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Home Before Dark

By: Riley Sager
Narrated by: Cady McClain, Jon Lindstrom
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Publisher's Summary

What was it like? Living in that house.

Maggie Holt is used to such questions. Twenty-five years ago, she and her parents, Ewan and Jess, moved into a rambling Victorian estate called Baneberry Hall. They spent three weeks there before fleeing in the dead of night, an ordeal Ewan later recounted in a memoir called House of Horrors. His tale of ghostly happenings and encounters with malevolent spirits became a worldwide phenomenon.

Now, Maggie has inherited Baneberry Hall after her father's death. She was too young to remember any of the events mentioned in her father's book. But she doesn't believe a word of it. Ghosts, after all, don't exist.

But when she returns to Baneberry Hall to prepare it for sale, her homecoming is anything but warm. People from the pages of her father's book lurk in the shadows, and locals aren't thrilled that their small town has been made infamous. Even more unnerving is Baneberry Hall itself - a place that hints of dark deeds and unexplained happenings.

As the days pass, Maggie begins to believe that what her father wrote was more fact than fiction. That either way, someone - or something - doesn't want her here. And that she might be in danger all over again....

The instant New York Times best seller.

One of....

Huff Post's 10 of the Most Anticipated Book Releases of June 2020.

Good Housekeeping's The 35 Best Books of 2020 to Add to Your Reading List.

Travel + Leisure's 20 Most Anticipated Summer 2020 Books.

PopSugar's 17 Most Anticipated Summer Thrillers.

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Publishers Weekly's Summer Reads 2020.

BookPage's 2020 Most Anticipated Thrillers and Mysteries.

Today.com's 16 Highly Anticipated Summer Reads.

The Star Tribune's 'Great Escapes' Summer Reads.

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Buzzfeed's 17 New Thrillers That Will Keep Your Summer Exciting.

The Everygirl's 30 Books That Should Be on Your Summer Reading List.

©2020 Riley Sager (P)2020 Penguin Random House Audio

Critic Reviews

"Clever, twisty, and altogether spine-chilling.... [A] deliciously terrifying story.... You'll want to read this one after dark, ideally with the wind whistling in the eaves and a window banging somewhere just out of reach. But keep the light switch handy. You just might need it." (Ruth Ware, Book of the Month)

What listeners say about Home Before Dark

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    4 out of 5 stars

Haunted house done right

After reading amazing reviews, I finally got this audiobook and wow it did not disappoint. I finished this audiobook soon after watching The Haunting of Hill House and it reminded me of it in a good way. Riley Sager adds another feather to his cap!

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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Great pacing

Modern gothic tale, where the house is as much a character as the humans. An entertaining read.

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If you liked Haunting of Hill House you'll love

this novel. I wished it went longer that's my only complaint but I so enjoyed the way the novel was crafted. I had chills, it was emotional and provocative at times and I really want to hit play on chapter 1 right after finishing the book. I think it's the best book I've listened to this year and I'll be snooping through the other titles the author has written because this was so enjoyable.

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Big twist

I loved the story and the big twist you just don't see them coming

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Amazing!!!

Awesome stuff love it all the way and it just got better and better.
Verry well narrated :)

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Great story with great narrators

My big quibble is that I have no idea why this is called Home Before Dark - that phrase is not at all relevant to the plot.

The plot is good though. There are so many twists & I think they’re plausible. You will be asking yourself constantly if this is a great ghost story or a mystery.

And really it’s both - there is an entire book within the book. And both are good. I like that the author insults their own writing by criticising the writing of the book within the book. It’s not true but it’s funny.

Anyway I really enjoyed it & I recommend it to both ghost story enthusiasts and mystery enthusiasts who aren’t keen on ghost stories.

Regarding the narrators of the audio book. This was an interesting split. The book within the book had to be narrated more as, well, a book so the male narrator did that. To differentiate, the other narrator went for a more performative narration as though she were acting out her portion of the story, which was a first person narration as things happened. I think this went well.

What was weird is that they both had very different version of local Vermont accents. And I can’t attest to which was more accurate because I’ve never been to Vermont. The woman used what I could identify as something like a Boston accent (some consider this the most unattractive accent in the world, obviously never having heard a South African accent.) And the man used one that I’ve heard before in the Rick & Morty ‘purge planet’ episode, & I’m sorry I can’t give you more of a description than that. The latter was hilarious, especially when the male narrator used it to speak as a 16yo girl. It was laugh out loud funny & he probably shouldn’t have tried it.

Other than that, great narration from both I thought.

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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Enjoyable

I enjoyed this book. Kept me guessing until the surprise ending. Certainly will seek out other books by this author.

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Kept me guessing all the way through

This supernatural whodunit was a fantastic listen. A little creepy, but not too scary, it kept me on the edge of my seat. Great plot twists, it also kept me guessing. Both narrators were great. The story did remind me of the Netflix series "The Haunting of Hill House". I highly recommend this book.

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Surprising ending

I was pleasantly surprised by this book. I have never listened to this genre before and was very pleased.

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Fabulous!

What a great story filled with plot twists and mystery. It didn't take me long to finish this audio book! :)

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