I really enjoyed finding out all of the secrets and mysteries of the Darker family. I also liked the family dynamics and the character development of the three sisters, Rose, Lily, and Daisy, I thought they were well done. The narrator did an excellent job as well. While I didn't really care for the resolution and I cannot say why, you'll understand what wasn't my cup of tea upon reading the book. Other than that, the stories back in time that shaped the people the sister's would become were great.

Thank you to NetGalley and MacMillan Audio for advanced access to the audiobook of Daisy Darker by Alice Feeney in exchange for an honest review.

CW: death, murder, child death, death of a parent, blood, body horror, car accident, child abuse, see full list on StoryGraph.

Daisy Darker is returning to Sea Glass, her family's historic home, to celebrate her eccentric Nana's 80th birthday. The Darker family certainly lives up to their name. They are all harboring dark secrets, and not one is deserving of Nana's fortune. When Nana is found dead at the stroke of midnight underneath a mysterious poem that foretells the deaths of the other members in the house, the night turns haunting as paranoia and anger set in. An ode to Agatha Christie's And Then There Were None, Daisy Darker brings a new twist to the picked off one by one trope.

I love an And Then There Were None retelling. As with most retellings, there is some comfort in knowing where the narrative is heading, and it's always fun to see how the author will change the ending to bring a unique feel to this classic. Alice Feeney definitely delivered on this one! The setting played such a huge role in this book, and I loved the colorful descriptions of this childhood refuge. It bumped up that ominous feeling that a place of childhood comfort would ultimately become one of death and horror. I also loved the nod at the very beginning of the book to Feeney's previous work, Rock, Paper, Scissors. It made the narrative feel continuous within the world and added that book-within-a-book feel.

A must read for thriller lovers!

I loved the premise of this book--I'm a huge fan of locked-room mysteries--and was very excited to receive an ARC of the audiobook through NetGalley. I was completely engaged from the start, and I found this to be a beautifully written story. I loved Feeney's way of describing the evocative setting (an old house on an island accessible only by a causeway at low tide) and the eccentric characters (the Darker family, most of whom are not especially likable people). Daisy's description of her relationship with her sisters, which she compares to fabric that can be stretched, torn, and sewn back together, is wonderful, and just one example. The audiobook is narrated marvelously as well, and this story kept me entertained for many hours. As far as the twists and turns that are expected in a thriller such as this one, well, Feeney delivers them. Just when you think that you've figured out what is going on you are hit with another one. I expect this book to be a huge success, and readers will love the twists and the Agatha Christie references. However, while I enjoyed this book a great deal, the major plot twist left me feeling rather deceived, and the unraveling left me a bit cold. In sum: it is a fabulous thriller, well-written, with some ingenious twists and turns; I just didn't like all of them. Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the opportunity to review this audiobook!

I listened to the audiobook version of this book and enjoyed the narrator. This was literally my most anticipated book of the year so thank you to Alice Feeney and Flatiron for this book! It was an homage to Agatha Christie’s And The There Were None, and was about the Darker family all coming together to celebrate their Nana’s birthday. when the tide comes in the members of the Darker family are all stuck together and Nana is found dead soon after sharing her will. Now, the remaining members of the family have to figure out what is going while being picked off one by one.

Thoughts: Alice Feeney is my favorite author and is the master of the double or triple twist! I GUESSED EVERY TWIST IN THIS BOOK. Every. Single. One. I was 30% in and knew exactly what would happen and why. I can’t explain how disappointing this was because I’ve come to expect a dynamic twist and total surprise.

The idea of a remote locked room mystery on a creepy island on Halloween is an AMAZING setting. There wasn’t much character development and it was really hard to root for anyone. As always, her writing was phenomenal and Daisy’s voice was funny and engaging. I loved the suspense and the eccentric family, but it wasn’t a new idea or a surprising ending.

I received an advanced audiobook of this story from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

The Darker family has come together for the first time in years to celebrate their matriarch’s 80th birthday. Due to a visit to a fortune teller, Nana is convinced this will be her last birthday. Nana lives in a big, old house on a spit of land that, during high tide, is cut off from the mainland. The Darker family has a host of secrets and conflicts, and Nana stirs it all up when she shares her will with the family. As the night progresses, members of the Darker family are killed off, one by one. As the family is cut off from the rest of the world by the tide, they struggle to determine what is happening and who is murdering the family members.

