Due to a sudden, unexpected passing in the family a few years ago and another more recently and my subsequent (mental) health issues stemming from that, I was unable to download this book in time to review it before it was archived as I did not visit this site for several years after the bereavements. This meant I didn't read or venture onto netgalley for years as not only did it remind me of that person as they shared my passion for reading, but I also struggled to maintain interest in anything due to overwhelming depression. I was therefore unable to download this title in time and so I couldn't give a review as it wasn't successfully acquired before it was archived. The second issue that has happened with some of my other books is that I had them downloaded to one particular device and said device is now defunct, so I have no access to those books anymore, sadly.

This means I can't leave an accurate reflection of my feelings towards the book as I am unable to read it now and so I am leaving a message of explanation instead. I am now back to reading and reviewing full time as once considerable time had passed I have found that books have been helping me significantly in terms of my mindset and mental health - this was after having no interest in anything for quite a number of years after the passings. Anything requested and approved will be read and a review written and posted to Amazon (where I am a Hall of Famer & Top Reviewer), Goodreads (where I have several thousand friends and the same amount who follow my reviews) and Waterstones (or Barnes & Noble if the publisher is American based). Thank you for the opportunity and apologies for the inconvenience.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the review copy!

What a shame that it took me so long to read this, because I had a great time with it!

I'd previously read two of Sager's other thrillers with a sprinkling of horror, Final Girls and Last Time I Lied, and enjoyed them both. Sager writes the kind of thrillers that are so easy to read, and I was in need of something that was going to immediately grab me when I reached for Home Before Dark.

In this novel we follow Maggie who, allegedly, lived in a haunted house for 20 days when she was five years old. That experience led to a book deal for her father that set them up for the rest of their lives, but that ultimately left Maggie as someone defined by a book she believes is complete bullshit. Her parents' marriage eventually fell apart and neither of them would ever tell her the truth about what happened in Baneberry Hall. When her father dies, Maggie discovers she's now its owner. Now a restorer of old homes for a living, she returns to the house to fix it up and sell it, and hopefully find out the truth behind The Book in the process.

I love a haunted house story--again, I have no idea why it's taken me so long to pick this book up--and this one definitely had me spooked. I can't remember the last time I read a book where I didn't want to read it after the sun had gone down. It's not even a particularly terrifying novel, but Home Before Dark is told in alternating chapters following Maggie and her father's famous book, and the sections from The Book were just creepy enough to give me the willies. I really enjoy how Sager pulls horror tropes into his thrillers, and in this story in particular it was such a successful way to throw Maggie and the reader off the scent.

As always I find thrillers a little difficult to review without delving into spoiler territory, but I ultimately finished Home Before Dark feeling very satisfied. The ending wasn't a complete surprise - and in all honesty, I don't want a thriller with a mystery to be unguessable, because all that suggests to me is that the author doesn't know how to leave clues - but there were also enough red herrings for me to never be 100% certain of where the story was going to go. It was cleverly told and bittersweet, and I'd love to watch an adaptation of it.

The protagonist in this novel is Maggie, but this book is told from dual perspective. Another person who shares the views is Maggie’s father, and his perspective is shared though pages of House Of Horrors. So yes, it is a book in a book. :D Maggie grew up hating the House Of Horrors because it made her odd since her childhood. Every time she asked questions, her parents would shut down the conversation. After Maggie’s farther dies, she inherits the infamous Baneberry Hall and she is back to find out what happened there long time ago. I really liked the characters in this book, everyone is shrouded by mystery and I was very engrossed with this story. I liked Maggie, she is curious, smart and quite brave. In reality, there is too much proof that ghosts do exist, that what made this book even scarier to me.
The book is set in America, in a small town, and that is scary in itself. :D The plot kept changing all the time between the events at present and the ones described in the book many years ago. I loved finding out the stuff as I was reading along, Maggie tried very hard to disprove the ghost stories, but even after the book has finished I had plenty unanswered questions. The topics discussed in this book were difficulty to fit in, family relationships, looking for truth, ghost stories and many more.
The writing style of this book was superb. It was spooky, engrossing, logical all at the same time. :D The theme of this book was very intriguing as well. The chapters were medium length but I was so absorbed with the story that the pages just flew by for me. I liked the ending of this book, but there were plenty of unanswered questions that bugged me after reading this novel. :)

Home Before Dark by Riley Sager harbored such an interesting concept and I'm so glad to have been given the opportunity to read it.

