I came across this book while browsing through the library and I thought the author’s name sounded family. Oddly enough, I don’t have any books by Sager on my TBR. But I figured I heard about her through someone’s review and the synopsis of this book sounded interesting so I decided to borrow it.

Home Before Dark is a dual-narrative story. First, we have The Book, a purportedly “true” account of Maggie’s family when they lived in a haunted house (Baneberry Hall) until they were forced to flee. We also have Maggie’s story, as she discovers she now owns said haunted house and moves back to fix it up and more importantly, discover the truth. However, though Maggie believes that The Book is nothing but a pack of lies, her experiences in Baneberry Hall start lining up with what her father described in his book and she’s forced to question what she believes in.

This was one of the few books where I was invested in both narratives. I think they play off each other rather well – we need to know what Maggie is referencing in the book and the echoes of supernatural events in both stories make them feel more real. Maggie is a sceptic, like the reader, and her increasing fear matched mine.

I was also pleasantly surprised by some of the side characters. For a moment, I wondered if there was going to be a romance or a new friendship and was surprised to find that everything ended rather… realistically. I mean, you have someone from a family whose book wrecked the town, it would be odd if everyone was singing Kumbaya at the end. But having everyone at arm’s length also meant that I never really got to know the other characters and they felt less real. The story really does revolve around Maggie and she’s the most fully realised character.

But you know what? Characterisation is less important here. I was very invested in the mystery of Baneberry Hall and what happened and that was what kept me reading till the end. In fact, I was pretty much flying through the last few chapters because I really, really wanted to know what happened.

Overall, I had a lot of fun with this book! It was a quick weekend read and I was hooked from start to finish. In terms of fear factor, I thought this was less scary than Laura Purcell’s Silent Companions, which also had another mysterious house. This would be great for anyone who’s into mysterious and purportedly haunted houses but doesn’t need to be too scared.