I enjoyed this audiobook. The narration was good, although I struggled sometimes as the narrator would trail off very quietly. It was a good performance but hard to have to keep adjusting the volume! I will say out front that I am not a huge thriller person. I enjoy them but they’re far from my favorite genre. This one kept surprising me and I didn’t guess the main twist ahead of time, so that’s a win in my book. It isn’t that there weren’t hints dropped throughout, but to me they were subtle enough not to give it away for me. I really didn’t like any of the characters, though, which made it difficult for me to care about them. I will definitely read more of Alice Feeney’s books, eventually, and would recommend this to anyone who enjoys a good thriller (especially if And Then There Were None is a favorite).

I loved this book! It was such a good thriller! It was my first by this author and I loved it! It was more of a slow burn but I’m learning as long as the story is well written I enjoy them! And this one was! We have the Darker family, and the story is told by the youngest of the family Daisy. And they are all meeting at their Nannas house called sea glass for her 80th birthday, which also happens to be Halloween. And as the night goes on we learn about the darker family and how they really are terrible people. And one by one through out the stormy Halloween night they start to die off one by one and we learn about really happened between them all as children. I thought it was written so well! And I listened to the auto book version and the narrator was so good! And I really felt like I was on sea glass with them! Than that ending!!! That got me!! And it was just Brilliant all over in my eyes! And would make the perfect spooky season thriller to read!! I will be recommending it to everyone! Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for a copy of this audiobook for review!

Once you get onto the island of your families home you must stay until the tides change again. In this time people start being murdered and secrets of your families past are revealed. Daisy Darker has a disfunctional family and she wants so badly to just make it back off the island. Will she?

I listened to this one a month ago and it took me a while to gather what I wanted to say. It's a take on And Then There Were None. The very dysfunctional Darker family meets up to celebrate Nana's birthday. The grandmother is a well known author of the children books series "Daisy Darker" named after the narrator, who also happens to be one of the grandchildren. They are on a tiny tidal island locked in for the night when Nana is found dead.

At first I was very thrown off by the audio on this one. Stephanie Racine has narrated multiple Alice Feeney books but her tone and inflection seemed very different on this one. Every other sentence felt like it was a great big revelation. I bumped this one up to almost 2x because the speech felt so slow.
By the end of the audiobook though, why this was done this way made more sense and it made me look back at the experience more fondly.

The story itself was entertaining. Feeney has said this is her favorite book she's written and she definitely had fun with it. There were a lot of flashbacks to establish the characters and they dragged a little bit. The characters were intentionally unlikeable. The atmospheric mystery was really well done. I didn't see the twisty twist at the end and it's a really good one! So stick with it!!

Thank you Macmillan Audio & NetGalley for the advanced listening copy.

I really enjoyed And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie, so I was really excited to give this book a try. I did this as an audiobook and just could not get into the story that way. I'm not sure if it was completely the narrator or just me being weird but their pacing and rhythm of how they spoke just kept pulling me out of the story. I am still excited for this book but will definitely try it again as a physical edition.

I loved this book! Such a great thriller. It was a bit spooky and the story takes place on October 31st in a remote home on an island. It's a murder mystery with a unique twist. I finished this and immediately went back to the start to listen to chapter one again! I don't want to give anything away because it was so clever, but this would be such a fun book to talk about at book club after everyone has read it!

Huge thank you to #NetGalley and #MacmillanAudio for letting me listen to an advanced copy of the audiobook.

I couldn't get into this -- so, so, so much exposition. It really needs a re-write.

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Alice Feeney does it again! Daisy Darker was one of my most anticipated reads of the summer and it surely did not disappoint. Daisy Darker heads to her nana’s home at Sea Glass for a family reunion to celebrate her Nana, famous author Beatrice Darker, turning 80. Through a current timeline and flashbacks from days gone by at Sea Glass we find about past secrets from Daisy, her parents, her two older sisters Rose and Lilly and their family friend Connor. Things are slowly revealed, but the ending was great, even if you think you have everything figured out. I think this was my favorite Alice Feeney book yet!

‘Sea Glass has thin walls that like to eavesdrop and tired floor boards that like to talk. This house has never been good at keeping secrets.’ -Alice Feeney, Daisy Darker.

I enjoyed this so much. Even though I knew early on direction the story was going I still really enjoyed the pace that it unfolded. Very good character development and I was glad the story was told from Daisy’s POV. Sea Glass was also a great choice of setting.

