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paragraphsandpages 's review for:
Home Before Dark
by Riley Sager
Honestly Riley Sager is such a hit or miss kind of author for me now but I still get so excited when a new book of his comes out! Unfortunately, while this one was overall a fun read, it was a let down in the end.
Sager is really good in getting you deeply invested in the characters and what's going on, and I always find it so easy to theorize about his books. I read this book over 7 days with my friend, stopping every so often to discuss what was happening and what we thought the truth was, and in my opinion this made the book even better than if I had read it in one sitting. We had so many crackpot theories and it almost became a game, how much evidence could you find for your wild ass theory. Myabe this also contributed to the disappointment of the actual ending.
This book is unique in that it seems like Sager is going the paranormal route, but you're questioning the validity of it the entire time because he's never written anything paranormal before. You read that the main character is hearing strange noises, is seeing shadows where they shouldn't be, that the lights keep turning on by themselves, but the entire time you're also uncertain if any of this is actually true because this doesn't match Sager's other books at all! It was an interesting back and forth for me, trying to constantly explain away the unexplained because I was so sure that Sager wouldn't write an actual ghost, but the entire time I also had a voice in the back of my head saying "but what if he did this time?" It added a whole extra layer to the thriller that his other books didn't have.
Unfortunately, while I loved reading the book, the ending was just disappointing. I won't go into too much detail because spoilers, but there was just so much build up, so much potential for evil murderers and secret plots, and I just didn't feel like the actual truth made use of that potential.
So, in the end, this book wasn't fully it for me, but I did have a fun time reading as always, so I'll still be picking up the next book!
Sager is really good in getting you deeply invested in the characters and what's going on, and I always find it so easy to theorize about his books. I read this book over 7 days with my friend, stopping every so often to discuss what was happening and what we thought the truth was, and in my opinion this made the book even better than if I had read it in one sitting. We had so many crackpot theories and it almost became a game, how much evidence could you find for your wild ass theory. Myabe this also contributed to the disappointment of the actual ending.
This book is unique in that it seems like Sager is going the paranormal route, but you're questioning the validity of it the entire time because he's never written anything paranormal before. You read that the main character is hearing strange noises, is seeing shadows where they shouldn't be, that the lights keep turning on by themselves, but the entire time you're also uncertain if any of this is actually true because this doesn't match Sager's other books at all! It was an interesting back and forth for me, trying to constantly explain away the unexplained because I was so sure that Sager wouldn't write an actual ghost, but the entire time I also had a voice in the back of my head saying "but what if he did this time?" It added a whole extra layer to the thriller that his other books didn't have.
Unfortunately, while I loved reading the book, the ending was just disappointing. I won't go into too much detail because spoilers, but there was just so much build up, so much potential for evil murderers and secret plots, and I just didn't feel like the actual truth made use of that potential.
Spoiler
It was too much of an accident, rather than an intentional act, and it took away a lot from the overall experience for me.So, in the end, this book wasn't fully it for me, but I did have a fun time reading as always, so I'll still be picking up the next book!