This was ok. 3.5 stars. I didn’t love any of the characters and I wish Chloe had been a bit more vibrant. I think I just wasn’t in the right mood for this? I’ll have to think more on it

A Flicker in The Dark is a stellar debut for Stacy Willingham!! This thriller had me on the edge of my seat at every twist and turn and just when I thought I had it figured out.. I wasn’t even close. The story is so well written and took me down the path of even questioning the main character was the guilty party many different times. There were parts that made me jump and think twice about listening late at night!

I can’t recommend this one enough, it’s made for TV and I can’t wait to see Chloe Davis come to life in the limited series!

When Chloe Davis was twelve her father was arrested as a serial killer - killing six teenage girls. That defines the rest of her life - she becomes a psychologist with a chemical dependency and trust issues. Now as the twenty year anniversary approaches, young girls are going missing and the similarities send her spiraling. Every time you think you know where this is going and you have it figured out, think again. The twists keep coming and it's so good.

Oh my goodness, what a fabulous debut! An original story, interesting characters, and twist abound in this one. Chloe is a psychologist who is haunted by her father's arrest for killing several girls. Twenty years later, girls are going missing again. Is there a copycat? Was her father really guilty? Even though I did guess the twist pretty early in the book, I would recommend this to anyone who loves a thrilling mystery. I can't wait for the tv series, which is already in development! Please Miss Willingham, we need more from you! Thank you Net Galley for the chance to read this and discover an exciting, new author.

Wow for a debut book this was amazing. Read with the lights on. The twists were surprising but then I was blindsided but the final dark twist.

A Flicker in the Dark is an emotional spellbinding read to resonate with readers for years to come. Chloe Davis is a psychologist and the daughter of a serial killer who murdered six teenaged girls during a summer twenty years ago. Desperately trying to move on from the trauma and live a normal life, she is planning her wedding to the perfect man. When two teen girls are found murdered, Chloe relives that terrible summer again. Chloe is thrown back into a hunt for a killer, will her fears distract her from the truth? A thriller set through an emotional lens, each interaction of Chloe’s processed through her guilt or fear, creates a chilling atmospheric read. Chloe’s weakness is her strength, guilt-driven actions lead her to heroic moments. Her job as a psychologist even has her saving young girls almost as an act of penance for the girls she couldn’t save from her father. A novel that is electric, Stacy Willingham’s writing style plays with the darkness to amplify the suspense and fear. I thoroughly enjoyed the references to light and darkness in the novel symbolic of her guilt with sharing blood with a monster. Fireflies, night, an abandoned childhood home all play such an important part in the novel and are brilliantly woven into the story. An atmospheric novel with emotional depth and heartbreak will be your next obsessive read. An incredible debut author who has already won many fans will be one to watch. Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for this ARC.

Book ~ Review

A Flicker in the Dark
Stacy Willingham
⭐️⭐️⭐️

A Flicker in the Dark is a thriller that I entered with hopeful expectations. The concept seemed solid, the cover was well-crafted, and the reviews I had seen were glowing. (Haha)

So, where did it go wrong? Well, kind of all over. There was good and bad to be found in every chapter of the story, if you ask me. So, let’s break it down:

Things I liked:
• The Writing- Willingham’s prose is exceptional, especially for a thriller. Not to say that thriller authors don’t write well, but primarily people come to thrillers for plot not prose. Glad to say, there were some very well crafted segments of writing laced throughout. I’m excited to read her next effort because of this.
2- The Parallels between past and present- throughout the story, Chloe, our heavily medicated protagonist, continuously is unsettled by parallels between the horrors of her past and those of her current situation. The way this was handled throughout was excellent.
3. *Some* of the twists- Really just one. It wasn’t the big twist, but I was so distracted thinking about how I had already guessed the big twist that I was blindsided by another rather large one. So, kudos there.

What I didn’t like:
1. The predictability- As I said, one twist got me. However, I felt that pretty much every other aspect of the story was hinted at in such a heavy handed way that it was obvious very early on in the book what was going on. This made me a bit bitter for most of the book, I won’t lie.
2. The cliches- where do I begin? Protagonist running from her past, self-medicated to the extreme protagonist, unreliable narrator, infidelity, law enforcement is no help whatsoever….the list goes on.
3. Underdevelopment of some very important characters: I won’t elaborate much, but that was definitely a thing.

