I absolutely loved this book. It reminded me of Such a Pretty Smile with its feral qualities, but this one had more of a subtle edge to it. It deals with addiction, serial killers, and the fact that we may never really know the person beside us-family or not. Excellent read and I have been recommending this book to all of my thriller customers.

One summer six teenage girls went missing. By the end of that summer, 12-year-old Chloe's father was arrested as a serial killer and has been in prison ever since. Twenty years later another girl goes missing... To say the buzz surrounding A FLICKER IN THE DARK was massive is an understatement. This book has been getting - and two months later STILL getting - some serious praise, including a tv deal. And, honestly? It's totally deserving of every accolade, every gushing review. It still blows my mind that this is a debut; several times my guess as to Who Did It changed (and in the end I was still wrong!) I read a lot of mysteries and it truly takes a lot to surprise me. This one did it and I am so, so excited to see what Stacy does next!

I really enjoyed reading this book especially seeing that Emma Stone is going to direct a tv version of this! I'm excited to see it on the big screen.

I enjoyed this book and all the twists and turns. It did end up a little predictable but enjoyable nonetheless.

I can't believe this is a debut book! It was one of the best psychological suspense books I've read in a while. This book grabs you and sucks you right in. It is well-plotted with a gripping story. Although I did figure out part of the twists, I was never quite certain which kept me engrossed in the story, and there were so many directions the story could go. I did get a little frustrated with the main character not being forthcoming with information at times, but I can understand why she might have withheld information she did. I can't say a lot more because I don't want to give anything away. I did listen to the audiobook which was excellently narrated by Karissa Vacker. I would highly recommend both the book, and especially the audio version. Well done, Stacy Willingham!

Thank you to Netgalley and MacMillan Audio and the publisher for an advanced copy to review.

This was a real page-turner. It's an interesting perspective--the child of a serial killer--and a fascinating one. I did guess the major twist, and was a little disappointed about that, but I still found this to be really enjoyable and will recommend it to others.

I will say since this is one of my favorite genre’s, it is hard to keep me guessing, but this manages to keep me on my toes. The protagonist, Chloe, fits the bill for unresolved trauma. Not really surprising considering the childhood trauma of discovering her father was a serial murderer. Despite her background, Chloe has become a successful psychologist, has found love, and in spite of things, she’s holding it together. That is until a new girl goes missing almost 20 years to the day of her father’s plea deal. It’s easy to say some rogue copycat is out there intimidating Chloe, but as similarities start to rack up, questions are mounting and answers are hard to come by. Down to almost the last page, the questions persist, just who is behind the recent string of abductions? Is there really a copycat or has a ghost come out of Chloe’s past? This story is very engaging, both with a riveting storyline and vivid imagery. Review posted to Goodreads, Instagram, Facebook, Litsy, LibraryThing, and Amazon.

Chloe Davis is the daughter of a serial killer. And it's hung over her like a shadow her entire life.

To everyone on the outside, Chloe would appear to have it all together these days. A successful psychiatrist, engaged to be married, a gorgeous home...but underneath that facade, she's barely holding it together. And when a teen patient goes missing, everything starts to fall apart.

This was an absolutely page-turning thriller. I know that gets thrown around a lot, but I don't say it lightly here.

First, there's the premise. It's not unusual to wonder what happens to the people who fall into the orbit of criminals—whether by coincidence or blood.

Chloe was just a child when her father was arrested for murder. She lived in a small town where everyone knew her family. It's not the kind of thing you can easily get away from.

But she built a life beyond that anyway. She moved to Baton Rouge and she focuses on helping troubled teens. She's done everything right.

But yet, her father's crimes haunt her.

And that becomes more and more clear when her patient disappears. Everyone around her is afraid that Chloe is headed down a dark path, especially when she starts to draw connections between what's happening today and the murders of her childhood.

Is she imagining it?

Second, the setting! I'm from Louisiana and while I'm always drawn to books set there, a lot of them don't necessarily ring true. That was not an issue with Willingham's debut! Not at all!

