Daisy Darker was born with a broken heart, requiring surgery and leading to her "dying" several times in her youth.
Because of this her family treats her differently and she feels the only family member that truly loves her is her grandmother. When the family all gathers for her grandmother's 80th birthday celebration, people start dying and no one knows who might be next. This fantastic locked-room style mystery will keep you guessing til almost the very end, plus there's quite a twist in there as well.

I'd like to thank Netgalley and the publisher for an advanced listener copy of the audiobook. Opinions in this review are entirely my own.

This is a 2.5 for me.

I truly wish that they hadn't compared this novel to "And Then There Were None" in the description. As soon as they did, I knew exactly what to expect since I am very familiar with Agatha Christie's version. It took away a lot of the surprise for me, and the twist at the end wasn't much of a twist. It was just a confirmation of what I already had suspected for a while.

You also have to suspend a lot of disbelief to fully buy into this book, which isn't always one of my strong suits. Nana is an entirely whimsical character, quirky to an extreme, and some of the things she does seem entirely illogical given her age and her living situation, but having things set up this way is necessary for everything to unfold. Does it all make sense with the final reveal? Sure. Does it make sense as you're going along? No.

I do feel like perhaps I would have enjoyed this book more were I actually reading it. The setting was one I did enjoy, but I feel listening to it somehow removed me from fully saturating myself in the narrative - if that makes sense. But on the other hand, I may also have been less invested because the nod to "And Then There Were None" in the description tipped me off.

I do like the author's writing style, so I am not opposed to reading more books by Alice Feeney. This one just didn't work for me. I am sure it will be something others find more to their liking however.

Wow!! Such a thrilling page turner that had me guessing until the end!
Daisy Darker and family have been invited to matriarch Nana’s house for her birthday. Despite their differences, most of the family still gathers at “Seaglass” each October 31st to celebrate Nana’s birthday. Seaglass sits precariously on the Cornish coast. Once the tide comes in, there is no entering or exiting until morning. One by one, the family begins to experience a night of terror and horror. Narrated by Daisy, the entire story is gripping. This is one that will leave the reader guessing and on the edge of their seat until the very end.

***huge thanks to NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

I think the writing was excellent and the plot twist was completely unexpected- well done in that way. I will say that not going into it expecting a supernatural element was a bit of a let down in this particular book for me, because I was hoping for a "run of the mill" thriller (but at the same time, I wouldn't want to know-- that was the very point of it). It was certainly a surprise and very well executed. Alice Feeney has a way with words!! My rating falls somewhere between 4 stars and 5...higher than 4, but not quite 5 (if such a thing was an option). Thank you to netgalley, publisher, and Alice Feeney for allowing me early access for my review!

Um…holy. SHIT. Sorry but that’s my honest response after finishing this book. It’s a phenomenal thriller, Feeney’s best in my opinion. It’s an atmospheric, creepy, compulsively readable mash up of Agatha Christie and Gone Girl’s Amazing Amy and there are simply no words except that you must read it. Okay? Okay.

SO GOOD.

An 80th birthday gathering, a family fraught with tension and secrets sequestered in the lone old house on a tidal island with no way out until low tide, no way to communicate with the outside world, a dark and stormy night–what could go wrong?

Is anyone telling the truth? Does everyone have a motive?

I don’t want to say too much here because I feel like any comparisons or commentary may give away some of the twists and turns, but suffice it to say, when I finished this book, I wanted to immediately go back and read it again with the hints and clues along the way reframed based on what I knew from the ending.

This has just the right amount of eeriness to raise the hairs on your arm–but not to give you nightmares–and the perfect pinch of pathos to make you invested in what happens to certain characters.

Stephanie Racine’s audiobook narration had me hooked from the start.

4.75 stars for the story
5 stars for the narration

I received an advance audiobook copy from Macmillan Audio via NetGalley. All review opinions are my own.

Daisy Darker
by Alice Feeney
Pub Date: August 30, 2022
MacMillan Audio
Thanks to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for the audio version of this book.
* Thriller *Mystery
Brief plot summary:

The novel is told in the past and present, narrated by Daisy.

