Home Before Dark

Twenty years ago, when young couple, writer Ewan Holt and his wife Jess, along with their 5-year old daughter, Maggie, moved into Banebury Hall, a Vermont manor with a long, tragic history, their lives were thrust into peril brought about by mysterious and potentially malevolent sources, who particularly targeted Maggie.  What follows now is a book within a book, alternating chapters from Ewan’s worldwide hit book House of Horrors, based on their traumatic 20 days in the home, with the story of now 25-year old Maggie, who doubts everything portrayed in her father’s version of events.  Upon inheriting the home after her father’s death, she’s returned there, despite dire warnings against it, intent on proving her father was a liar.

Let me start with some positives, because it might go a little downhill after that. (Sorry in advance to those of you who loved this book.) The premise was clever, and Sager did a nice job creating the creepy atmosphere, mood and mystery of the book.  The mystery aspect really kept me guessing what was supernatural and what had a more rational explanation, with plenty of twists and turns to keep me interested in reading to the end.  Speaking of the end … that was a cool reveal as well.

Where the story didn’t live up to its potential for me was in character building and plotting.  From the beginning, I knew about the characters, but I never felt like I knew them.  They felt a little shallow for me, in the sense that had their personalities and backstories been fleshed out a little more, I might have felt more personally invested in their stories.  It just felt a little flat for me.  As for plot, I spent three quarters of the book reading pretty standard haunted house tropes (misbehaving lights, music playing by itself, things that go bump in the night, etc.) waiting for something bigger to happen.  I’m about as wimpy as they come where scary things are concerned, and frankly I never felt much of anything (OK … maybe the ceiling in the kitchen part. Not cool. 😱)  Unfortunately, the last quarter crammed TOO much into the story, with misdirects and twists that made it unnecessarily convoluted, and some of the big reveals just didn’t work for me, or I kinda suspected them beforehand. 

It’s a good book, and I would have no problem recommending it to friends.  It just didn’t wow me the way I was hoping it would.

★★★ ½