Home Before Dark

Objective: Gather initial thoughts and broad opinions about the book.

1. Were you satisfied by the truth about Maggie’s ghosts? Would you have preferred for the house to have been haunted, or do you think the explanation is satisfying enough, given the novel’s larger message about guilt and secrets?

2. Baneberry Hall calls to mind other famous houses in Gothic literature, such as the eponymous house in The Haunting of Hill House or Bly from The Turn of the Screw. How might you rank Baneberry Hall among its counterparts in literature? What are your favorite aspects of the setting?

3. Riley Sager’s novels, such as Lock Every Door and Final Girls, draw from popular subgenres of horror cinema, either subverting the tropes to heighten tension or by paying homage to them through various narrative elements. Did Home Before Dark remind you of any classic horror movies? What influences did you feel Sager was drawing from to tell this story?