Home Before Dark: 'Clever, twisty, spine-chilling' Ruth Ware

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Biographies come in many flavors but Susan Cheever's book strikes an excellent balance between an examination of a gifted writer and an expose' by a member of John Cheever's own family who is herself a writer. The biography is full of interesting details, some drawn from John Cheever's journals but many simply observations culled from a lifetime of personal experiences with the author as father & writer in almost equal measure. Maggie is on a mission: her childhood was disrupted quite violently after a stint at Baneberry Hall, a creepy mansion straight out of your stereotypical Gothic horror novel, where her family spent three eerie and terrifying weeks before departing suddenly. Maggie's father Ewan's nonfiction account of the family's time spent at the estate, House of Horrors has given her a sort of infamy she'd rather live without. When Maggie's father passes, however, she has the impetus to renovate the hall and sell it, as she has inherited the property. Her return raises more questions than it provides answers and Maggie is more desperate than ever to piece together the pieces of her past that remain foggy and parse the truth from the fiction. If you haven't read anything by Sager yet and are wondering where to start, I highly recommend giving this one a shot. I think it is a perfect example of his style. One of them belongs to Megan Holt’s POV, inherited a so called haunted house from her father after his sudden death and advised her not to go there again.

Overall: Pacing is good. However, at some parts I lost my interest for Megan’s POV and I enjoyed Ewan’s book so much more, it is still riveting, heart throbbing, nail, elbow, hand, arm biter, unputdowable, creepy story that I’ve dreamt of! I was so ready to sell my not so precious soul to get an ARC COPY and my wish came true. For Maggie's part, she remembers nothing about their time at Baneberry and had assumed the property had been sold off years ago. Riley Sager is a horror and mystery buff, and clearly a student of film, and each of his books manages to pay tribute to different types of these stories without feeling TOO referential. The book within a book format works neatly to detail the House of Horrors and there are obvious nods to Amityville here, although since I'm still unfamiliar with that story (!) I couldn't tell you what they are. I certainly am a student of Rodgers and Hammerstein musicals, however, so I loved the use of the Sound of Music song and I don't think I'll ever be able to listen to the song the same way again! The ghost(s) and their exploits were by far the most entertaining part of this book for me. I've been saving this book to read at Halloween since, well, LAST Halloween, and it was a solid choice for sure. Home Before Dark alternates between the story that Maggie's father wrote and present day Maggie living in the house, with the intent to refurbish it and sale it. It's a great way to compare what her father wrote to what Maggie finds out as she researches the house and it's history. Lots goes on, almost too much to keep up with at times. Did Maggie's parents lie about the past or is something wrong with Maggie, that she can't remember any of what is written in the book? Home Before Dark is a compelling and layered mix of taut psychological suspense, genuinely scary haunted-house terrors, and the vagaries of memory, capped off with an inventive and satisfyingly wild ending.”Baneberry Hall was such a presence in the story. It was ominous and creepy AF. It definitely gave me Overlook Hotel vibes with the way the history of the property felt so vibrant and in your face. Perhaps, in this fashion, Cheever conceived of material for his early short story, "The Enormous Radio", set in just such a Manhattan building & with the new but erratic radio broadcasting the constant squabbles & many insufficiencies of his fellow apartment dwellers. John Cheever may have been known as "The Bard of Ossining" but many of his early stories are similarly set in Manhattan & he liked to share anecdotes & stories about his intersections with E.E.Cummings, Wallace Shawn, Malcolm Cowley, John Updike & others. The heavy drinking led to John Cheever's downfall but his eventual confrontation with this weakness led to his final period of authorial success, with the publication of Falconer and the collected short stories, both of which gained Cheever many awards, substantial wealth and the sort of recognition that he had long been in quest of. What I enjoyed most is Susan Cheever's analysis of the several passions that drove & sometimes almost consumed her father, traveling among them: My father traveled because he could not stay at home, like Hammer in Bullet Park, to escape that existential dread for which the best antidote was his work. Travel was always interesting & the trips we took as a family were always fun because of the pleasure my father took in playing the role of the provider & interpreter of experience.

