Riley Sager’s latest novel is a supernatural thriller with horror elements. It is essentially a book within a book. While we are privy to the present day timeline of Maggie returning to Baneberry Hall to flip it and sell it after her father’s death. We also essentially read the book written by Maggie’s father called House of Horrors which details the 20 days five year old Maggie lived in Baneberry Hall with her parents Ewan and Jess.

Maggie recollects very little from her brief stay in the house so when her father died and passes the house onto her she jumps at the opportunity to return to the place whose legacy has haunted her for the last twenty five years.

Both Maggie and Ewan, as MCs, are capable and relatable. Sager also introduces a cast of side characters with intriguing motives.

As someone who loves a good haunted house story Sager’s latest was fantastic. I often judge the creepiness of a book based off of whether I recall scene from it when I have get up in the middle of the night. There were plenty of scenes that made me move just a little quicker through my house in the dark hours of early morning. While fear is subjective I think a lot of people will enjoy it.

In the haunted sense it kind of reminded me Lock Every Door (which was a homage to Rosemary’s Baby) but this was definitely a tribute to Shirley Jackson and The Haunting of Hill House (the book, but also the Netflix series). There is also two murder mysteries that are carried through the novel and in that sense I was reminded of Sager’s debut Final Girls.

The pacing was a slow build but there were little pay offs throughout the story instead of all of them being held for the end. I thought it was clever how the scenes in the parallel narratives overlapped at times. For example at around the same time in the book a record player starts playing the same song. In terms of tone, Home Before Dark definitely got dark at times and isn’t for those who don’t enjoy ghost stories.

There were also some good twists that I didn’t entirely see coming. As someone who loves ghosts stories it’s was a solid thriller and perfect for summer.

I would highly recommend it for fans of authors such as Simone St. James and Lisa Jewell. Overall I gave 5/5 stars.

TW: death of children, murder, disturbing scenes, and an extremely disturbing snake scene that I can’t stop thinking about.

Once again, Riley Sager delivers a rock solid thriller in his newest book, Home Before Dark.

The story is told in both the present day as well as excerpts from the father's book. This setup naturally leads the reader to question the reliability of the father as narrator because he is not alive to vouch for himself and his daughter has always considered him to be a liar. I sometimes struggle with reading "books within books", but this one worked really well. I honestly felt like I was reading a haunted house account and I was engrossed by those sections. I am not always a fan of the haunted horror subgenre, but this thriller hit all the beats of the classic haunting stories while still managing to feel fresh.

Sager is clearly aware that his audience includes seasoned thriller readers and so he goes out of his way to create multiple red herrings. I pride myself in being very good at guessing endings, but he managed to surprise me here. Several times, I was certain that I had uncovered the finale resolution, but all my guesses turned out to be wrong. I didn't think this was his strongest ending, but it was still quite good. I just think he missed some opportunities to make the ending brilliant.

Readers should know that, while this story plays off of horror tropes, it is decidedly a thriller. This story is clearly inspired by the classic Amityville Horror story, but you don't need to read it in order to understand and enjoy this one. Previously, I had no interest in reading that piece of "non fiction", but I am now very interested to see Sager's inspiration and plan to read The Amityville Horror very soon.

Riley Sager has certainly earned a place among my all time favourite authors. He is easily one of the best authors writing in the thriller genre today. If you are already a fan of Riley Sager, then you should definitely read his newest release. It has all the benchmarks of one of his books. If you have not read him before, this is a great place to start. I would highly recommend this novel to anyone looking for a well plotted thriller full of exciting twists, especially if you love a haunted house narrative

Disclaimer: I received a review copy from the publisher.

This is easily the scariest book I’ve ever read, but maybe that’s because I’m a scaredy cat when it comes to a good ghost story. It’s more than just scary though; Home Before Dark is gripping, smart, and full of heart. The duel narrators worked so well together, and the “are they, aren’t they reliable?” aspect added so much mystery. And every Riley Sager book has a stellar twist or three— this book is no exception! I thought I had the ending figured out multiple times, but I was nowhere close (for the most part). The last fifty pages or so felt more thriller and less horror to me, but in my opinion, this is the closest straight-up horror novel Sager has put out yet. He has a formula with these books, and it just works over and over again, even when he tries out some new angles to freshen it up. Home Before Dark is definitely on par with Sager’s previous novels, if not better in some ways. 5/5 stars and a new favorite.

