Home Before Dark
Ratings306
Average rating3.9
A haunted house with a sordid history and creepy things happening like a record player starting to play music on its own and lights that turn on by themselves? Yes, sign me up!
This was such an enjoyable read. It delivered all the chills and thrills I was seeking. As always Sager can hook me within the first few sentences and I've fallen headfirst into whatever fictional world he's created.
Additionally, I like the book within a book aspect and found it super fun. I also really liked the main character Maggie and her quest to uncover what really happened the night her family left. And the ending was perfect. I had my suspicions and they were confirmed.
All in all, this is a solid spooky little read.
Check out my full review on my blog: https://www.kathleenhaagenson.com/home-before-dark-by-riley-sager/
boring, confusing and the first 38% is all “my father made this all up.... or didn't he?” ugh
This was a new to me author. It was ok. It was certainly mysterious, I enjoyed the multiple POV writing and and there were certainly unexpected twists and turns. Still it left me unsatisfied. Also, I don’t understand the relevance of the title.
This was my first Riley Sager book. It wasn’t what I expected, but I enjoyed it nonetheless. It had some creepy scenes but not really scary. I’ll give it ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️. It kept my attention and had several twists at the end. I will be reading more from him.
If you love a classic scary movie, you'll probably enjoy this.
It's well paced and interesting without being ridiculous. The storyline did keep me guessing. It seems like the sort of story you've heard a 100 times, but still, this iteration finds a way to be completely unique.
My one critique would be that I could tell Maggie was written by a man. This is my first Riley Sager novel so I really didn't know anything about him, but there were times I felt that I could tell Maggie didn't quite feel grounded in a way that felt like a realistic female character- she just made choices that felt incongruent with the female experience. (Not that there is one perfect way to be a woman- that's not my point here, at all. It was more of the ways women have to act in our society for their own safety kind of things, if that makes sense.)
Que bela maneira de conhecer este escritor! Com certeza que vou ler mais obras do mesmo.
First half was a slow burn, but it finally picked up towards the end. There were lots of twists at the end which kept you reading.
This book has good bones but the author's prose is bloated and often felt like I was reading a teen's diary. Maybe the first person POV made it seem worse, but I felt that the narration was made up of incessant inner dialogue from the protagonist that repetitively over explained their feelings about everything. This narration also frequently trails off into exposition that is largely inconsequential.
This writing gets in the way of itself and keeps any good moments in the book from being great.
This was incredible. I’m not a fan of a haunted house book but this one was done in such a good way with a some great twists. I couldn’t guess them at all and it’s not like they came out of thin air. I really really recommend this if you want a thrilling book. I’d say so much more about what I like but I don’t want to spoil a thing!
It's a good book but disappointed in the story. I went in expecting this to be a story about a haunted house.... But I guess it fit the theme, that was a lie. Oh well. Just not for me.
If you, like me, are thinking of reading this because you expect the story to be more thriller than horror, then know that I was looking over my shoulder and scared until I was about into 60% the book. I'm a scaredy cat when it comes to ghost stories!
There were a lot of twists and turns at the last 40%, so much so that it felt a little too much to be plausible even though I enjoyed the reading experience.
That said, I think I'll rather take my crime stories without the added supernatural elements thankyouverymuch.
PS. The name has nothing to do with anything. That's annoying.
Such a page turner this one. Riley Sager shows again why you can't put his books down once you start them. This was such a thrill ride of twists and turns that it had me guessing up until the end. I highly recommend this to anyone who wants a thrill with an unreliable narrator.
3.5⭐️ i was sooooo bored for the first ~250 pages, but the ending was so good !!
This book kept me on my toes from the beginning, it rarely happens so that is why I made it a 5 star reading. It was at times even terrifying and I loved how it alternates between the present and the past, making you question what is real and what is not.
Twist and turns, all in all it was a lovely read that kept me wanting to know what happens next all the way until the end.
I enjoyed the book thoroughly. This was a very thrilling ride. This is a must read if you want a mystery experience without having a hint of what's going to happen next.
2.5
This book kind of confirmed my suspicion that I don't like haunted house stories in books
That was the perfect spooky season read. My favourite Riley Sager so far! So much fun.
“Generic Horror movie checklist”:
-Young couple moves to new house? check
-Protagonist inherits a strange house? check
-Many people died in this house? check
-Ouija Board? check
-Child seeing ghosts no one else can see? check
-Random appliances around the house moving on their own? check
-Ghosts appearing in photographs? check?
-“It was you all along” ending? check
-Generational violence for every family that lives there? check
and with all that said the only reason I read this book, the writing is solid that's it.
It slightly touch what could have been but took a whole different path one that sadly I didn't like at all
I jus have to say this is not even a horror book a mistery book would suit way better
That ending doesn't make any sense and although some parts of the books are crazy scary it just leaves all that behind every time it cans so yeah not good
this was my second riley sager book and it had the same style of plot twists like the other one did. however this was scarier and kept my heart beating wildly with fear and anticipation of what will happen next. although the cover is just horrendous, the book is written well.
This was a book club read and I enjoyed it! I've never really tried out this genre before, and I have to say, I liked it much more than I thought I would. I might have to try more books similar to this.