Returning all these years later, Maggie, now a professional home renovator, hopes to piece together a bit of the truth while also working on prepping the property for sale. Home Before Dark pays homage to The Amityville Horror and, as in Sager’s other novels, the story blends psychological suspense with elements of classic horror, for a creepy, edge-of-your-seat read.” Susan Cheever's 1984 biographical sketch of her father, Home Before Dark is a book I have read more than once, calling on it from time to time but particularly when I am in the midst of reading The Stories of John Cheever. In fact, as much as I enjoy reading Cheever's short stories, Home Before Dark seems to enhance my appreciation of John Cheever.

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Okay, this section is just a few things I didn’t say above about plot inconsistencies since I didn’t want to give any spoilers. None of this ruined or even dampened my enthusiasm for the book, but these are just the things I noticed. I’m only noting them here because I figure other people noticed too and are wondering if others caught them as well. Radel, Felecia Wellington. "Review: Riley Sager chills with haunted-house thriller 'Home Before Dark' ". USA TODAY . Retrieved 2020-09-08. Fellow Riley Sager junkies, you've waited so patiently for me to slip out of my Covid-19 induced anxiety, and I'm here to tell you that I've shaken the funk and am feeling passionately encouraged to word vomit my thoughts about this book. Before I get started, you need to know going in that this book has a slightly altered feel to his previous novels, but I feel like this is a given, as each book he writes evolves into a new thrilling sub-genre. If I had to compare Home Before Dark to another one of Sager's books, I'd say that it would mostly align with Final Girls, as it portrays that same growing since of dread while serving a side of mainstream horror. The blurbs calling this a tale for fans of Hill House are spot on, and if you love a good ghost story, whether those ghosts are supernatural or manmade monsters, I think you'll adore this book. This book is a 3 1/2 star. I loved the characters but HATED the insta love and found it super off-putting. I also found Luz's selflessness a little too exaggerated- she was just a doormat!

Susan Wiggs's life is all about family, friends...and fiction. She lives at the water's edge on an island in Puget Sound, and she commutes to her writers' group in a 17-foot motorboat. She serves as author liaison for Field's End, a literary community on Bainbridge Island, Washington, bringing inspiration and instruction from the world's top authors to her seaside community. (See www.fieldsend.org) She's been featured in the national media, including NPR's "Talk of the Nation," and is a popular speaker locally and nationally. Flawless pacing, a dexterous dual narrative, and character through the roof. But the biggest revelation to be found in Home Before Dark is this: There’s nobody writing scarier books than Riley Sager is right now.” I found the story and found it very interesting, as the main character suffered from a visual loss very similar to what I am going through though I have not lost all vision in my right eye. Fleming, Mike Jr. (2020-02-24). "Sony & 21 Laps Win Riley Sager Thriller Novel 'Home Before Dark' ". Deadline . Retrieved 2020-09-08.

Book Excerpt

After it happened, Maggie’s parents thought it was Maggie who did it because they didn’t know what really happened that night, only that there was a physical altercation and Petra was dead.) While Jessie is there, she tries to be cool aunt with Lila and turns a blind eye when she's sneaking out with a boy. Hours later Lila is in a terrible car crash in which one of her friends dies and the rest are very injured- but she walks away with just bumps and bruises. Jessie tries to get to know her and when she comes home from the hospital and is on house arrest, there is ample opportunity.

overall, it's an effective and engaging ride, and if you can squint your way through the dubious bits, you'll have a lot of fun with it. This book begins with a dedication...”For those who tell ghost stories...and those who believe them...” 👻 If you are at ALL familiar with The Sound of Music, expect Home Before Dark to make "Sixteen Going on Seventeen" the earworm that just won't quit!There was family drama, tragedy, adoption, relationship woes, child-rearing issues, love, and that doesn't even wrap it all up. It has a little of everything but enough that you felt the subject had been thoroughly covered. I really enjoyed the characters in this book, of course some more than others. This story is told through two narratives: Present Day with Maggie at the house and chapters from the book her father wrote. I LOVED the way this flowed! A book within a book was so clever! It kept me gripped and invested from start to finish. Maggie was an awesome character who I loved rooting for. The house was an amazing character in itself! The writing was so powerful - highly atmospheric and chilling. I instantly connected with the writing and it kept me completely engrossed until the very end.