The author has a great gift in writing stories that keep the reader engaged and engrossed with the plot line. I enjoyed it and while some scenes are really scary and maybe over the top descriptive for my personal liking, it’s a must read novel.

Very grateful to the publisher for my review copy

Riley Sager is one of my go-to authors for fun and fast-paced thrillers. Home Before Dark sounded like exactly the kind of book I was going to love and it had the most intriguing premise. Maggie Holt is famous around the world because her Dad wrote a non-fiction book claiming their house was haunted. Everywhere she goes she is asked what it was like to live in that house. When her father dies and she learns he still owns the infamous Baneberry Hall, Maggie decides to restore the house to sell it on and while she’s there she’ll try and get some answers – but what really happened all those years ago?

Home Before Dark is an addictive read. I picked it up one evening and found myself turning pages long into the night. It has some genuinely creepy, sending a shiver up your spine moments and there were a whole bunch of twists that I absolutely did not see coming. Like all Riley Sager books, you have to suspend your disbelief a little bit, but it was a really fun and compelling read. I loved the way chapters from House of Horrors were included in the book and I found these chapters to be particularly engaging.

Home Before Dark has probably become my favourite Riley Sager book (though Lock Every Door is a close second). It was easy to read with really interesting characters. If you’re looking for a fun, addictive thriller to hook you in right from the beginning – look no further.

This book is 100% a page-turner, edge of your seat, can't read in the dark book. Some scenes in this book were so frightening that I literally had to stop reading and calm myself. I definitely had Goosebumps more than once reading this. The only thing that I didn't like was I wanted a bigger dramatic ending. Other than that, this book was spine-chilling and fantastic.

It has been a while since I last read a book with spooky house vibes, so I loved the creepiness of this one!

A creepy old mansion with its own secrets? A family wrecked by an assumed haunting? Home Before Dark is packed with enough twists to give you whiplash.

This was my first book by Riley Sager, and I can say with full confidence that I enjoyed it. The spooky haunted house trope was so much fun but also creepy at the same time. I loved the "book within a book" style of writing, as the chapters from the in-story book provided a great contrast to what was happening in real-time. Just when I thought I had a handle on who had done what, a new twist would be thrown in and I was back to square one. It made for a really fun read as it was so suspenseful! My biggest gripe was with the female main character. Within 10 minutes of meeting someone, she had already seemingly spilled her deepest darkest secrets. She didn't feel genuine to me, and actually just became a little annoying towards the end.

This book has a lot going on and I really enjoyed it. It was creepy and packed full of twists, so I'm excited to read other work by this author now!

Many thanks to the author, publisher, and Netgalley for sending me a copy of this book in return for an honest review.

Read this for a book club and was pleasently supprised with the book. It was my first read from this author and I will be for sue checking out some of there other books that are brought out in the future. would definitly recommend this book to anyone looking for a bit of a thriller.

My first book by this author and WOW! I absolutely loved it - not thrilled with the snake nightmares through. I love an unreliable narrator and Home Before Dark certainly delivers. Genuinely creepy and one to make you jump at every little noise.

HOME BEFORE DARK has this classic, haunted house vibes, with peeling wallpapers, inaccessible attics, tappity-tippity noises and webs of lies. Baneberry Hall, a mansion infested with history, dark enough to write a book on (and that's the legit premise, I swear), is inherited by Maggie, hell-bent on finding the truth about this house that ruined ner childhood. Sager packs his gripping and 'one-bite-at-a-time' into these pages, that turns itself swiftly and will make a perfect bed-time read (haha, you know what I mean).

