Home Before Dark

How it reads

Home Before Dark is thriller (psychological haunted-house thriller, specifically), and its dominant mood is eerie. It's atmospheric and uncanny, with a sense that something is wrong. It moves fast: plot-driven and hard to put down, the kind of book that carries you along even when you're tired.

It's set in a rural setting, in the present day, told in the first person by several narrators. Its central concerns are family, secrets and identity. In weight it's light and escapist — easy to fall into.

It stands alone, so there's nothing else you need to read first or after. The ending resolves happily. At 389 pages it's an ordinary novel's length. It's well known, the kind of book most keen readers have heard of.