I have read Final Girls by Riley Sager and I have to say, I wasn't a huge fan. I found it extremely lacking and superficial. Based on premise alone, I gave Home Before Dark a try and WOW, what a difference! There is not enough good that I can say about this book. This is the haunted house horror I never knew I needed. If the cinematic rights to this are not purchased soon, I will be shocked! The dual timeline and double narrative made this horror novel mystifying, suspenseful and full of twists and turns. All the while, Sager is leaving is with scenes that are terrifying in nature and descriptions that will give you the literal shivers. This was incredible!

Thank you Dutton Books and Netgalley for the free advance copy of Home Before Dark in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

I officially have a new favorite Riley Sager novel! Home Before Dark was able to get me out of my pandemic-induced reading slump back in March/April and I’m so glad!

I get excited every time there’s a new Sager novel on the horizon, and I was even more excited about this one once I heard it features a book-within-a-book.

I’ve seen comparisons to The Amityville Horror, and I think I saw the movie years ago, but never read the book. So I can’t speak to that resemblance, but it immediately reminded me of The Haunting of Hill House (the show, not the book), which I loved.

I don’t want to give even the tiniest thing away, so all I’m going to say is you need this book. Put it on your wishlist, preorder it, pray to the BOTM gods that it’s an early June release, whatever you have to do to get your hands on this book. I already want to read it again.

The reader is drawn quickly into this book within a book, but the going becomes tiresome since neither book, in the end, is particularly good.

This was so good! I loved last time I lied and was so disappointed with lock every door. I wasn't sure whether I would even try this one but I'm so glad I did! Read in under 48 hours, could not put it down. Love the haunted house angle.

I just want to start this review by saying Riley Sager is one of my favorite thriller/mystery authors. Home Before Dark is about a girl named Maggie Holt. Maggie renovates old homes. Twenty-five years ago, Maggie and her parents moved into a Victorian estate called Baneberry Hill. After living there for three weeks, the family mysteriously flees in the middle of the night, never to return to the house. Maggie's father wrote a ghost story book about the experience, and it turned into an instant bestseller. Years later, Maggie returns to the house to renovate and sell it, and to also figure out whether or not her father's story held any truth to it.

This story was wonderfully creepy. It jumps back and forth between Maggie's POV and excerpts from her father's book. I loved how the excerpts often foreshadowed the experiences Maggie would have in the story. The pacing of the story is fast and full of information and scary bits. The ending was hinted at, but in a way that when you find out the twist you do a double take.

Overall, Riley Sager did it again. I cannot get enough of this man's writing.

In Riley Sager’s latest thriller, a young woman returns to the house her parents abruptly abandoned after two frightful weeks. A house with a history of murder, where the dead seem to be speaking from the other side with either a threat or perhaps a dire warning.
Shifting between the present and the past, grown up Maggie Holt tries to make sense of what happened at the house when she was a child, while her father's ‘Amityville Horror’ type bestseller recounts effectively what she doesn't remember. The stories gallop side by side with eerily similar events happening in quick chapters that dare you to not turn the next page.
What I so appreciated about this book is that at the start I was ready to write it off as a thriller similar in tone to the terrific “Haunting of Hill House” on @netflix. And yet Sager did a similar thing with last years entertaining “Lock Every Door” which felt slightly inspired by “Rosemary’s Baby”. Clearly I should have trusted that he had plenty of cards up his sleeve to craft a wholly original and devilishly fun thrill ride which keeps you on your toes and possibly vowing to never listen to “Sixteen Going on Seventeen” from the “Sound of Music” again.

This is his best one yet! The tension and suspense is fantastic! This has a book within a book, potentially supernatural events, and thrilling plot twists!

Thank you Netgalley for allowing me to read this before the publish date. This was a good suspenseful story that left you guessing until the end. The perfect book for a day at the beach, or lounging in your house.

I really like the writing style of this author. This new offering is a good old fashioned ghost story, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I suggest knowing as little as possible about the plot. Just jump in and enjoy! Thanks to NetGalley for providing an ARC.

Well Im a wimp. A HUGE WIMP. I don't really like thrillers and requested it anyway, I wanted to see what it was like to actually read a thriller novel, andddddd yeah I was completely scared SHITLESS. The suspense killed my back now that I am overly tense, but the writing was impeccable. I think it takes a lot of skill to write a successful thriller, you have to know how to appeal to emotion very well, and Sager did just that.

Thank you Dutton Books for sending me this ARC .

Maggie Holt's father wrote a horror memoir and she is trying to figure out if what he wrote is really true or not. He is gone now, and all she has is the book to go on. Readers of Sager's new thriller will read Maggie's point of view as well as chapters of her father's book for a delicious ghost story that won't be soon forgotten.

