Home Before Dark

A Novel

By: Riley Sager

Narrated by: Cady McClain, Jon Lindstrom

THE INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • One of USA Today's Best Books of 2020

“A haunted house story—with a twist….[Sager] does not hold back”(Rolling Stone) in this chilling thriller from the author of Final Girls and Survive the Night.

Every house has a story to tell and a secret to share.
Twenty-five years ago, Maggie Holt and her parents moved into Baneberry Hall, a rambling Victorian estate in the Vermont woods. Three weeks later they fled in the dead of night, an ordeal her father recounted in a memoir called House of Horrors. His story of supernatural happenings and malevolent spirits became a worldwide phenomenon, rivaling The Amityville Horror in popularity—and skepticism.

Maggie was too young to remember any of the horrific events that supposedly took place, and as an adult she doesn’t believe a word of her father’s claims. Ghosts, after all, don’t exist. When she inherits Baneberry Hall after his death and returns to renovate the place and sell it, her homecoming is anything but warm. The locals aren’t thrilled that their small town has been made infamous, and human characters with starring roles in House of Horrors are waiting in the shadows.

Even more unnerving is Baneberry Hall itself—a place where unsettling whispers of the past lurk around every corner. And as Maggie starts to experience strange occurrences ripped from the pages of her father’s book, the truth she uncovers about the house’s dark history will challenge everything she believes.

Meh

It was a little predictable and unoriginal. I wasn’t a fan of the female narrator.

Enjoyable and worth getting, but not life-changing

It's worth a credit. Admittedly, my expectations may have been a little high because I enjoyed Sager's other books so much. This one was good... but would definitely rank below Final Girls and Lock Every Door, for me. I think the supernatural/haunted house theme is just really hard to pull off successfully nowadays. Other than that, no complaints.

I had no issues with the narration.

Dark and Twisty

So many twists and turns told in a haunTINGLY good way. This is my first Sager novel and I am beyond pleased. My book club chose it as our October/Halloween read. Can't wait to discuss it with them.

Dialogue is lame.

I don’t understand how this got so many good reviews. It reads like a YA novel. The main character is banal and I had no reason to root for her, much less like her. The writing is sophomoric at best, and it just wasn’t that great of a story.

Didn't love the narrators

I didn't love the narrators, but I've also heard worse. The story itself was decent, not great. Basically a mediocre book.