Finally, there's the plot. I love trying to figure out how a thriller or mystery will end and A Flicker in the Dark left me guessing the whole way through. Every time I thought I had it figured out, Willingham threw another twist at me!

A Flicker in the Dark is a fabulous debut perfect for fans of Jennifer Hillier and Catherine Ryan Howard. I thoroughly enjoyed reading it and I cannot wait to see what Stacy Willingham will do next!

I firstly should like to thank NetGalley and Minotaur Books for providing me with an ARC of this book in return for an honest review. This was a 4 star read for me. As a debut novel it was a wonderful read with an interesting plot and a host of characters...some likeable and some not. I enjoyed the writing style and I enjoyed the plot. There were enough twists to make it compelling reading. I did figure out a lot of the story and was quite proud of myself for doing so but it did not spoil my enjoyment of this book. I would recommend that those who enjoy psychological thrillers, suspense and murder mysteries read this. It is definitely one to read to the end because there could be another unexpected twist. Again, my thanks to NetGalley and Minotaur Books and promise that this review is my honest opinion.

2.5

Cry me a river… or not

If a blurb says that a book is “like Gone Girl,” I’m gone—directly to the Kindle store. Man, I need to stop that! Because this ain’t no Gone Girl, no way no how. It wasn’t a total bust, that’s the good news. It’s just that there were so many things, both huge and miniscule, that were impossible to believe.

The story is about a woman, Chloe, whose father was a serial killer. Twenty years later, there’s another serial killer on the loose. Chloe is a psychologist with PTSD and a fiancé. Much ado ensues, as you would expect.

Unlike most people, I did not guess the ending. Oh, I thought I was Miss Smarty Pants a couple of times, but there were twists galore that I did not see coming. But the first half of the book was boring, same old same old, and I was not impressed. It seemed to point to one thing, and an obvious one at that, and I was so annoyed I wished I were reading something else. Then the book picked up and I stopped my complaining—or some of it, that is—because wow, we’re supposed to believe so much bull! Seriously ridiculous things! Here are two of my favorites, the latter of which had me performing some logistics experiments:

-We find some chocolates on the pillow at a cut-rate motel. Oh, right! This makes me rethink my next trip itinerary. Chocolates can make me go anywhere…and look at the money I’ll save at a little old Motel 6!

-Twice. Not once, but twice, Chloe sees teardrops that have fallen once onto a piece of paper, and once onto a pant leg. This bugged me like no tomorrow. I tried to imagine seeing puddles of tears in real life, but that never came into focus. So like I said, I indulged in a logistics experiment. I started analyzing tears. Can they really leave the face? Doesn’t everyone wipe the tear trails away before they even get down to the chin? Or wouldn’t the tears just keep traveling down your neck, sort of sticking to skin, instead of jumping off your chin? And really, tears don’t come out that fast to gain speed and breadth to roll off the face and onto a surface. Like a normal person, I couldn’t fabricate tears (I think this is a good thing, lol, since I wasn’t auditioning for a soap opera), and therefore I couldn’t test my theory. And lord knows, this book wasn’t a tearjerker, so I had nothing to work with here. So instead, I watched a couple of people cry on TV. I sat following their rivers of tears, which made me miss the damn dialogue! I was obsessed. But believe me, I never saw a teardrop fall off the face and onto any paper or pant leg, I really didn’t.

Ha! Yes, yes, yes, I know, I got totally off the subject, totally carried away, but I guess I wanted to engage in this book more than I did, so why not get all busy with the teardrop question?

There were many other preposterous things that happened, like Chloe finding a dead girl’s earring in a huge park—a needle in a haystack, anyone? And really hard for me to take: how Chloe wasn’t scared to effing death when she should have been—it didn’t ring true, at all. I could go on and on, but I think I already went too far with the teardrop investigation, so I’ll control myself.

