The elder brother of an old friend of Matt’s is in jail for the crime but it turns out Matt was one of the few witnesses for the defence, testifying that they’d got the wrong guy. When the Lisko family – Hilde, sisters Izzy (Kylie Rogers) and Ginny (Mila Morgan), mom Bridget (Abby Miller) and dad Matt (Jim Sturgess) – have to relocate from Brooklyn after Matt loses his job, Hilde finds herself in the small town of Erie Falls, the place where Matt grew up and the scene of a 30-year-old case which saw Matt’s childhood best friend go missing, presumed dead. Chu who made the excellent Crazy Rich Asians directs the opening episode setting the tone somewhere between Press Gang and All The President’s Men (which young Hilde is obsessed with), bizarre as that sounds.īrooklynn Prince plays Hilde Lisko the precocious young editor of her very own newspaper and website called The Magic Hour Chronicle. What results is a slightly uncomfortable genre mix of kid-centric wish fulfillment and crime drama about a child-killer, complete with the dark color palette of a grown up murder series. The major difference with Apple TV+’s 10-part new crime drama series Home Before Dark, is that our 9-year-old roving reporter, Hilde Lisko, who gets embroiled in solving a kidnapping and murder case, is based on an actual 9-year-old – Hilde Lysiak – who really did report on crime at such a young age. Kids have been solving crimes in movies, books and TV shows for a long time, from Nancy Drew, Harriet The Spy and The Secret Seven to Lindsay Lohan vehicle Get A Clue.

This Home Before Dark review contains no spoilers.

Home before dark book series