*Thank you to Minotaur books, Stacy Willingham and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review*

When Chloe Davis was twelve, six girls went missing in her small town in Louisiana. They charged her loving father with murder when Chloe finds a piece of jewelry in her parent's closet that belongs to one of the missing girls. She has never fully recovered from the implications of that summer, though she and her brother have moved on to another town.

20 years later, Chloe is now a psychologist, but has many secrets and repercussions related to the murders, including a pill addiction. She is engaged to Daniel Briggs, who is holding his own secrets. But when the 20th anniversary of the murders comes, young girls start disappearing. It feels like déjà vu. Then one of her patients is murdered outside her office and Chloe realizes every girl that is taken has some connection to her.

A Flicker in the Dark is atmospheric, suspenseful and as the reader, I suspected everyone in Chloe's circle.

In reading this book, I found it hard to believe that this is the debut novel of author Stacy Willingham. I was drawn in from the first page and found it hard to put down. There are so many surprises, twists, deflection that I kept second guessing myself as to who the culprit was.

This was an excellent debut and I can't wait to read more from this author.

A Flicker in the Dark was one of my most anticipated reads of 2022. I felt quite lucky to get my hands on a copy prior to the book making its way into everyone’s hands.
What I enjoyed about the book was the urgency to keep flipping the pages to find out what was going to happen and also the authors writing style in which it made easy to do so. What I struggled with was the basic plot line that was oh so obvious to me from the very beginning. There didn’t really seem to be an element of surprise in this book labeled “suspense/mystery/thriller.”
When Chloe Davis was 12, her father was arrested for serial crimes committed on 6 girls from their hometown. Twenty years later as Chloe is preparing for her wedding, a copycat murder has left Chloe re-living her youngers years and looking for answers.
I am excited to watch the adaptation once it comes out and still plan to recommend this book to all of my friends as it is pretty loved throughout the reading community already!
A big thank you to NetGalley and Minotaur Books for allowing me to read an advanced copy of this book!

Fast paced, excellent thriller. Just when I thought I had it figured out, there was another crazy twist. Stacy Willingham has a knack for telling these sorts of tales and I can’t wait to see what she has in store for us in the future.

Thanks to NetGalley, Minotaur Books and the author for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for my honest review.

What a powerful debut novel from Stacy Willingham!

This book is an emotional story combined with both a psychological thriller and police procedural. I am not a huge fan of crime fiction, but the author deftly weaves together a gritty, tense plot with domestic drama elements.

Chloe Davis is now a medical psychologist who has tried to keep her dark family history well hidden. When she was young, her father was sentenced to life in prison for the murders of six teenagers in her hometown of Breaux Bridge, Louisiana. )I need to give major kudos to the author here for setting the book in the "Crawfish Capitol of the World" and if she isn't a Louisiana native, you'd never know it.)

Chloe obviously never saw the dark side of her father, and she has spent her life trying to reconcile that monster with the caring parent she knew. Her family broke apart after his conviction. All of this has (justifiably in my opinion) led her to self-medicate her own anxieties. She is certainly not a perfect main protagonist.

She is finally looking forward to the future with her upcoming marriage. But when local teenagers go missing, the police think there might be a copycat killer at work.

I loved the back and forth timeline of the book, with Chloe's childhood alternating with present day events. This book has already been optioned for the small screen by Emma Stone's production company and I can see why! This story is dark, moody, fast-paced and very atmospheric. I loved the tense conclusion and can't wait to read more from this incredibly talented author!

(Thank you to the publisher for providing a review copy via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.)

Definitely in the minority here- although this was an entertaining read, it didn't captivate me, and I've already forgotten some of the major plot points. Slow to start and quick to wrap-up, an average thriller with little to get me excited to recommend.

