Home Before Dark by Riley Sager (Book Review)

 

Genres: Suspense, Psychological thriller, Horror fiction

Summary: Home Before Dark author Riley Sager takes our protagonist Maggie Holt to her childhood home to discover the secrets buried in it.

After the death of Ewan (Maggie's father), Maggie decides to revisit her home in Vermont woods where she resided in Baneberry Hall. When Maggie was young her family spent three weeks in Baneberry Hall after encountering with spirits and horror stories they decide to flee away in the middle of the night. Later, Ewan writes down his ordeal and call it 'House of Horror' which becomes New Bestselling Book and a topic for everyone to talk about.

Maggie a designer and historians design the interior of the house which always speaks to the home past. After her father's death, Maggie decides to renovate Baneberry Hall and line it up for sale. While she is too young to remember any of the horror incidents which took place in here according to her father's book she solely believes that ghosts aren't real. Thanks to her dad who made the whole town shady and sound like haunted despite that Maggie moves in to learn and confront the real secrets buried inside the Baneberry Hall. As she starts renovating she starts speculating that what Ewan wrote was not just made up but the truth.

My Thoughts: Riley Sager has been my favourite author since the last year when I first read his book called Lock Every Door.

I had great expectations from this book after reading Lock Every Door which had numerous plot twist which I didn't see coming. 

Making Maggie Holt as unreliable protagonists really helped me get engaged in the story as I didn't know what's right and what's made up until the end of the story. Ewan's 'House of Horror' story kept me hooked throughout the book as of giving the past knowledge of the Baneberry Hall. Learning the past stories also gave insight into the previous families who stayed in Baneberry Hall. It was a very creepy and spooky read for me and made me question everything about the past of Baneberry Hall.

While we get too little from Maggie's mother( Jess), it would've been much better if Jess was also given a bit of more light to her character. Nevertheless, it was a five stars read for me and makes me want to read more of Riley Sager works in future.