Home Before Dark

Home Before Dark is a 2020 thriller novel by pseudonymous author Riley Sager. The novel was first published on June 30, 2020 through Dutton. Sager references the 1977 Jay Anson book The Amityville Horror during the novel, which also served as part of Home Before Dark's inspiration. The novel is told via a split narrative in alternating chapters. It focuses on the characters of Maggie Holt, via her first person narrative, and her father Ewan, through excerpts taken from a book. The book-within-a-book focuses on supernatural events that Ewan claims drove them to flee their home and never return. Reviewers were impressed by the use of parallel structure. Synopsis The novel is told via a split narrative. Maggie Holt narrates events as they happen during current day, while her father Ewan's narrative occurs via passages of his book House of Horrors, which details the family's time at Baneberry Hall during the 1990s. House of Horrors Ewan Holt and his wife Jess have purchased Baneberry Hall, a Victorian home in need of some repair. The realtor reluctantly informs them that the home was the site of a murder suicide; prior owner Curtis Carver murdered his daughter Katie before taking his own life, leaving his wife Marta to discover their bodies.