Well it has been a long time since I sat and read a whole
Book in a day! This one was super good! Chloe was twelve when six girls go missing in one summer in her small town. Her father is soon arrested and sent to prison for the murders of these girls. Twenty years later Chloe has rebuilt her life in a new town as a psychologist and planning a wedding to the man of her dreams. While she is finally happy for the first time in years, a copy cat killer reappears and is bringing back memories and flashbacks from her past. Is she being followed, is this just all a coincidence? Is there a connection to her? This book was one I just could not put down! Highly recommend this one friends.

3.5 stars

You can read all of my reviews at Nerd Girl Loves Books.

This is a pretty good mystery/thriller that is a quick and easy read. When Chloe was 12 years old six young girls went missing in her small Louisiana town. Chloe's father was ultimately arrested for the crime and sentenced to prison. Twenty years later Chloe is a psychologist in private practice in Baton Rouge and engaged to get married.

Chloe has tried hard to get her life together and be happy, but sometimes it still feels out of control. Then a local girl goes missing, and then another. Chloe doesn't know who to trust, and starts seeing inconsistencies with everyone in her life. She starts to see parallels to her dad's case in the new ones, but she doesn't know if she's paranoid, or if she's about to unmask another serial killer.

I feel like I'm in the minority about this book. Most reviews I've seen thought this book was fantastic, and I can see why they felt that way, but I thought it was just ok. It's well-written and Chloe is well-defined, but Chloe's constant self-doubt and waxing and waning made me lose interest about half-way through. The twists and turns were fairly predictable and I figured out the mystery ahead of time, but it was still interesting to see how the author got there. A lot of people will enjoy this book and I recommend you read it.

I received a complimentary copy of this book from NetGalley and St. Martin's Press. All opinions are my own.

It's hard to believe this is Stacy Willingham's debut novel. The writing is excellent and the numerous twists, turns, and red herrings left me breathless. I guessed who the killer might be right at the beginning. Then I changed my mind. And changed my mind again - a couple times. Each time, the new 'candidate for killer' seemed totally plausible. Until they weren't. The ultimate revelation proved me right - but boy what a ride getting there!!

A good thriller that I totally enjoyed.

*Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Publishing Group for allowing me to read and review an ARC of this book.

Dr. Chloe Davis is a psychologist with her own private practice, is preparing for her upcoming wedding, and is hopeful that her life is finally truly coming together. For the past 20 years, she’s been dealing with the aftermath of her father’s arrest following the disappearance of 6 teenage girls from her hometown. Now, Chloe is forced to remember her past when a local teen goes missing, and she begins to see many parallels to that summer so long ago when her father’s secret was discovered.

From the very beginning, this novel sucks you in. The writing is fantastic and engaging. The story alternates between events occurring in the present, and Chloe’s memories of her childhood and the events surrounding his arrest and conviction. There are so many twists and turns when you think you may have things figured out, but the conclusion was worth the wait. This was one of the best thrillers I’ve read recently—a page turner for sure!

Chloe Davis is a psychologist. She understands trauma. She is on a first name basis with it. When she was twelve years old, her father was arrested for the murders of six young women. Chloe, her mother, and brother were left to pick up the pieces and move on.

As she prepares for her wedding, a local girl goes missing. It brings back memories, then another girl goes missing and the past comes barreling full blast into her present. Is this a sick blast from the past? Everything feels and looks similar. But is it?

While reading, I did my own super sleuthing. I didn't find it too hard to do. While wondering "what if" and "hmm, I wonder" I guessed early on, one of big twists/reveals. I think most readers will. I enjoy when I can figure things out, but I love when I am shocked. I would have loved to have been shocked here. But there were more twists and reveals along the way -not as big as the one I figured out. But they are there. While I enjoyed this book, I wasn't as wowed as other readers. For me the pacing was a little off and I hope to not read the word "flicker" for quite some time!

Again, I enjoyed this book but I wasn't as wowed as I had hoped to be. This was a debut book and I see great promise and I will be reading what she writes next.

Thank you to St. Martin's Press/Minotaur Books and NetGalley who provided me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All the thoughts and opinions are my own.

