In the latest thriller from New York Times bestseller Riley Sager, a woman returns to the house made famous by her father’s bestselling horror memoir. Is the place really haunted by evil forces, as her father claimed? Or are there more earthbound—and dangerous—secrets hidden within its walls?What was it like? Living in that house.Maggie Holt is used to such questions. Twenty-five years ago, she … questions. Twenty-five years ago, she and her parents, Ewan and Jess, moved into Baneberry Hall, a rambling Victorian estate in the Vermont woods. They spent three weeks there before fleeing in the dead of night, an ordeal Ewan later recounted in a nonfiction book called House of Horrors. His tale of ghostly happenings and encounters with malevolent spirits became a worldwide phenomenon, rivaling The Amityville Horror in popularity—and skepticism.
Today, Maggie is a restorer of old homes and too young to remember any of the events mentioned in her father’s book. But she also doesn’t believe a word of it. Ghosts, after all, don’t exist. When Maggie inherits Baneberry Hall after her father’s death, she returns to renovate the place to prepare it for sale. But her homecoming is anything but warm. People from the past, chronicled in House of Horrors, lurk in the shadows. And locals aren’t thrilled that their small town has been made infamous thanks to Maggie’s father. Even more unnerving is Baneberry Hall itself—a place filled with relics from another era that hint at a history of dark deeds. As Maggie experiences strange occurrences straight out of her father’s book, she starts to believe that what he wrote was more fact than fiction.
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Enjoyed the twists and turns. Had a slight Sherlock Holmes vibe to it.
I have ordered and read all three of Riley Sager’s books!! Easy to read.. unexpected plot.
Entertaining, mysterious, good twists.
The book sometimes got confusing because of the number of characters who had lived in the house before.
This wasn’t a “supernatural” book as I was expecting. Still it was a good read, original and worth getting.
If you enjoy mainstream thrillers with a gothic flavor, this is a book not to be missed. Twists and turns abound that leave you gaping! Not everything is what is seems in this well-crafted, unpredictable novel by Riley Sager.
Great read. I highly recommend this book.
Not to be missed if you are a fan of horror or just a good old-fashioned ghost story.
I’ve heard so many great things about this book and I’ve heard that the scare factor of it is good. Unfortunately I didn’t find it scary (I grew up on horror so I’m not sure that much could scare me at this point). With that said, I did lend this book to a neighbor who returned it before finishing it because she said it was “too scary”. I thought that this was an interesting slow burn gothic horror and it kept my attention from the first page until the last.
What I enjoyed about this book:
The creepy house is a great setting for a horror story
It’s told in a dual-timeline but it’s easy to follow
It contains a book/story within a story
Slow burn that will hold your attention
The ending twist was unexpected
I can 100% see why this book scares people
This was my first Sager novel and I don’t think that I’ll be the last!!
: This book is told from two POV and has a narrator for each. This made it really easy to follow along with, especially since it’s a nonlinear story.
It was quite intriguing. At first it appears to be a horror about ghost and whatnot, but then the ending completely took me by surprise!
Wow! This book was really good. It mixed the psychological with some pure horror and made a very chilling, very entertaining read! The characters were very unique and I loved how each had a different role in the entire mystery and added to it a lot. The backstory and different points of view also added another layer of appeal. It was interesting to see the dual perspectives of the father (Ewan) in his book and the daughter (Maggie). The whole premise really set up this amazing story and within the first couple chapters, I was totally hooked! I was really impressed by the storytelling and how well-woven this tale was. The plot had danger, suspense, and a great twist right at the end. Each little detail sucked me in more and I will definitely be re-reading this again. This was the first book I’ve read by Sager, but it won’t be my last!
This story describes the creepy history surrounding Baneberry Hall, just outside of Bartleby, VT. It begins with the father looking for ghosts in his daughter’s room. He is a writer and thought this big move from the city was just what he needed to help write his next book. Ewan and Jess disregard the rumors of the house being haunted as folklore and superstition.
Needless to say, it’s anyone’s guess what really happened there. It seems a few weeks after moving in the family fled to a nearby motel refusing to return when unusual events begin to occur. The daughter, Maggie, sees ghosts which threaten her and give her night terrors. They hear a record player singing the same tune from The Sound of Music every night. It’s when the snakes appear that things become creepy and unexplainable.
Flash forward 25 years and Maggie returns to the vacant house after her father dies. She is surprised to discover that her father never sold it as he intended all those years ago. It seems he father wrote a book which garnished him a best seller although Maggie never recalled any of the events in the book. She felt conflicted since the success of the book allowed her to go to college but always felt it was a fraud.
Although she is cautioned to sell the house “as is” and not to return there, Maggie decides she will renovate and sell the house. When she moves in during the renovations she begins to wonder if some of the stories were true when odd things begin to happen.
Slowly, she unravels the history of the house and her family that she never could’ve imagined. Enter complicated, sketchy characters who have their own history to the house. Holy snakes! It’s a slow burn with a dramatic blaze of “what a creepy, scary story”!!!!
This was my first book by this author and won’t be my last!
A terrific haunted house mystery.
When her father dies, Maggie inherits the house her family fled from one night 25 years earlier when she was a young child. As the new owner, she decides to visit the house and discover the truth.
Excerpts from her father’s bestseller about the haunted property appear alongside Maggie’s no-nonsense narrative. Two ghost stories for the price of one – a genius approach.
Highly recommended.
