TYBEE BEACHCOMBER | OCT 2020 13
BOOK
REVIEW
By Nell Klein
HOME BEFORE DARK
By Riley Sager
I love a good haunted house story and this one is just in time for the
spooky month of October. Of course, I don’t really think that I totally believe
in ghosts, but I have an open mind about these things. Luckily though, Riley
Sager will totally creep you out in Home Before Dark, but will give you a
totally satisfying ending to this horror story.
25 years ago, 5-year-old Maggie Holt and her parents, Ewan and Jess,
lived in a rambling Victorian mansion in Vermont called Baneberry Hall.
They lasted all of 20 days before fleeing in the middle of the night, never
to return. Ewan capitalized on the experience in a non-fiction horror book
called “House of Horrors,” which accounts everything that happened in
those 20 days. The book made the small town of Bartleby, Vermont infamous
and made the townspeople very unhappy with Ewan Holt for writing and
profiting by it.
Now 25 years later, 30-year-old Maggie, a successful interior designer,
must return to Baneberry Hall after her father’s death because Maggie has
inherited all of his worldly possessions, including Baneberry Hall, which she
had no idea that her father still owned. Her father left instructions in his will
for Maggie to not return to the house, but to sell it immediately. In fact, her
mother, who remarried years before to a realtor, told Maggie not to go to the
house, as it was too dangerous. She said that she and her husband would
buy the house from her just so they could tear it down.
But Maggie, the main character in her father’s book, had always lived in
the shadows of being a survivor of the horrors recounted in the book, so
she decided to go to the house and use her skills as an interior decorator to
get the house ready to sell and hopefully find out what really happened all
those years ago. Maggie had no memory of the whole ordeal that happened
and she didn’t believe that any of it happened anyway, she was just tired of
everyone asking her “what was it like living in the house?” when she had
no clue. She believed that her father made it all up just to make money,
so she wanted to put an end to the whole thing by finding out what really
happened, or more than likely, what didn’t happen.
The book alternates between Maggie’s current day mystery and excerpts
from chapters in her father’s book. This book creeped me out so bad and I
couldn’t believe that Maggie could stay in the house after all the mysterious
things start happening. I just wanted her to leave! But no, Maggie persevered
until she got to the truth of the matter and the whole situation is finally
explained to everyone’s satisfaction, well, maybe not everyone, but close.
All I know is you won’t be able to put this book down!
I was so excited when I found out Riley Sager had a new book out, as he
has become one of my favorite authors. This is his fourth novel and I believe
that it’s his best so far. If you get the chance to read his others, Final Girls,
The Last Time I Lied, and Lock Every Door, you will not be disappointed. All of
his books (so far) have been stand-alones, so it doesn’t matter what order
you read them, just read them! You will be so happy that you listened to me!
So, enjoy October and plan on being creeped out (in a good way)!
Until next time, read a book. If it’s a good read, pass it on!
Pralines
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