This book was awesome!
If you read enough thrillers, you will probably figure out many of the pieces in this puzzle.
Though I don't think even the author knew how this was gonna end till it popped out of her head.
There is much misdirection here to put you off the scent, but I felt like there was too much misdirection? I don't know how else to describe it without giving spoilers.
All in all a fantastic debut! I look forward to seeing what else she puts out in the world.
I was switching between ebook and audio and I would highly recommend both.
Much love to St. Martin's Press & Macmillan Audio for my DRCs.

Imagine this: You are a 12-year-old girl enjoying summer in your small town when teenage girls start to go missing. How do you move forward with your life when you find out your dad is responsible for killing these girls? For Chole Davis, that's life.
Twenty years after the events of that terrible summer, Chole is 32, a psychologist, and is about to be married. But Chole is still dealing with the demons in her past, second-guessing everything she knows and self-medicating with pharmaceuticals mixed with alcohol some nights.
So, when teenage girls begin to go missing in Baton Rouge, Chole becomes obsessed with figuring out the truth.

First off, I loved A Flicker in The Dark, and it is one of the better thrillers I have read recently. One of my favorite things about this book was the writing style. Instead of separating the past and present by chapters, A Flicker in the Dark combines both timelines seamlessly.
Other elements of A Flicker in The Dark I liked were:
The story was fast-paced and kept my interest throughout the novel. It is always a good sign when I stay up past my bedtime to try and finish a book!
Even though Chole was an unreliable narrator, I loved her character development and relatability.
A Flicker in the Dark kept me guessing until the end. I have read some reviews where they said the twist was an easy guess. But for me, I thought entirely wrong for the book ending twist.
A Flicker in the Dark is Stacy Willingham's debut novel, and I am looking forward to reading her more in the future.

A Flicker in the Dark. A serial killers child. Again. Can Stacy Williams do it any differently? It turns out she could. However, different isn't always better.

There have been a lot of books about grown up kids of serial killer stories. They are often pretty messed up and for some reason the families of the victims act as if a little kid is somehow responsible for the actions of their dad.

So this book does a few things differently. Chloe knows the victims, both of some of the previous crimes and the copycats happening now. Because there are always copycats. Usually on the 20th anniversary. Chloes is the problem here. She is pretty dumb. She has what I saw amongst my fellow psych students. That shadow of a person who may be doing this because they are pretty messed up.

The culprit here was very obvious for most of the book, as were the red herrings. At one point Chloe says something like, "It's as if the answers have been right in front of me the whole time." Yeah. Yeah, they were.

Twists and turns, and the word *flicker* aplenty. Seriously, if I were playing a drinking game and took a shot every time the word flicker appears I'd have been as disoriented as Dr. Chloe Davis after several stolen pills.
Chloe Davis was twelve years old when her father was arrested after six teenage girls went missing from their small Louisiana town. Fast forward twenty years and she is now a successful psychologist, engaged to be married, and living a seemingly perfect life, but her past is coming back to haunt her and it's coming in hot! When a teen girl comes up missing Chloe begins to question the connection, everyone in her life, and most of all herself. If you're looking for something that will keep you guessing until the very last page, look no further!!
This book is definitely a slow burn, but I was nonetheless sucked in so deep and had so many theories that my mind stayed spinning the entire time. In fact it is still spinning!! As a huge movie lover I feel like I can often imagine a book coming to life on the big screen as I am reading, but this is one that I feel like truly deserves it! I am in awe of the fact that this is a debut novel and look forward to anything Stacy Willingham writes in the future.

Four solid stars. Thank you to Minotaur Books
and NetGalley for a copy of this ebook in exchange for my honest review.

This was definitely a fun, quick, and escapist read. While it was a bit predictable and there were a few minor plot holes (and loose ends that aren’t tied up)- I still had a good time reading this book. I enjoyed reading a thriller from a psychologist’s perspective- following along as the protagonist questions if her thoughts are legitimate or if she’s thinking too hard. This is an impressive debut with a very strong sense of place, and I look forward to seeing what the author does next!

