Reading: HOME BEFORE DARK - Riley Sager

Prose (Story): At the age of 30, Maggie Holt - home renovator/decorator - learned early on that every house has a story. She knows this first-hand, because when Maggie was five years old she lived with her parents for just three weeks in Baneberry Hall, an isolated, rather worn down estate in Vermont; just three weeks before the family was driven out by their malevolent haunted house. Soon after, Maggie's father's book about their experiences at Baneberry Hall (House of Horrors) hit the bestseller list, scarring the young girl's life for good; to this day, she is asked if what is told in the book is real, when most of what was written Maggie doesn't even remember - much less believe. Indeed, her "memories" are only as retold by her father in his tell-all book - the book that put a shadow on her life, split her parents up, and gave Maggie a level of fame she never wanted. But when her father dies from cancer and Maggie learns that not only did he never sell Baneberry Hall - but she now owns it! - the young woman, on the 25th anniversary of her father's bestselling book, heads back to the house that's haunted her entire life, ostensibly to renovate it for sale ... in reality, to get some honest answers, once and for all.

Don's (Review): In chapters that alternate between Maggie's modern-day investigation of her past and past home, along with chapters from her father's book about Baneberry Hall, author Riley Sager does a fine job of building suspense and making the reader wonder. Is Baneberry Hall really haunted by the previous owner who murdered his daughter then killed himself? Is there a more earthly explanation where, maybe, someone sought to scare her family from the house? Characters are introduced whom you are not sure are friend or foe, and while the House of Horrors chapters are so short it makes you wonder if maybe her dad's book was more of a pamphlet, with each chapter readers are fed just enough information to keep them both reading and second-guessing just what is going on. And while the book comes with its share of both surprises and satisfying resolutions - even with one reveal that I thought felt a bit forced/too convenient - I finished the book having enjoyed the ride ... even if it took me another week to decide how to rate the book overall. Something was niggling at me about it, and eventually I realized what it was; that while the book is very well-written and nicely plotted in developing the chills and unraveling its secrets, even by the end, I just couldn't find myself emotionally invested in any of the characters. Sadly, not even Maggie. And if you're not invested in even the main character emotionally, what happens to them - good or bad - doesn't resonate like it should off the page. So while stylistically quite good, and it did keep me turning the pages, ultimately Home Before Dark left me as cold as the drafty, shadow-enshrouded halls of Baneberry Hall itself.  3/5 stars