Here's a twist again
Like I did last summer
here's another twist
like I did last year


Riley Sager is the Chubby Checker of suspense. He's doing the twist and selling lots of books.

I really liked Final Girls, probably in part due to my love of classic slasher movies. Others have played with the final girl trope, and some did it quite well. Sager did it better than anyone with his debut novel, Final Girls.

I did like Home Before Dark. Despite its generic title, it's an original take on the haunted house subgenre. The story deals with a creepy old house full of secrets, but Home Before Dark has a twist. Well, several of them. The hook here is that a woman, Maggie Holt, returns to a childhood home where a supposed haunting took place. Her father wrote a bestselling book about their experiences.

The cool thing about Home Before Dark is its structure. Each alternating chapter is the book Maggie's father wrote. The others deal with her return to the house after Dad's death. Maggie plans to restore the home and sell it, but she really wants answers about her past.

Riley Sager knows how to write, and he understands pacing and character. Home Before Dark is compelling, and I was really enjoying the book. The first half is excellent, but when the twists started coming toward the end I was having a hard time caring about Maggie or the house.

The blurbsters are out in full force, touting Home Before Dark as the next coming of King, Straub, Jackson, and James. Hyperbole is the name of the game these days. I do it too, but I like to think I am selective about it.

I'm not ruling out Riley Sager. I'll continue to read him, and you could honestly do a lot worse than Home Before Dark. It's at least as good as the average overhyped Netflix series.

Written by Mark Sieber

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