I’m new to Riley Sager. I’ve dug through his work in the past few months. I read Final Girls and The Last Time I Lied first. When I saw Home Before Dark was on the Book of the Month club, I selected it, even though I wasn’t sure I was sold on his books. Both Final Girls and Last Time irritated me for various reasons (click on links to read the reviews), but I went ahead and read this one. Lock Every Door is on my kindle now, and I’ll read it next!
Home Before Dark is a ghost story/haunted house story. This genre isn’t one I seek out, mostly because I don’t believe in ghosts, but I do appreciate a good imagination and creativity. And this book definitely had that. 5-year-old Maggie’s parents bought a house and because of the events that happened while there, fled in terror. Her dad wrote a book about their experiences. The book was best-seller, but Maggie knows the true. The entire book was a lie. The legend haunts her, but she vows to find the truth of what really happened.
She returns to the house in question as an adult and tries to uncover the truth of the events, and whether ghosts are real. The book is cleverly told in alternating perspectives. One chapter is the fictional book her dad wrote and the next chapter is present-day Maggie. The events in her dad’s book parallel Maggie’s current life. This book was my favorite by far. Not only was the story great, but the back-and-forth chapters were really creative. I could take or leave the other Sager books I’ve read, but this one was worth reading
Pleasant Nights 