The Darker family has assembled at Seaglass for Nana’s 80th birthday. Frank and Nancy have been divorced for years but return for what they are sure will be a reading of Nana’s will.
Nana is highly eccentric, having a wall of 80 clocks, a punch clock with a card for everyone who comes and leaves, and always dresses in pink and purple, her favorite colors.
Just as the clock strikes midnight a scream is heard and everyone converges in the kitchen, only to find Nana dead on the floor. An uncanny poem is written on the chalkboard in what looks to be Nana’s writing. The poem has some frightening and foreboding verses for the family to decipher. I highly recommend this audio book!
4 stars

Audiobook/Book Review
Daisy Darker by Alice Feeney
@AliceWriterLand
Pub date: August 30, 2022
Narrated: Stephanie Racine
Duration: 10H 54M

“𝑫𝒂𝒊𝒔𝒚 𝑫𝒂𝒓𝒌𝒆𝒓’𝒔 𝒇𝒂𝒎𝒊𝒍𝒚 𝒘𝒂𝒔𝒕𝒆𝒅 𝒇𝒂𝒓 𝒕𝒐𝒐 𝒎𝒂𝒏𝒚 𝒚𝒆𝒂𝒓𝒔 𝒍𝒚𝒊𝒏𝒈. 𝑻𝒉𝒆𝒚 𝒔𝒑𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒊𝒓 𝒇𝒊𝒏𝒂𝒍 𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒓𝒔 𝒕𝒐𝒈𝒆𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒍𝒆𝒂𝒓𝒏𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒍𝒆𝒔𝒔𝒐𝒏𝒔 𝒃𝒆𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒆 𝒅𝒚𝒊𝒏𝒈."

Ah, 𝙳𝚊𝚒𝚜𝚢 𝙳𝚊𝚛𝚔𝚎𝚛 by the talented Alice Feeney @AliceWriterLand is indeed, dark and delicious. I gobbled this up and then I licked the spoon! Ms. Feeney is one of my favorite writers, every book captivates and I knew, without a doubt, that Daisy Darker would be no exception.

The premise is Agatha-esque, reminiscent of 𝘈𝘯𝘥 𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘞𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘕𝘰𝘯𝘦 but done in a wholly unique and brilliant style. An isolated gothic home on a remote island – what better setting is there?
Daisy Darker and her sisters, Lily and Rose, spent a lot of time with their Nana at her home, Seaglass, on Tidal Island on the Cornish coast.

On Nana’s 80th birthday, the family meets to celebrate AND to hear the reading of her will – not everyone is happy with their lot. When Nana is found dead at midnight – an eerie chalk poem on the wall, everyone is a suspect because almost all of the Darker’s along with family friend, Connor, have reason to see her gone – don’t they? As the bodies pile up, the list of suspects narrows. Who could want the Darker’s dead? And in such a manner that mirrored their failings in life!

I was captivated and intrigued from the first word; Daisy narrates and it works beautifully for this dual plot line, going from present to past in a seamless manner. The poem, the largest clue of all, is brilliant and foreboding. The twists? Chefs. Fucking. Kiss! So clever and so compelling! I can’t recommend this one enough!

I am so fortunate to have both read and listened to this. The narrator, Stephanie Racine, also narrated His & Hers, Rock, Paper, Scissors and Sometimes I Lie, also by Feeney, and what a phenomenal narrator she is. Her pacing is spot on and her voice an absolute delight! Bravo!

My thanks to @Macmillan.Audio for this gifted ALC and to @Flatiron_Books for the gifted DRC.

This was my first time reading an Alice Feeney book and it was amazing! All the characters were well-developed and intriguing. The plot twists were wild and I could not stop listening. The narrator was perfect too.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫🎧

My love of British mystery/thrillers was fulfilled by “Daisy Darker”, the newest novel by Alice Feeney which will be published on August 30th. If you love gothic, dark, twisty stories this is for you. Enough nuggets were left for me to have a guess, but I was still caught by surprise with the ending. Yep, didn’t see that coming, and the truth was well hidden.

Set in Cornwall along the rugged Atlantic Coast, it follows the Darker family (Nana, mom Nancy, dad Frank, daughters Rose, Lily, and Daisy, Trixie the granddaughter/daughter/niece, friend Connor, and Poppins the dog). The family has gathered at Seaglass, Nana’s home in Cornwall to celebrate her 80th birthday, which is a year that had been foretold by a fortune teller to be the year of her death. However, as this dysfunctional family comes together it soon goes horribly wrong, like a messed up game of Clue. With a nod to Agatha Christie’s “And Then There Were None”, one of my favorites, the family revisits it’s past through home videos, and has to reckon with who they were and who they’d become.