Turns out I was rolling my eyes every 30 or so pages. So here’s the funny thing: This book had all the earmarks of a 2-star read, but for some reason I’m rounding up to 3. I think it’s because I sort of got into all the twists, and I definitely wanted to see how the book would end.

So disappointing, for sure, but not a total mess. I doubt I’ll try another by this author, though. Too many damn improbabilities.

Thanks to NetGalley for the advance copy.

Very good. DNF unfortunately. Just got busy with life.
I do want to finish reading it when I have more time

A Flicker in the Dark gives us several of the things I like most in thrillers— an unreliable narrator, an isolated protagonist, complicated family dynamics, and plenty of twists. While I did have a hunch where the story was going from the beginning, there are enough twists that made me doubt my theory along the way, and I still enjoyed seeing the story play out.

Since we are in Chloe’s head for much of the story and figuring things out along with her, I think this would be a good book to read as an audiobook. I tend to like thrillers on audio and I think it would heighten the suspense!

Thank you St. Martin's Press, Minotaur Books, and NetGalley for an e-ARC of this title to read and review.

This book is great! Would definitely recommend. Thanks so much to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

I really enjoyed the journey and was definitely engrossed the whole time. It was a bit of a slower read, although slower may not be the right word. It's not a fast-paced thriller but more deliberate, letting the story slowly unravel.

This was the first book recommended to me in 2022, and it was a doozy! Chloe Davis has seemingly overcome a difficult past to become a successful psychologist. When recent events in her town seem related to Chloe's past, she begins to investigate. There were twists I saw coming, but most were surprising to me. This was a great mystery, and I strongly recommend it!

I want to start by saying I have heard of so many people loved this book and have been raving about it. However, I hate to say I wasn't crazy about it. This is definitely a "who did it" kind of book and I had guessed who it was from the very beginning. I found the book was slow, it wasn't until around 60-70% that things started to pick up. I was underwhelmed by the additional twists. I was so excited for this book but unfortunately it just didn't work out for me.

This was an interesting, twisty thriller that I enjoyed. It’s told in 2 different timelines and they were both well done.
From the publisher:
When Chloe Davis was twelve, six teenage girls went missing in her small Louisiana town. By the end of the summer, Chloe’s father had been arrested as a serial killer and promptly put in prison. Chloe and the rest of her family were left to grapple with the truth and try to move forward while dealing with the aftermath.
This is a great book for anyone who likes a taut thriller. 4 stars.

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

Loved, loved, loved this debut! A FLICKER IN THE DARK made my list of top 5 favorite new releases for January, and Stacy was a featured author on the Killer Author Club (Facebook & YouTube). I can't wait to see what she comes up with next.

I heard a lot of buzz about this novel so I was very excited to have received an ARC of it from NetGalley!

A Flicker in the Dark follows 32 year Chloe Davis, a psychologist in Baton Rogue, as she confronts her past and how is affecting her in current day. Chloe's father was convicted of murdering several girls in their hometown when Chloe was a child, an act that leaves her deeply scarred. As girls go missing in Chloe's present day life she cannot help but see the similarities and question if her past is coming back to her.

I thought that this was a great debut novel by Williangham that included several elements I typically look for in a thriller novel. Unlike most of the current day thrillers, I actually found myself surprised by one of the twists,which definitely hasn't happened in a while. It was a quick read and enjoyable read. Covers some topics that may be a trigger for some individuals, such as sexual abuse and mental health concerns.

Overall a fantastic first novel and I look forward to the author's future stories.

Thank you to Netgalley for providing a review copy. This will also be posted on my Goodreads page.

I enjoyed this one! Chloe watched her father get arrested when she was a child. He was arrested right in front of her eyes for the murder of several local girls. Chloe is now a working as a psychologist, getting ready to be married. Then, one by one, girls start to go missing including one of her patients. The parallels are too smilier to what happened when she was a child. Chloe's well fought for happiness comes crashing down. Who can she trust? Is there a copycat killer?

This was a really interesting take on what could have been a very non-original story. There are some really beautiful moments of prose in this novel. Highly recommended 5/5.