Home Before Dark (Review)

The Haunting of Hill House meets crime-thriller fiction in this new release from bestselling author Riley Sager.

Alternating between chapters of the book that made her family famous, and the parallel story of her return, Home Before Dark follows Maggie Holt as she goes back to Baneberry Hall for the first time since she was five years old when her family fled never to return. Her whole life, Maggie’s life has been filled with lies and secrets surrounding the twenty days they spent in the house, which her parents told her never to ask about even as they became famous from the ghost-fueled ‘nonfiction’ book her father wrote about the experience.

But Maggie has never believed in ghosts, despite her horrifying night terrors. Desperate to learn the truth after the death of her father, she goes back to the house in hopes of uncovering all the things she can’t remember. But as things become stranger, Maggie will uncover more than she bargained for, and push her beliefs to the limit.

“Every house has a story to tell.”

Home Before Dark holds readers’ attention with its interesting parallel narratives and will be a spooky enough experience for those who don’t read a lot in the genre. But, so chock-full of horror-fiction tropes that the story is almost completely predictable, and with a premise suspiciously close to The Haunting of Hill House Netflix adaption, the story lacks suspense and scares despite desperately trying. 

Plus, painfully obvious that Sager has never visited Vermont in his life, the story instead creates a small-town setting built off tropes that feel as flat as a television-studio set. And the characters, often one-dimensional and stereotypical, aren’t much better. But, the lack of character development could have been balanced out by better writing.

Ironically, Maggie admits in the story that her father’s writing is ‘pedestrian,’ and so too is that of her own narrative. Although someone might argue that the characters, who are supposedly authoring the story, could be said to be the cause of the lapse in writing talent, it doesn’t help the reading experience and is honestly a sad excuse for an author with so many bestsellers under his belt. 

“Every house has a story. Ours is a ghost story. It’s also a lie. And now that yet another person has died within these walls, it’s finally time to tell the truth.”

Admittedly, when the story moves away from horror and more into the mystery-thriller territory, the novel gets much more interesting and original, and I had some hope that it would hold a surprise or two for me. However, my prediction from the first half of the book held true, albeit it was an interesting twist.

A disappointing dip into the work of an author who comes so highly recommended, I rated Home Before Dark 3 out of 5. Fans of A Head Full of Ghosts may like this, although it’s not nearly as good.