The ending had a bit of unbelievability to it, but I enjoyed the journey so much that it really didn’t end up bothering me. Stephanie Racine, again does a brilliant job on the narration. I’ve read a few of Fenney’s novels and I think this maybe my favorite so far. 4.5 stars.

‘There are times when we all stand still while the ghosts of our past run by.’ -Alice Feeney, Daisy Darker.

***ARC was provided by the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

I love Alice Feeney. All of her books are twisty and windy and are always full of suspense. Her writing style is absolutely beautiful and she says such memorable phrases that stick with me as a reader.

I loved this book at first…the setting was almost Addams Family-esque, the plot sort of like a game of Clue, and the characters just about as unlikeable as well.

The downside is that it was way too long, in my opinion. I wanted more action, and this is definitely a slow burn. Very slow. Still a burn, but slow. The action parts of the book were almost 1 part to 10 parts backstory. And while the backstory
is important, we get it. She had a very rough background and childhood.

Giving this a 3 star because of the pace. I just needed a little more.

Alice Feeney does it again with another gripping, twists you don’t see coming, thriller! This was one of my most anticipated books of this year and it did not disappoint. I love Alice Feeney’s writing style and ability to do twists that you don’t see coming, and this book had it all. I loved Daisy and her story as a child and was dying to know her secret the whole way. It had me guessing the entire time on who the killer was and the final twist had my jaw dropping. I loved listening to the audiobook of this, it just added a little something more to it. Definitely recommending this to everyone who asks.

I LOVED this book!! I was hooked from the very beginning!

It's Nana's 80th birthday- the birthday she's supposed to die on. Everyone is coming to her home on a secluded island. Everyone is trapped until the tide goes down. The house is filled with over 80 clocks, doors need keys to be opened and people need to use a punch clock when they come into and out of the home.

As the Darker family comes to celebrate the matriarch's birthday the reunion takes on a twisted game of murder, solving chalk riddles. You're constantly wondering who will be next and who's the family member killing everyone off. You really felt like you were on the island looking in on them.

I'm not one to usually guess twists in books and this book didn't disappoint on the twists and turns. The final twist had my jaw dropped while driving! I'm definitely going to be reading more Alice Feeney novels.

Thank you NetGalley and MacMillan audio for the advanced audio copy for my honest review.

This book is a must listen. The reader is excellent. The book has a good horror, mystery balance. All the action takes place the night of Halloween in a secluded home on the Cornish shore.

OK so the twist (she's a ghost the whole time) is my least favorite literary trope. But it was very atmospheric and I was into it until the twist was revealed. I liked the nod to And Then There Were None but it definitely made me predict that Nana wasn't actually dead. It was also never explained how Trixie was going to get away with it all, or why she kept saying that Connor's dad looked familiar. I loved the narrator's voice and accent but it was irritating that she constantly whispered so I had to keep adjusting the volume.

Alice Feeney brings a new-to-me twist to a gothic closed-room (or maybe it should be called "closed-island") mystery with DAISY DARKER. The murders that take place at Nana's house on her 80th birthday seem increasingly impossible until the big reveal, which comes quite late in the book. I admit to staying up until 3:30am to finish listening and find out what exactly was going on.

The story is told from Daisy's perspective and involves the entire Darker family. Daisy was born with a broken heart (a heart condition) that caused a prediction of a much foreshortened life span. That broken heart reference is just the first of very clever language play, which added immensely to my appreciation of the book. The writing is stellar, with strong characterization, a great sense of place, and a complicated plot. While the events of the book take place entirely in one night, flashbacks to Daisy's upbringing are cleverly provided so that we come to know the Darker family both in the present and through the last few decades.

I listened to the book, narrated by Stephanie Racine, and Racine's interpretation adds to the experience. She does particularly well in switching from character to character with subtle vocal changes that are not distracting but nonetheless make it clear who is speaking. Her voicing of Daisy is especially effective in reinforcing the twist that happens near the end of the book. While I'm sure I would have liked the book in paper form, I'm equally sure that I enjoyed it more because it was an audio book.

This book was so clever. The Darker family all get together again for Nana’s 80th after about a decade apart. Celebration turns to Terror as they begin to be killed one-by-one and secrets are revealed. I binged this book in two days. I was hooked from the beginning and Alice Feeney delivers a cleaver thriller with spooky vibes and a twist! Narrators was FANTASTIC also and added to the spooky vibes.