Small shout out to the great title and its call-out in the book.

Thanks to Minotaur and NetGalley for the review copy!

A Flicker in the Dark
by Stacy Willingham
Pub Date: January 11, 2022
Minotaur
I did enjoy this book however there are flaws I cannot overlook.
* Self-medicated unreliable narrator

- Serial killer(s) murdering young women

- Civilian main character that inserts herself in a police investigation

- Plenty of controlling, potentially evil men as suspects
Thanks to Minotaur and NetGalley for the ARC. I did enjoy reading this book but as a jaded thriller reader my expectations were too high for this debut author.
3 stars

A Flicker in the Dark was just the kind of book I needed to get out or a holiday reading rut. I enjoyed author Stacy Willingham's writing style so much and this one kept me turning the pages until the very end.

found the storyline to flow well and I enjoyed the flashbacks that really help bring this story to life. This was a solid 4 star read for me and I look forward to what Willingham comes out with next!

Thank you to Minotaur Books for my gifted review copy.

The first five chapters were great. I loved seeing the main character, Chloe, do her job. It was interesting and held my attention but then it quickly went downhill. Chloe’s substance abuse problem is annoying and unnecessary. She became boring and illogical really fast. The characters didn’t really communicate. How did any of them find anything out when it seems like they barely talked about what was going on. How did some characters not recognize or really know each other? It seems unbelievable. There were multiple twists which were actually so predictable. Once you meet some of the characters, you just KNOW what’s going to happen and it made me wonder if I should even continue. The dialogue that does occur is overly dramatic especially when Cooper is speaking at the end. Everything Cooper said at the end just made me roll my eyes.
The flashbacks almost blend with the present and was a bit confusing. The decisions being made often made no sense at all. The ending felt super rushed. Exciting… but rushed.
I’ve never seen the word “flicker” used so much in my life. Also, there was a lot of other repetition throughout and some odd metaphors. The one that really stood out to me was “the air was warm and damp like a boiled egg burp.”
I didn’t enjoy this novel as much as I had hoped to but the premise was great.

This was an incredible debut from Stacy Willingham. Prepare to be completely fooled by this intricately plotted and deliciously twisted thriller. This spine-tingling and well written novel is sure to keep you turning the pages as quickly as possible. Perfect for fans of Gillian Flynn, Caroline Kepnes, or Karin Slaughter.

“A smart, edge-of-your-seat story with plot twists you’ll never see coming. Stacy Willingham’s debut will keep you turning pages long past your bedtime.” ―Karin Slaughter

A debut novel that has a blurb from Karin Slaughter? (And many others!) A Flicker in the Dark was a must read for me.

Chloe was twelve when her father confessed to the killing of six teenage girls in their small Louisiana town. Twenty years later, Chloe has tried to escape the past and the stigma, moving away and becoming a psychologist. When one of her teenage patients goes missing, it brings it all back. The similarities between this case and her father's crimes are eerily similar....

Willingham's lead character is wonderfully unreliable - a favorite device of mine. I love trying to see between the lines, interpret Chloe's memories, deciding what might be true and what may not. Alcohol and drugs magnify that unreliability. There's some gaslighting as well - again, another device I truly enjoy.

Willingham also gives us a myriad of suspects for the whodunit. The reader is kept guessing all the way to the final reveal with suspect behaviour, hidden agendas, ulterior motives and more. Willingham delightfully manipulates the reader and their perceptions with a final reveal that I only sussed out in the final pages.

The premise of a serial killer father isn't new, but Willingham has put her own stamp on this idea. The writing grabbed me and it was hard to put the book down. I look forward to Willingham's next book!

HBO Max and Emma Stone are working together to develop an adaptation of Stacy Willingham's upcoming novel A Flicker in the Dark. Pretty impressive for a first novel!