking it up. However, I was greatly surprised that I thoroughly enjoyed reading Home Before Dark. It has just enough suspense and makes for a thrilling ride without sending me hiding under the covers. Reading the dual timelines from Maggie's perspective and the House of Horrors excerpts felt seamless to me. Not jerky or confusing as to which time the reader was in. Riley Sager did an excellent job with this book!

A bone-chilling tale that will keep you up all night. Not only from his talented craftsmanship but due to the spine-tingling story that truly terrified me. After Maggie Holt's father Ewan passes away she discovers that she inherited the Victorian estate Baneberry Hall. As an Interior Designer who renovates old homes, Maggie returns to her dark past to seek answers to the many questions she harbored for twenty-five years on what truly happened at Baneberry Hall that forced her family to flee in the dead of night leaving behind all of their personal belongings.

This book was absolutely epic. This to me feels like Riley Sager's strongest work thus far. The author's writing seems to greatly evolves with each work he releases. A classic ghost story taking place in a haunted house just filled my spooky heart with joy. This book had everything I was looking for: strong character development, multilayered story, supernatural elements, chilly atmospheric setting and engaging mystery. A page-turner with every unfolding moments met with a sense of dread, this is one of the frightening read that will indulge your horror and thriller cravings.

Thank you to NetGalley and Dutton for providing me with this amazing ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Ewan & Jessica buy an old Victorian house called Baneberry Hall. The house has a past. Many think it’s haunted. And many people have died in the house. But Ewan believes it will be their dream house until their young daughter Maggie starts talking about her imaginary friends. The young family spends exactly 3 weeks in the house before they flee in the middle of the house leaving all of their things, never to return. Ewan writes a best selling book about the house & their experience in it. Think Amityville Horror. Growing up Maggie just knew that her parents made up everything in the Book. When her father passes away he leaves her the house in his will. She returns to fix it up & sell it but more importantly to find out what really happened there all those years ago. The more she finds out, the more that she finds out that there was a lot of truth to what her father had written. There’s a good reason this book has over 4 stars on Goodreads. It’s a great read!

Holy...when I read of this book in Goodreads summer reading recommendations I instantly knew I had to read it, when I seen it was an option on Netgalley I immediately requested an ARC and did a happy dance when I was accepted!

Now on to the review, this author has managed to write a book within a book and did it so well. It’s a story with many storylines and characters (and even multiple names for the same character) but it was so easy to follow along this twisty, thriller ride! Definitely my top read for 2020.

One part of the story is about Maggie, a young woman who has inherited Baneberry Hall also know as The House of Horrors in her father’s book, after her father passed away. After both her father and mother’s warnings to stay away, Maggie decides she needs to go back and find out the truth that her parents have been withholding from her the last 25 years. Maggie lived at Baneberry Hall when she was 5 but has no recollection of her life during that time, only knowing what her father claims happened in his book which she believes to be all false. Owning her own business of flipping houses, Maggie decides she’s going to go back to Baneberry Hall and get it ready to sell while finding out for herself what really happened.

The other part of the story is what her father has written on the estate in his book. A truly riveting ghost story that gave me the heebie jeebies reading it. The story alternates chapters, one in present time, one in the book and the interlace so well as you learn from both points of views that nothing is as it seems. Every thing is so well scripted and each character, including the ghost comes to life with wonderful descriptions.

Overall the novel was so well crafted, it flowed so well and kept me on the edge of my seat the entire time. When you finally think you have it all figured out, you don’t! Pick it up, you won’t regret it!

I received an ARC of this novel from the publisher through Netgalley. Home Before Dark is set to release June 30, 2020.