Maggie Holt is a very young child when her family moves into Baneberry Hall, a spooky old home that turns out to be a real life haunted house with a violent and troubling history. Things get so bad, in fact, that the family ends up fleeing the home a mere three weeks later. Now, 25 years later, Maggie is a grown woman with no memory of living in Baneberry Hall; all she knows comes from the best-selling book her father wrote about their experience. When the book begins, her father has just passed away and left her the home in his will. (She has no idea he still, secretly, owned it!) Maggie, who happens to be a restorer of old homes, goes back to the house to renovate it for sale. She’s not nervous. She doesn’t believe a word of anything her father wrote in that book. But then, strange things start to happen in the house. Lights and record players turn on by themselves. There are mysterious noises, and even shadowy figures lurking on the property. Suddenly, the oh-so-skeptical Maggie starts to believe that maybe some of her father’s book may have been true, after all. Told in alternating chapters that toggle between Maggie’s present day experience and the best-selling book itself, we slowly learn the secrets of Baneberry Hall, right along with our main character. I really enjoyed this book—I think it’s my favorite Riley Sager yet! It’s creepy and gripping, but still somehow seems totally realistic! I was turning the pages so quickly, and actually found myself wishing I could visit Baneberry Hall in real life. (But maybe only during the daytime hours!)

Thank you to Dtton Books for the gifted earc as part of the Mystery Book Club monthly selection.

4.5/5 rounded up to 5! | DAMN! Home Before Dark was a solid thriller. I'm not sure about the title - but the storyline was done so well. I had no clue - NOT ONE about where this story would go, but I was pleasantly surprised at the end. There was a point in which the story lagged and I thought the letter was a long winded, BUT THAT DAMN ENDING....BLOWN AWAY!!!!!

I'd recommend this to anyone who love thrillers and a little hint of spook (think paranormal/ghosts). Don't miss out.

“Every house has a story to tell and a secret to share.”

Just as he has done with each of his previous books, Riley Sager has outdone himself. One of the things I admire most about RS is that each of his books is unique and vastly different from all the others. I can’t compare this one to any other RS book to date. However, fans of The Haunting of Hill House and Amityville Horror will want to snag this one up!

With his latest offering, RS serves up a ghost story with a surprising study of familial bonds and the lengths family will go to. This book had me second guessing what was real and what was a lie almost up to the very end. I frighten easy in real life, but only once before has a book managed to scare me to any degree. That book was In Cold Blood (because that scariness happened in real life!). But RS has written a book that has managed to do it again. There are scenarios happening in this book and you are so caught up in it, you can’t help but fear that same thing is about to play out in your own home.

This is my new favorite RS book and one of my favorites of 2020. If this one is not on your summer reading list, add it now!

Maggie Holt has always lived in the shadow of her father's bestselling horror book - a "true" story of their twenty days living in a haunted house when she was five. Having inherited the infamous house from her father, she is determined to fix it up. Ghosts aren't real, so there's nothing to worry about. Jumping between her father's novel and Maggie's return to the house, Sager keeps you on edge the whole time. With creepy happenings and crazy twists and turns, Home Before Dark will be a perfect thriller to curl up to this summer.

Sager is masterful in Home Before Dark!

Ever since Sager wrote The Final Girls, I've been a fan of his writing. He has a way of grabbing your attention. His writing hooks you. This book was no different!

A Classic Haunted House Story with a Chilling Twist!

Maggie Holt is a cynic. Her father wrote a Horror memoir of an old haunted house and although many people actually believe it is haunted, Maggie does not have time for such childish beliefs. Her job is to restore old homes. After her father dies and leaves Baneberry Hall to her, she must restore it in order to sell it. When she is there, strange things begin to happen. Could it just be her imagination? After all, Maggie knows ghosts couldn't POSSIBLY exist. . . could they?

A Spinetingling read!

5 Stars!

Home Before Dark is Riley Sager’s latest psychological thriller. Having just inherited the house her and her parents fled from when she was a young girl, Maggie is shocked to find out her Dad still owned it after all those years. Even more so when she finds out he’s been visiting it on the anniversary of the day they fled all these years.
Determined to get to the bottom of the secrets the house holds, and be rid of the negative attention she’s always lived with, Maggie moves in to begin renovating the home to sell. There she is met by old faces, new mysterious characters and her old “imaginary friends”.
Told from alternating POVs of Maggie and excepts of the book her Dad wrote about their experience at the house, this is a taut, atmospheric thriller that will have you guessing until the very end.