Home Before Dark (#44 in 2020)
Maggie Holt, now a grown woman, doesn't remember much from her childhood at Baneberry Hall. While her father, Ewan, went on to write a best-selling book about their family's paranormal haunts, Maggie is still in denial about much of what happened during their time there. After tragedy strikes, Maggie returns to the house that once posed a danger for her family and gave her a reputation during her formative years. Now, as an adult, it's time for Maggie to learn the secrets kept within the walls of Baneberry Hall and decide... does the house really remember? Let's throw a few (non-spoiler) bullet points out there: -A bestselling book written about a family's short-lived experience in their newly-purchased, haunted house -That same book causing much torment for those who survived the horror -A grown adult child who questions the haunted happenings of his/her childhood -Ghosts of the past that lurk in the shadows and come out after witching hour -A finicky chandelier at the front entrance of the prodigious mansion -The family who fled in the middle of the night never to return again... until now Does that sound eerily familiar? It should! Home Before Dark has a slight spook factor and is uncannily similar to the classic Shirley Jackson book (1959) and Netflix adaptation (2018), The Haunting of Hill House. Sager's book closely resembles the streaming adaptation as Maggie Holt mimics the character of Stephen Craine, returning to investigate the past by experiencing the present and uncovering truths that reveal much more of the house's history. There are very many parallels that can be drawn between Home Before Dark and The Haunting of Hill House. If you start off reading and find that the book is too similar to the popular Netflix series, have no fear. The book's storyline takes on a life of its own around page 172, unveiling a new conflict and a few plot points that deviate from what you might initially expect.
I do feel that the book, itself, is mislabeled in terms of genre. Goodreads lists it in the horror category, but you'll see that it ends up NOT being a horror story.
If you're a fan of Riley Sager, Shirley Jackson, Netflix, or fan fiction, give this one a try! Let me know what you think.
SPOILERS WILL START BELOW THIS POINT
I think one of my biggest drawbacks with Home Before Dark was the fact that I felt like much of the content was taken directly from Netflix's adaptation of The Haunting of Hill House. At first, I felt like maybe I was reading too far into things, so I began to make a bulleted list of what was standing out to me as parallel. See my list below:
The physical description of the house in Home Before Dark is nearly identical to that of the house from The Haunting of Hill House... SAME
The families in each book get "shockingly good deals" on their purchases of these very old and spooky-looking estates... SAME
The family stays for a short time, then leaves in the middle of the night never to return again... SAME
The father has a strong attachment to the house and still secretly returns to the place of haunts long after the family has moved away... SAME
There exists an "invisible girl" ghost friend to the child in the story... SAME
A gigantic chandelier is a physical focal point that is mentioned many a time... SAME
"Mister Shadow" from Home Before Dark is a ghost man who wanders up and down the halls late at night, a portrait which is identical to "The Floating Man" from The Haunting of Hill House. Both characters walk the halls at night using a cane to rhythmically and eerily tap the floor... LITERALLY THE SAME
The armoire in Home Before Dark acts as a portal to a darker area of the home, which acts in a similar (but not identical) fashion to the red room in The Haunting of Hill House.
Maggie Holt (Home Before Dark) as a grown adult is in denial about a lot of the events that supposedly happened to her during her childhood at Baneberry Hall. Stephen Craine from The Haunting of Hill House has the same mentality where he remains in disbelief about his haunted childhood... SAME
In The Haunting of Hill House, Stephen Craine (the oldest son) has made his fortune off of a book that he wrote about the supposed haunts from his brief childhood at Hill House. In Home Before Dark, Maggie Holt's father, Ewan, is the one who made a fortune off of the book he wrote about the family's brief experience at Baneberry Hall... SAME
In Home Before Dark, the estate comes with a sketchy groundskeeper and weirdo maid who have pretty much been on the property forever. In The Haunting of Hill House, the estate comes with a husband and wife duo who have cared for the property forever and are also super creepy... SAME
The Haunting of Hill House features a little ghost girl who lives on the property. In Home Before Dark, Maggie seeks to investigate the ghosts of dead daughters who live on the property. Coincidentally, in both the show and the book, the "ghosts"are related to the on-site maids... SAME
The infamous chandeliers in BOTH stories hang precariously and then spontaneously crash to the floor nearly killing people in the process... SPOT ON
Attempted poison by pie (Home Before Dark) vs. attempted poison by tea (The Haunting of Hill House)... NEED I SAY MORE?!
I know that Riley Sager openly admits that he gains a lot of his inspiration from old books and movies. I went to a book signing and book talk for Lock Every Door last summer, and Sager explained how his other books came to be. In Final Girls, Sager took the concept of old slasher films and sought to answer the question, "what happens to the survivors?" While I could see a few nods to old movies, this work was still one of its own. When it came to The Last Time I Lied, I could clearly see the creepy camp/lake backdrop as a high five to the old Friday the 13th movie, but the story still held its own plot and character development. As I read Lock Every Door, I kept thinking that something felt familiar. I didn't, however, figure out that it was a modernized version of Rosemary's Baby until after I had written my review.
In regards to Home Before Dark, I was genuinely disappointed to see so many blatantly copied elements from a show I loved by an author I love. Sager has consistently been a writer to watch. His books are highly anticipated, and his ARCs are highly coveted. He tends to release a new book every year around June, and part of me wonders if his rigorous timeframe is forcing his creativity well to dry up.
I'm certainly not sold off of Riley Sager just yet. I know he is contracted for another book to publish next June, so I'll wait and see if he can win me back.
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