What was it like? Living in that house. Maggie Holt is used to such questions. Twenty-five years ago, she and her parents, Ewan and Jess, moved into Baneberry Hall, a rambling Victorian estate in the Vermont woods. They spent three weeks there before fleeing in the dead of night, an ordeal Ewan later recounted in a nonfiction book called House of Horrors. His tale of ghostly happenings and encounters with malevolent spirits became a worldwide phenomenon, rivaling The Amityville Horror in popularity—and skepticism. Today, Maggie is a restorer of old homes and too young to remember any of the events mentioned in her father’s book. But she also doesn’t believe a word of it. Ghosts, after all, don’t exist. When Maggie inherits Baneberry Hall after her father’s death, she returns to renovate the place to prepare it for sale. But her homecoming is anything but warm. People from the past, chronicled in House of Horrors, lurk in the shadows. And locals aren’t thrilled that their small town has been made infamous thanks to Maggie’s father. Even more unnerving is Baneberry Hall itself—a place filled with relics from another era that hint at a history of dark deeds. As Maggie experiences strange occurrences straight out of her father’s book, she starts to believe that what he wrote was more fact than fiction. In the latest thriller from New York Times bestseller Riley Sager, a woman returns to the house made famous by her father’s bestselling horror memoir. Is the place really haunted by evil forces, as her father claimed? Or are there more earthbound—and dangerous—secrets hidden within its walls?
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Mystery/suspense
I was overall entertained with this book, some obvious questioning where it was going to go / was it really going to have a paranormal twist? I found the father's book being interspersed was entertaining and increased tension.
I didn't really understand Maggie's inherent drive to try to uncover the truth? I mean maybe by the end of the book I could be swayed that she had some sort of buried memories that were pushing her
I liked that it was twisty, I did suspect the guy who is helping her with the washboard abs-- an obvious choice, but he was acting weird? I was NOT expecting there to have been a secret passageway, though I did expect the old lady with Alzheimer's to have a part to play. I was not surprised when the "cherry" pie appeared, I thought it was obvious that it was going to be the poisonous baneberries. At that point I was suddenly suspicious of the widow, but not before then.
Some reviewers were unhappy to find out that all of the paranormal stuff was fake, but to me that was okay and I felt increased the tension throughout the book. I agree that the parents immediately concluding that their five year old killed the babysitter is pretty wild, and the traumatic amnesia it was pretty convenient too.
This kept me entertained and guessing, I figured out a few things but I enjoyed that it still had other reveals.
I thought the pacing overall was good and kept me turning pages. I thought that this had strong atmosphere and a rare chilling moment, but I was not on the edge of my seat nor would I call it horror.