So, unfortunately, this thriller let me down. I still enjoyed something’s about it, but the things that I didn’t enjoy weigh very heavily in my mind. This thriller has gotten a lot of good reviews, so I do recommend trying it and seeing for yourself how you feel.

Thank you to Netgalley, Minotaur Books, and the author for an early copy.

When Chloe Davis was 12-years old she unknowingly played a roll in having her father arrested for the kidnapping and murder of six local teenage girls. She and her mom and brother moved away from the town in order to avoid the gossip, the suspicion, and the guilt. Fast forward 20 years and Chloe is a psychologist primarily working with young girls and helping them deal with their own versions of trauma. When some local young girls go missing, one of them being her patient, Chloe's world begins to unravel again. It's an almost identical situation to that of her childhood. Because it hits so close to home Chloe finds herself immersed in this new investigation. Is this a copy cat? Did the police get it wrong all those years ago?

I thought that this was a great debut novel by Stacy Willingham. It's both character and plot driven. The pacing was well done and had me engaged throughout the whole book. There were plenty of well placed red herrings which constantly had me guessing the identity of the bad guy/woman. I didn't always like Chloe but I felt for her considering her childhood trauma. Having grown up on the Gulf Coast myself, I think Willingham nailed the atmosphere of a Louisiana summer's on the bayou coming to life with Crawfish festivals. I will likely check out Willingham's second book if/when it's published.

Many thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press/Minotaur Books for my ARC in exchange for my honest review

I was really impressed by this debut novel and thought it had some beautiful, lyrical prose. The premise was very unique, so this stood out from the dozens of other thrillers that I have read. It reminded me in some ways of the show Mare of Easttown, which I adored. I try not to spoil endings for myself, but I saw the final twist coming early on, and my prediction was correct. Overall, this was a strong debut and I look forward to seeing what this author writes next.

I received an ARC of this book from St. Martins Press and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I have to say that I thought this book was very creepy and dark. It is also wildly entertaining with it's suspense and the cleverly placed twists and turns in the plot. The characters are oddly compelling. The idea of missing teenage girls and murders will always capture a person's attention. This book is definitely that...An attention grabber. Read it.

Wow you guys this book was So freaking good!!! I finished it within hours of starting it and I could not put this one down. By far one of my favorites so far this year and to think that this is Stacy's Debut Novel, I cant wait to see what is next from her!!! Her writing was spot on and so good. This story has you guessing until almost the very end. I literally could not figure out who the killer was and I was by far shocked to see who it was. Was definitely not expecting it! So many twists which I absolutely loved. I needed a good thriller and this one was perfect!! I hope everyone reads this one because it is so worth the read, I wish I wouldnt have put it off and read it sooner. 5 Stars from me!

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC of A Flicker in the Dark by Stacy Willingham

This was a fantastic novel, a great psychological thriller with so many twists and turns, what you think is the obvious ending is not. This is definitely an author that I want to read more of her books.
Main character is Chloe, she is a psychiatrist with her own practice, she is engaged to be married to Daniel. We learn little by little of Chloes past and what she is trying to forget. Daniel knows of her past but can look past it all, he is so supportive and loving. Chloe is then shocked to hear to news of a missing girl and her past comes back to haunt her. And now a writer for a newspaper wants an interview as it's been 20 yrs since the first girl went missing
This is a must read, a real page turner, could not put this novel down. Plot and characters so well developed. Loved it!

A thank you to Netgalley for sharing the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I have to admit that I was extremely disappointed by my lukewarm reaction to this book. Based on the description and rave Goodreads reviews, I truly expected to love it. I did like the storyline and the possibility of unreliable and obviously damaged narrator (interesting that she was a successful psychologist to teens who faced many of her own trigger issues) but it just didn't wow me to say the least. Perhaps expectations were too high, and I must admit that if I would've read rather than listened I very well might have liked it much more. Did not enjoy the narrator at all - too whispery, little girl sounding, and her male character voice was odd and didn't vary for different people. 3 stars rounded up.

