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Question Everything as you step into the mystery that is Baneberry Hall.

I’ll start by saying that I have never read anything by Riley Sager. I’ve been hearing only good things and, if this book is anything to go by, I will be reading more from him.

Don’t you just love a spooky, scary, haunted house story? I do. Right now my interests seem to lean towards the darker subjects. Serial killers, horror, violence, mayhem. It’s a book phase and in a few months I’ll probably be back to devouring some other genre.
(That’s not just me, right?)
For the time being, however, my standards for ‘horror’ are unreasonably high.

For example:
I’m not sure if I really liked this book.

Let me tell you why..

*Spoiler Alert!*

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Home Before Dark by Riley Sager

Publication date: June 2020
Pages: 397
Genre: Thriller, Mystery, Suspense, Horror, Psychological thriller, Psychological fiction
Standalone

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Maggie’s father is an author. His bestseller being largely based on their time in the infamous Baneberry Hall, a Victorian manor they had only lived in for twenty days before fleeing for their lives. His instant fascination with the house and it’s story has them buying it.. with some reservation.

The death of the previous family’s young girl, murdered by her father before killing himself, seems remarkably similar to the situation of the family who originally built Baneberry. Carson was a cold and controlling man with a stunning teenage daughter of his own.. thought to have taken her own life. Did she though? Many speculated that he murdered her with the very berries the manor was named after.

Claims are made that the house is haunted, that circumstances became dangerous for the young Maggie, when she stubbornly argues that the ghosts visiting her in the night have predicted her family’s deaths..

They follow her.
They scare her.

When what the young parents believed is the product of an overactive imagination and possible psychological issues, becomes more physical.. tension rises and the family lash out against one another as their disbelief of the strange happenings starts to take on a more insidious nature.

With the disturbing activity escalating into physical abuse, the young couple make a choice to protect their daughter that will have far-reaching consequences.. more than they know.

The end of their nightmare is only the beginning of the story.

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Three and a Half Stars!

I consider three stars the general average for most ratings.
Not really good. Not terribly bad. Just average.

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.

Over all, I’d say this is a pretty typical haunted house story.

Despite a killer introduction.. The book starts off slow, chugs along, and really doesn’t build up momentum until closer to the end.

That’s in line with the public version of events, which goes something like this: Twenty-five years ago, my family lived in a house named Baneberry Hall, situated just outside the village of Bartleby, Vermont.
We moved in on June 26.
We fled in the dead of night on July 15.
Twenty days.
That’s how long we lived in that house before we became too terrified to stay a minute longer.

After Maggie’s father passes away, uttering one last apology, she gets a shocking surprise.. They’re still the owners of Baneberry Hall. The subject of her father’s best selling novel, the house where it all began, and a place she remembers nothing of.

Inheriting the house that made her childhood a nightmare and growing up normal impossible was never part of the plan.. but now that it’s hers? She’s finally going to get to the bottom of what really happened there, what her parents have been keeping from her all these years, and the truth behind her father’s book of lies.

I still don’t know the real reason we left so suddenly. My parents refused to tell me. Maybe they really were afraid to stay. Maybe they truly and completely feared for their lives. But I know it wasn’t because Baneberry Hall was haunted. The big reason, of course, being that there’s no such thing as ghosts.

The plan? Do the one thing she promised never to do. She goes back.
She’s just there to make any repairs necessary to sell the place and find some answers. But her arrival unintentionally sets off a chain of events that will crack open what Baneberry hides..
For better or worse.

Every house has a story to tell. Baneberry Hall is no different. Its story—the real one—might still be there. Why we left. Why my father felt compelled to lie about it. What I actually experienced there. All of it might be hiding within its walls, waiting for me to find it.

Secrets about the history of the house begin to surface. The body of Petra, a young girl gone missing during their stay, is found hidden inside of Baneberry.. The discovery putting her father under heavy suspicion and leaves her questioning his character.

Was he really that good a liar?

I came here hoping to forgive my father.
I won’t be able to forgive a murderer.

She continues to disregard any strange experiences as an overactive imagination. Until it becomes something more. Furious at having her privacy violated and driven to unmask the trespassers tormenting her, she sets traps, hoping to catch them in the the act. It’s the only logical explanation there is..

I have two options here—run, or confront whoever’s inside the house. I want to run. My body begs me to, twitching insistently. I opt for confrontation, even though it’s not the wisest choice. Running only leads to more questions. Facing it head-on can only lead to answers

As new revelations about the dead girl uncovers another suspect, one she invited in, Maggie finds herself in very real danger. Evading the clutches of her attacker is a close call but that’s not nearly as unpleasant as her mother’s well timed arrival.

Maggie’s done tiptoeing around the truth.
She wants answers.
Now.

“You need to tell me every fucking thing you’ve been hiding from me for the past twenty-five years.”
“You don’t want to know the truth. You think you do, Maggie. But you don’t.”

Are we ever truly satisfied with the truth? Wouldn’t it have been wise, had we only known, to let sleeping dogs lie? But that’s not how this story goes..

Her mother’s surrender comes in the form of a letter from her father, written before his death, confessing everything. It’s unthinkable. And once again Maggie is faced with the unimaginable ‘truth’.

Something breaks inside me. Surprising, since I didn’t think there was any part of me left unscathed. But my heart was still intact, just waiting for my mother to shatter it. I can feel it disintegrating—a shudder that makes my chest heave.

Can one secret ever show the entire picture?
Does one lie change everything?
And will the truth really set you free?

Not in Baneberry.
Not when the ghosts have their own stories to tell..

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

I’m such a fan of haunted houses.
I wanted so much to like this one more.

Liked: I really enjoyed how the author wrapped up the ending, with wonderfully placed plot twists that were a pleasant surprise, it really saved the book for me. I liked the mystery surrounding Petra, the girl who disappeared. The unusual history of the Carson family was intriguing.. and appropriately convoluted.

Disliked: So much. Let me clarify.. there was so much with this book that I wanted to like. Our protagonist is angry and bitter, sometimes at the world for the unfairness of it all, mostly at her family. I didn’t appreciate her hateful attitude towards her dad and the unrelenting belief that her parents are both liars(which is an ongoing theme for most of the book.) I found all of the living characters to be unappealing. Maybe it wouldn’t have been as bad if Maggie’s attitude didn’t scream ‘petulant,’ but it does, and I have no interest in real or fictional temper tantrums.

Typical annoying horror movie reactions: I’m in an alleged haunted house? Oh, a noise? Wait! Let me rush after it.. only to convince myself that nothing was really there and that it was case of an overactive imagination.

And Maggie so blindly determined not to believe her parents. She absolutely refuses to believe there’s even a possibility that something otherworldly could have happened in that house.
I get not believing.
I don’t get being so damn hard headed.

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There are a lot of fantastically well written aspects to this book that have not been mentioned or included here in hopes that I won’t spoil things entirely. I can’t say that Sager’s book will pull you right in, that you won’t be able to put it down, or that it’s the book for you.. What I will do is recommend it.
Every book was made to be loved by someone.
That could be you.

I’m curious about this author and am exited to read more of his work.

Have you read this book yet?

What did you think?