The thriller is about a daughter of serial killed, who became psychologist and when series of murders happens again she is dealing with her childhood trauma and tries to understand who is real killer.
The book was ok but nothing exceptional

I enjoyed this book a lot. There are a lot of twists and turns and red herrings, which is always fun. There are a few flaws but for me the strong parts of this book outweigh them by far. Definitely a good recommendation for thriller fans out there.

Took me a little while to get into this book. Glad I kept going as the ending makes up for it!
Slow burner but worth going to the end as it’s a great ending!

Somehow, A Flicker in the Dark by Stacey Willingham passed me by when it was published. Recently I read All The Dangerous Things, and then knew I needed to circle back to read the author’s debut.

Dr Chloe Davis is a psychologist, with her own private practice. Outwardly, she has an enviable life. She has worked hard, not only in her career, but also to distance herself from her childhood, specifically her father. Twenty years ago, six teenage girls disappeared. Her father was charged, convicted, narrowly missing the death sentence for these terrible crimes.
As the anniversary looms closer, Chloe’s understandable anxiety heightens. Though she is very much looking forward to marrying Daniel, the Wedding Day coinciding with this unnerving anniversary, exacerbates the tension she is feeling.

I really felt for Chloe. Her family is fractured, irreparably damaged, her mother beyond her reach. There is an undercurrent of mistrust between her fiancé and her brother. She bears the mental scarring from all that started twenty years ago. When a crime like this is committed, the whole family bears the brunt, the effects are very long reaching, physically and mentally. Her life is balanced so precariously, that you would think she is in need of a psychologist herself. Is she suffering from paranoia? Are her suspicions real, or a result of self medication, her habit? Who should she trust? As a reader, can we trust Chloe, is she a reliable narrator?

This thriller has many twists and turns, plenty of misdirection too. The atmosphere in the book is matched by the oppressive, thick heat of Louisiana.
Due to Chloe’s unpredictability, the reader is never sure what will happen next. I did find her decision making and behaviour very frustrating, I felt that she made her situation more complex and dangerous.
I felt that Chloe needed a good friend. Someone to sit with a good coffee, to help her balance her thoughts, a sounding board, to help her make better decisions.

A Flicker in the Dark is a satisfying 4⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ read for me. A good, strong debut.

Chloe's father is a convicted serial killer -though the bodies of his victims were never found -deemed to have been buried in the swamplands .
Chloe- now a psychiatrist has been haunted by this her whole life -but has a fiance and life looks good at last.
Then another girl goes missing -and Chloe has to confront the past
Chilling Stuff -if a little predictable at the end

I loved it. First book by the author.
In the end everyone is a suspect.

Very fast paced and enjoyable

Great book! The thoughts and feelings of the main character really resonated with me. Awesome twist that keeps you guessing till the very end. Loved this book. Highly recommend it!

Thank you Harpercollins and NetGalley for an amazing read. Stacy please keep writing.

This was a great storyline, a serial killer in the past and new crimes in the present and people who aren't who you think. A sad storyline, but very well written and with great characters.

I highly recommend this book and other books by Stacy.

Chloe Davis was 12 when 6 young girls went missing in her small town. Chloe and her family were left reeling when they found out it had been Chloe’s father.
20 years later and the murders have started again an Chloe’s life starts to unravel.

This book started off quite slow but it got quick and exciting about 20% in.

Full of plot twists and a who dunnit, I didn’t see any of it coming!

Chloe has always known her father was a killer - he’s been in prison since she was young, and her life has finally come together. But when another killing happens, that bears many similarities to her father’s crimes, she starts to wonder if her father was actually guilty at all.

A Flicker in the Dark is a dark thriller, with interesting twists and turns before the final climax hits. This is one of those stories where you think you know what’s happening and then, bam, something else comes along.

Thoroughly enjoyed reading it

a crime book about a serial killer in the past and new crimes in the present, people not being who you thought they were, and just an all round desperately sad story. keep me on my toes until the end

‘There are so many subtle ways we women subconsciously protect ourselves throughout the day; protect ourselves from shadows, from unseen predators. From cautionary tales and urban legends. So subtle, in fact, that we hardly even realize we’re doing them.’

So glad I’ve finally got around to reading this one, it’s been on my radar since it was released last year!

This one had me gripped from the get go. The characters who you never could quite trust, even the main character who was narrating, just added to the suspense and build up. Fast paced and super twisty all the way through, I flew through it in 24 hours!

So many twists and turns, loads of red herrings to throw you off the scent. I kept thinking I’d worked things out - I hadn’t!! The ending, I hadn’t guessed but I feel like I should have? I think it was just that twisty, I’d given up even trying to guess and just went along for the ride.

A real exciting, page turner that you can fly through. Massive recommendation for any thriller lovers.

A Flicker In The Dark is the first novel by American author, Stacy Willingham. When Chloe Davis was twelve years old, she learned her father was a serial killer: in the summer of 1999, six teenaged girls in the small Louisiana town of Breaux Bridge disappeared. While their bodies were never found, Richard Davis was sentenced to six consecutive life terms.

Stunned by disbelief, shame and guilt, the psychological effect on Chloe, her mother and her older brother, Cooper was understandably profound, and was the impetus for her qualification as a medical psychologist.

Twenty years on, she practices in Baton Rouge, but still suffers panic attacks, hypochondria, insomnia and nyctophobia. She self-medicates to dull her fear and paranoia, and has only, in the last year, been able to trust someone enough to get engaged. She’ll be marrying Daniel Briggs in late July.

On a day when a New York Times reporter calls wanting to talk about her father and her fiancé throws her a surprise party, she learns that a teenaged girl has gone missing, recalling the events of two decades earlier. Days later, as the teen’s body is found, another goes missing.