I want to give a HUGE thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for sending me an E-ARC of this book. I had seen it all over social media and since I have recently gotten into thrillers, I was really excited for this read. To put simply, this has become one of my top thriller reads. IT IS SO GOOD. 5/5 stars.

Chloe Davis grew up in a small southern town in Louisiana and thought she was living a great life. That is until teenage girls start to go missing one summer. At only 12 years old, Chloe stumbles upon the evidence of the kills in her parents’ closet. She is confused, devastated and heart broken when she realizes that it must have been her father killing all those innocent girls. We parallel between her horrific past and Chloe currently, almost 20 years later. Almost to the anniversary of when the first little girl went missing 20 years ago, another girl goes missing….then another and another. Chloe seems to be connected to all these girls lives and is determined to figure out who is doing this.

I can not put into words how much anxiety this book gave me. Turn after turn, you thought you knew what was going on but at the same time you NEVER knew what was going on. Is it all in Chloe’s head? Is it who she thinks it is? Who killed who and where do all the pieces connect? I do not think there was a single “filler” section of this book. Every single paragraph helped solve the mystery while also making you second guess everything you have already read.

I could not put this book down. I finished it in two sessions because it was just such a gripping story. I felt like I was in the middle of a true crime investigation and the author did an amazing job of giving you EVERYTHING Chloe was thinking. There were layers and layers in this book and clues you would not pick up during your first read, maybe not even your second until the author points them out to you. I mean truly, this was an amazing book. When I first started I thought “yup, he’s the new killer” and BOYYYY was I wrong. Not only wrong one time, but the author just keeps spinning you around in circles, so you have NO IDEA who the new killer is until the very last second, when everything clicks into place.

Highly recommend this book to any thriller fan.

Stacy Willingham's debut novel, A FLICKER IN THE DARK, is a gripping page-turner perfect for fans of Gillian Flynn and Carola Lovering.

In the summer of 1999, Chloe Davis was 12 years old. Her life, though confined to her small, backwoods Louisiana town, was more or less a happy one: her mother and father were present and doting, and when they couldn’t be with her, her popular older brother, Cooper, filled in the gaps. But despite her childhood years of playing in the woods behind her home --- building fairy houses out of mossy sticks, exploring hidden caves and chasing her brother around --- Chloe recalls that the woods around her home took on a nightmarish quality. The once comforting canopy of forest trees felt smothering, while the once potential-filled darkness became a fear of the unknown. Monsters that should have remained under the bed and in her nightmares began to occupy hidden corners of her waking world.

By the end of that fateful summer, it was clear where the real monsters lived. Six teenage girls went missing, and in only a few short months, her father was arrested for their murders and labeled a serial killer. In the aftermath, Chloe’s family fractured --- her mother left mentally incapable after a suicide attempt, and Cooper left a shell of his former self, quiet and introspective where he was once outgoing and friendly. Years later, Chloe has followed a nearly textbook path to becoming a psychologist, unpacking the mysteries of the human mind in ways that she couldn’t as a child. Now she is engaged to a caring, generous man named Daniel and runs her own private practice where she treats adults and teenage girls alike. As a practitioner, she takes comfort in the clichés of her profession: how humans work in patterns, acting and reacting in similar ways.

With the 20-year anniversary of her father’s summer of mayhem closing in, Chloe isn’t too surprised when a reporter for the New York Times reaches out to speak with her. At first, she has no trouble telling him off, but when she learns that he also visited her ailing mother at the nursing home, she is forced to connect with him to set the record straight. In between these events, two teenage girls go missing from Chloe’s new town, Baton Rouge, and both have eerie connections to her: one looks familiar, though she cannot place her, while the other was one of her patients. Even worse, Chloe was the last one to see her alive.

It’s easy to see the parallels between this summer and the summer of 1999. But why has the killer, whoever it may be, waited until now to act? Is Baton Rouge facing a copycat killer, determined to finish what her father started years ago? Or is the truth much closer to home, a person harmed by Chloe’s father’s murderous reign who now wants to incite the same violence on his family? For years, Chloe and her mother and brother have been victim-shamed by their neighbors and the media, and it has taken a long time to get to where she is now --- happily engaged and successfully self-employed. In order to keep the life she has fought so hard to maintain, Chloe will have to revisit the summer of her father’s arrest and look for clues that can help her track down the killer wreaking havoc on her life today.

