Book Summary and Reviews of Home Before Dark by Riley Sager

Home Before Dark by Riley Sager

Home Before Dark

A Novel

by Riley Sager

  • Readers' Rating (2):
  • Published:
  • Jun 2020, 400 pages
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About this book

Book Summary

"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.

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Reviews

Media Reviews

"[An] outstanding supernatural thriller ... Sager, who makes the house a palpable, threatening presence, does a superb job of anticipating and undermining readers' expectations. Haunted- house fans will be in heaven." —Publishers Weekly (starred review)

"The ghosts and poltergeist activity Sager conjures are truly chilling, and he does a masterful job of keeping readers guessing until the very end." —Kirkus Reviews

"Houses breathe. Some have a heartbeat. None forget. Grabbing you from the first page, Riley Sager crafts a devilish plot, twisted timelines, and horrors that linger in this haunting thriller that needs to be on your reading list!" —J. D. Barker, international bestselling author of She Has a Broken Thing Where Her Heart Should Be

"Part ghost story, part murder mystery, Home Before Dark is a nightmare ride of haunting terror and suspense. Dripping with atmosphere and danger, Baneberry Hall is the new Hill House. I couldn't turn the last 100 pages fast enough." —Richard Chizmar, New York Times bestselling author

This information about Home Before Dark was first featured in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.

Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.

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Author Information

Riley Sager

Riley Sager is the New York Times bestselling author of six novels, most recently Home Before Dark and Survive the Night. A native of Pennsylvania, he now lives in Princeton, New Jersey.

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