I really enjoyed this book. It had the same recipe as the other Riley Sager books and I loved it. I will eat these books up all day everyday. This book was full of 'Haunting of Hill House' vibes and I really enjoyed that aspect. I can 100% see this as a movie!

I also really enjoyed the characters. I'm not a hugely character driven reader but I really wanted to find out what was going on & what was going to happen.

I apologise I did not get to this one. I did however purchase and finished copy and will review on Goodreads as soon as I complete.

Home Before Dark Riley Sager
I really enjoyed this book, it kept me guessing right until the end.
I enjoyed the way the story is told in alternating chapters and felt this really added to the air of mystery.
This was my first book by this author, but I have already bought some more and hope I enjoy them just as much.

“Every house has a story to tell and a secret to share”.

Baneberry Hall just has more stories and more secrets than most. Maggie Holt’s entire life has been overshadowed by the non-fiction portrayal of her family’s short but haunting experience with Baneberry Hall twenty-five years earlier, when Maggie was five. This portrayal is in the form of a book, called House of Horrors, written by her father but believed by Maggie to be nothing but lies.

Circumstances bring Maggie back to Baneberry Hall for the first time since their swift departure, providing her an opportunity to find answers to the many unanswered questions she has had her whole life. But things are definitely not as they seem. The horrors of 25 years earlier are recounted through chapters of House of Horrors, intertwined with Maggie’s current experiences as she embarks on learning the secrets Baneberry Hall holds.

And let me tell you, Riley Sager brings it all together to make for one damn enjoyable read!
Riley Sager at his best. Some horror, some mystery, suspense, lies, plot twists and a whole lot of fun. Certainly the most I have enjoyed a Sager novel since ‘Final Girls’.

Thank you NetGalley and Hodder & Stoughton for a review copy.

He's done it again! Riley Sager has become one of my favourite authors this year and this one did not disappoint! Filled with lots of paranormal activitiesa and a lot of spooks, you won't be disappointed!

Well this is what I call a good thriller. Fast paced, unpredictable and addictive, it was exactly what I needed. It kept me hooked and invested and I managed to finish it in only two days. With its haunted house vibes, interesting twists and a story inside of a story, I can totally see it becoming a tv series in the near future. ⠀

Big thnx to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me an arc of this book in exchange of my honest opinion.

I absolutely loved this book!

It reminded me heavily of Haunting of Hill House, which is one of my favourite stories. In saying that, it truly is a unique story and I'm glad I finally got around to reading it.

It's written extremely well, and the characters are great. I enjoyed every chapter, and did not want to put it down.

I definitely recommend this one if you're a fan of thrillers and spooky reads

This is a creepy example of the haunted house tale. Maggie Holt's father has died and left her an inheritance which includes Baneberry Hall, the house her family fled in terror when she was a child. Maggie's life has been overshadowed by the memoir her father wrote detailing the haunting he claimed they experienced. Maggie returns determined to discover the truth of what happened 25 years ago.

I enjoyed the split narrative, cutting between Ewan's memoir and Maggie's present-day discoveries. The imaginary friends were unsettling and the scene with snakes dropping through the ceiling had me squirming in revulsion!

Sager crafts a general atmosphere of dread interspersed with particular shocks. The viewpoint of the exasperated and hostile townspeople rang true. I felt a couple of little threads didnt quite add up at the end but this was a minor quibble. Overall, this was a fun ride!

This was an interesting modern take on the classic 'haunted house' type tale.
I liked how the past and current narratives mirrored each other well.
It had a great start, I do think the middle dipped a little and, especially with the length of the book, it felt like it dragged, but then I really enjoyed the conclusion!