Title: Home Before Dark
Author: Riley Sager
My Rating:
Type: Standalone
Genre: Suspense Thriller, Horror, Mystery thriller
Narration: Limited third party
Primary Characters: Maggie Holt & Ewan Holt
I picked this book on total random basis as I was in mood for mystery thriller. I thoroughly devoured this book. It was everything I needed and more. It has Mystery, horror, thriller and kept me awake until I discovered all of secrets of this story.
Story toggles between past and present. In present we see Maggie Holt has inherited an old house named “Baneberry Hall” when her father recently passed away. She had lived in the house for 3 weeks when she was 5 years old and has no memory of that. Her father wrote a book about that house and their experience in house. The experience was a horrible one and the family ran from the house, with just the clothes on their backs, leaving everything else behind, when they abandoned it.
Maggie thinks all things her father has written in the book about her and house is fiction. She doesn’t believe the horror Story. She ignores her father’s warning to not back to house and moves into house to redecorate it and sell it. But she is curious to uncover what happened 25 years ago.
Past part of the book goes hand in hand with present. In the past her father recites his story and experience in house. What seemed ridiculous to her after reading her father’s book doesn’t seem like that anymore after experiencing the strange occurrence straight out of her father’s book.
Book had its own up’s and down moment for me, but it had a gripping narration. I totally loved the creepy haunted house setting along with its historical significance. Chills, thrills, mystery, and mayhem are all included here. I enjoyed the format of going back and forth between a book written by one character about a mysterious and likely haunted house and another character’s experiences in the same house years later.
Overall, I highly enjoyed this book! The creepiness of it along with my what next moment. If you are into a sort of haunted house sort of story with mystery filled thriller, then this is for you.
4.5 stars.
HOME BEFORE DARK is the first novel I have read by author Riley Sager. Baneberry Hall, A Victorian estate in the Vermont woods, was home to five year old Maggie Holt and her parents–Ewan and Jess–for a period of twenty days. At this point, the family fled from the house with only the clothes on their backs. Later, Ewan wrote what he called a true account of their time there, a book called House of Horrors. Bringing to light ghostly happenings, and a past cloaked in tragedy, this book had the dubious distinction of affecting every aspect of Maggie’s life.
“Every house has a story to tell . . .”
I loved the writing style utilized here. Chapters alternated between that of the present–25 years after her family ran–and the book that Ewan Holt wrote about it. Now a tactic like this could go either way for me, but here it was so well blended that it felt essential to learning the story in its entirety.
“. . . Instead of memories, I have excerpts. It’s like looking at a photograph of a photograph . . .”
After Ewan’s death, Maggie is determined to find out if her father’s story was all lies–or if there was something more to it.
“. . . for most of my life, I’ve been defined by that book . . . ”
This story had everything I could ask for in a horror/thriller–supernatural occurrences, layers of mysteries, believable characters, the perfect gothic setting, and twists so numerous that I never saw many of them coming.
“It’s not safe there . . .”
It took me a day and a half to finish this, and I was still reeling from the ending days later. I can’t wait to dive into more books from this author.
“Baneberry Hall remembers.”
Recommended.
How does keep topping himself? u2063
u2063 is now my favorite of his titles. I love a haunted house and his clever use of a book written within a book blew me away. Using a strong literary device like that can be more dangerous than his stories but it worked beautifully.u2063
u2063
From a writer’s standpoint, Sager is a master at alternating timelines but in this book, the subjects needed to align and unfold in such a linear fashion that using the book within a book became a brilliant way to titillate us and show the distinct perceptions of two people with different motives.u2063 It also kept his writing fresh. Having just reread all of his books I can attest that his style is consistent but his techniques improve each time giving the reader a new experience that doesn’t feel recycled. , . . u2063
I only gave 4 stars, which for me is a very high rating (5 stars are a unicorn) because there were disappointments in this book. I pondered a while to balance the scale of my opinion but I didn’t feel as connected to Maggie Holt as say, Jules Larsen, or some of his other “final girls” and I did not get the fear-factor I wanted in the haunted house. The ghostly chills were missing for me. That said, he still created a world that I wanted to stay in and figure out. The novel had an aura that enveloped you like a fog, which I loved.
One of the best aspects of Sager’s writing style is the horror inspiration even though he is by no means a horror fiction writer. His thrillers capture iconic tropes often used in horror films without the gore. The tension and questions that lead down twisted paths are the journeys that make his books so much fun. This book had plenty of dark paths and felt even a bit sleuthy, which was fun. I highly recommend picking this book up… And I highly recommend rereading the first chapter after you finish the last one. You’ll be entertained in an entirely new way.
This was my first time reading a “scary” novel and I really, really enjoyed it. I was guessing the entire book and loved the mystery of it. I really liked how the author did a split narrative with the House of Horrors book-within-the-book and Maggie’s ‘present day.’ A super fun read.
I loved this book but all his books are top of the line for me. This is my favorite. Love anything Haunted house theme when done right and this one had it all. Suspense, drama, shock moments, tension, etc… Love the characters, love the way it’s written, half in story and half in first person… Just all over wonderful
What a great book to read right before Halloween! I loved the ghost story and the haunted house, the dead bodies, and the mystery surrounding all of it.
Maggie Holt returns to the house where her family lived for 20 days when she was 5. After they left, her father wrote a book claiming the house was haunted by ghosts and the family was in danger. Now, 25 years later, Maggie returns to the house to determine what really happened.
Riley Sager has another winner!
#Home BeforeDark #RileySager
Great book to start “Ghostober Reading 2020”