With Richard Davis still safely incarcerated, Chloe doesn’t take much convincing to believe there is a copycat killer, even if the MO is not quite identical. What’s worse, she discovers a personal connection with both victims. Then she stumbles on something that has her wondering if, once again, the killer is much closer to home than she could ever have imagined.

There are plenty of red herrings to keep the reader second-guessing themselves on just who the perpetrator is, although not all of them are entirely convincing, and some aspects of the plot could have been more subtly handled. It might be wise to prebook a chiropractic appointment before starting this one: there are some excellent twists and surprises, making this a very impressive debut novel.
This unbiased review is from an uncorrected proof copy provided by NetGalley and Harper Collins UK

I really enjoyed this book great storyline and plenty of twists and turns. Psychological driven with interesting characters. The only reason it was not 5 stars was i felt the culprit was predictable but still an excellent read.

A Flicker in the Dark was such a nice surprise! I meant to pick it up a while back but put it down after a chapter or so. I just wasn’t in the mood. I finally tried it again recently because I felt like reading a fast paced thriller, and the thought of reading about a woman with a serial killer for a father was intriguing. And I loved it!

The second time I gave A Flicker in the Dark a go, I was immediately taken in by Chloe and her struggles. She was in a bit of a weird relationship, her brother was hanging around and didn’t get on with her partner, and her father was in prison… so it’s no surprise that Chloe was struggling to handle everything.

I found the mystery to be very intriguing. It’s always fun (for want of a better word!) reading about historical cases that might not be what they seem. I was having a lot of fun putting things together and trying to work out what had happened back in the day. Chloe also didn’t know the full story so as the reader I was discovering things alongside her.

I had so much fun with A Flicker in the Dark and I can’t wait to read the author’s second book that released this year. I might just go and pick it up now!

A dark and creepy psychological thriller about the daughter of a serial killer, trying to deal with the possibility of a copycat killer in her new town

Twenty years after Chloe's father was sentenced for murdering six teenage girls, more girls start to go missing. Is it a copycat? Is it all linked to her father?

I was torn how to rate this highly recommended thriller, as I did rip through it, and did like aspects. However there was quite a few things which annoyed me too!

Pros:
*Great prose, the writing was beautifully descriptive and I liked it.
*Fabulous setting. I could visualise and feel the oppressive heat in the Louisiana setting, could imagine the swamp, the house and the fairground.
*The main character was flawed, haunted by the traumatic events of her childhood. She was clearly haunted by it, and I could feel her emotions.
*I liked the flashbacks to the past.
*The plot was twisty and filled with red herrings. I did suspect the killer early on, but the misdirection threw me off and made me doubt myself.
*I am fascinated by the family of serial killers, and weirdly like reading books about the aftermath of it all!

Maybe it's because I didn't read many thrillers last year, but this did hold my interest. Readers who read a lot of psychological thrillers may figure it out!

Cons:
*Chloe was quite unlikable at times, although she did start to grow on me.
*I'm sick of the main female character self medicating, it's so overdone!
*I kind of get why Chloe didn't go back to the police, but she did that crazy thing of inserting herself into the middle of an investigation instead of idk handing in the incriminating evidence. It's crazy dangerous and irritates me!
*I still don't really understand why a certain character got involved, and did the things they did...

I also have questions:
1)Why did Chloe and Daniel not talk to each other about seriously important and dangerous things? That was a weird relationship!
2)Why didn't Chloe use the internet to look people up?
3)Why did the police let Chloe see the girl's body and then tell her important classified information?
4)Why did Daniel throw a surprise party for Chloe and why was he rough in bed with her, knowing her history, what her dad did?!🙄

There were other things which are me go 🤔but I should've written them down.

So although I enjoyed reading this thriller, it's not without it's issues for me personally. I am looking forward to what they will do with the screen adaptation, and I definitely love the sound of Stacy Willingham's new book.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ just scraped 4 stars. I read this having just finished and loved the author’s newest book.

There are similarities in characters and themes but the storylines are essentially different which was good. However this lost a star for a few reasons - unlikeable main character, the twist I guessed early on in this one and (this may sound trivial) the fact the word flicker was used on every other page (or so it felt)

Ok.

Unfortunately this one wasn't for me and I didn't finish it. The characters were unlikeable so much so that I found them annoying. Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read and review.

Dr Chloe Davies is the daughter of a serial killer. Through her childhood, the town was rocked by the disappearance of six girls whose bodies were never found. It was Chloe that found the evidence to identify that her father was responsible and sent him to prison.

She still struggles with those memories and keeping her true identity secret apart from her fiance, Daniel. She had to tell him the truth before she could agree to marry him.

As the twenty year anniversary approaches, a girl from the local area goes missing and all the memories of the past start to jumble with the current. Journalist, Arron Jenson approaches her for an interview and starts hinting that this latest girl may be a copycat of her father.

When the body of Aubrey turns up, Chloe thinks its just a one-off and nothing to do with her father - until a second girl goes missing.

Chloe's paranoia goes into overdrive and she starts suspecting everyone, including Daniel. When she finally learns the truth - it turns everything she has ever believed upside down.

A great book but as Chloe's paranoia grows - the past and present gets jumbled together and it can be a little confusing with the way it is written as to which time period it is describing.

I didn't enjoy this book so this is a very short review. I thought it was unevenly paced with a slow start, a middle that dragged and a rushed ending. I almost abandoned it several times. Most of the characters are not very likeable with the main character, which isn't always a bad thing, but the main character, Chloe, is extremely annoying. There are too many twists and turns and I guessed who was the killer quite early in the book. It's very repetitive, too wordy and too long added. In addition the story requires too much suspension of disbelief.