A FLICKER IN THE DARK is immediately gripping. It’s no secret that serial killers are extremely popular in suspense fiction, but Willingham takes her novel a step further by writing from the perspective of the family of a killer, the people left to deal with the aftermath of a killer’s spree, often to traumatizing and life-altering consequences. Through Chloe, and even Cooper, Willingham explores the complex, layered responses to psychological trauma, particularly where PTSD plays a role. Chloe takes the path of personal achievement by arming herself with knowledge of psychology. Through her studies, she all but guarantees that she will not be caught unawares again; if she is, she’ll have the tools to emerge mostly unharmed. Cooper, on the other hand, retreats into himself, dawdling through unsuccessful relationships and maintaining a protective, but perhaps overcompensating, eye on his younger sister.

Together, the two are codependent, but when we meet them, Chloe starts to move on and find happiness with Daniel. These interpersonal relationships play out against the backdrop of murder and tragic anniversaries to make for an endlessly compelling and truly clever plot. Add to that some deeply atmospheric prose and more than one believable red herring, and you have something fresh, original and unputdownable.

A FLICKER IN THE DARK is an ambitious first novel, but Stacy Willingham exerts masterful control over each of her plots and character arcs. This is a smart, cleverly constructed book that is as full of emotional insight as it is page-turning twists and turns. I truly cannot remember the last time I was this excited over a new voice in suspense fiction (perhaps Ashley Audrain's THE PUSH comes close). Although Willingham will bring to mind voices like Gillian Flynn and Kaira Rouda, her compelling heroine, taut, controlled storytelling and ability to throw readers off track are all her own.

While I found this story entertaining, it was very predictable in many spots. Even the twists seemed to be coming. It was still a solid mystery debut.
Thanks to netgalley and the publisher for this copy for review

✨ REVIEW ✨ Trying to wrap my head around how this is the author’s debut, because WOW this story is quite the ride! I’ve been in a thriller/mystery mood lately, and A Flicker in the Dark was right up my alley.

Dr. Chloe Davis is a psychologist trying to physically and mentally escape her past of her convicted, serial killer father where he murdered 6 young girls twenty years ago. Flip back to the present and two young girls are missing. Chloe begins to put pieces together and she doesn’t think this is a coincidence after all.

A Flicker in the Dark kept me guessing until the last few pages, as the many twists and turns are revealed. The details the author wove into the plot were pulled off seamlessly. This is a must read for any thriller/mystery fan! Thanks to Net Galley for providing me with an e-copy for review!

This story sucked me in and kept my attention the entire way through -- I devoured it in 2 days. I loved the pacing of this story, the blurred lines between the flashbacks to the past and future, and the character developments along the way. Recently, I've been avoiding thrillers because they seem so predictable and familiar but this one kept me on my toes and kept my interest.

I will definitely be recommending this to those that love thrillers/suspense. It reminded me of the Netflix series, Mindhunter.

Thank you Netgalley for a galley in exchange for an honest review. This book is out now!

A completely serviceable serial killer/psychological whodunnit, A Flicker in the Dark will be the right choice for the voracious consumer of thrillers. I'm sometimes one of them, and always a sucker for a smart lady who figures things out but just a little too slowly.

I didn't figure things out until I'd smugly told my family I knew who the killer was, and then read another chapter and realized I was completely wrong. I give it an additional star for that.

Thanks to Netgalley for the advanced copy.

There have been quite the mixed feelings about this one. Personally, I think this was an okay thriller. Some called it predictable, and I would have to agree. This book toed the line of predictability but I stuck it out in case a real surprise came through. Unfortunately, most of the plot twists didn’t smack like they were intended.

Mostly, I’m very intrigued that this has been picked up for a series with Emma Stone as the lead. Picturing her as our protagonist honestly made this book a lot better for me! I think she’s going to kill it as the quinticensial unreliable narrator.

The ending was a little less than impressive for me. In fact, it felt like a stretch. Trying just a little too hard to have that jaw drop moment but maybe falling a little flat. And honestly, the amount of clues our narrator misinterprets was super aggravating. Like stop jumping to conclusions miss! Back it up with some more investigation.