Thank you @netgalley and @macmillan.audio for selecting me to listen to this audiobook for my opinions.

#netgalley
#DaisyDarker
#macmillanaudio
#readmorebooks
#audiobook
#readmorebooksbywomen
#mybookishlife

Talk about a dysfunctional family! I thought this was my first Alice Feeney novel, but then realized I read Sometimes I Lie previously. Daisy Darker was much better! I enjoyed the twists along the way and actually laughed out loud multiple times as I listened. The grandmother reading her will to the family! The narrator, Stephanie Racine, did a fantastic job and I think listening vs reading made me enjoy this more. Did I guess some of the twists? Sure, but if I hadn't guessed any, that would mean the author was throwing stuff in there just to add twists and not because they made sense in the story. There were some definite surprises along the way. I won't give anything away because it's much more fun to be surprised, but expect a very messed up family dynamic, murder and lots of lies. This definitely made my workday pass more quickly and for that, I am thankful.

Thanks to Macmillan Audio and NetGalley for the ALC in exchange for my honest review.

I feel like this book was written for me and I LOVE it. Full disclosure, I am a huge Alice Feeney fan. I loved “Rock Paper Scissors,” and I could not wait for this one to come out.

Daisy Darker is about a highly disfunctional family with a ton of dark secrets. Daisy is the main character, and had a very tough childhood, coupled with a heart condition that she was told would kill her. This story takes place on Halloween at an estate overlooking the ocean called “Seaglass.” For the first time in years the entire Darker family has gathered to celebrate their Nana’s 80th birthday. Nana is a famous writer and during the celebration tells the family she is leaving her entire estate to Trixie, the youngest of the family. Her son and grandchildren are furious, but their fury is pushed to the side when they find Nana murdered! After nana is murdered, the family finds a threatening poem that leads them to believe one of them is next. As the night continues many more will die, but who is the killer?

This book is similar to, “And Then There Were None,” by Agatha Christie, another book I love, and Sweeney references throughout her own story. (Love when authors do that!) While I enjoyed so many parts of this story, my favorite thing about it was the huge twist I totally missed, which is rare for me, but it makes so much sense that I want to go back and reread the story now! I also loved the ending. It was touching, which rarely happens in a murder mystery. This is a must read for any thriller fans!

Name of Book: Daisy Darker
Author: Alice Feeney
Audiobook Narrator: Stephanie Racine
Publisher: Macmillan Audio
Genre: Psychological Thriller
Pub Date: August 10, 2022
My Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Stars!


This is my fourth Alice Feeney novel
My first was "Sometimes I Lie” and more recently " His & Hers' which was also great!

Story is told by Daisy regarding the past as well as the present.
Daisy and her sisters have flower names. Older sister by 5 years is Rose, next is Lily. Daisy was born with a rare heart defect and has actually died more than once. (I thought that Kitty might be a better name for her).
Daisy’s sisters went to boarding school but due to Daisy’s health she had to stay close to home.
Daisy however, had a wonderful relationship with her grandmother and spent summers at Nana’s mansion ~ Seaglass, which is located on a small island that was only accessible at low tide.

Nana will soon be turning 80 on October 31 and has asked the family to celebrate her birthday and witness the reading of her will ~ Nana is very unique (perhaps eccentric is a better word) and wanted to do this before she dies.
Other examples of her uniqueness:
• she always wear pink and purple,
• she has 80 clocks ~ one for each year of her life. All the clocks are different. She even has a ‘punch’ clock
used by workers to check in arrival and departure from work. Nana uses this clock for family members to
check in on their visits to her.

The entire family has assembled at Seaglass including Frank and Nancy (no not Frank and Nancy Sinatra) but Nana’s son Frank and his wife who have been divorced for years.

After the will is read at midnight ~things start to happen.

Wow! I could not put this down!!
Alice Feeney does not disappoint.
Plus narrator Stephanie Racine does an amazing performance in acting out all the characters.

A must read for any psychological thriller fan!!!!

I love the ‘Acknowledgements’ [author: Alice Feeney] tells us that on her birthday she personally goes to an island similar to what is in the story.

Want to thank NetGalley and Macmillan Audios for this Audio eGalley. This file has been made available to me before publication in an early form for an honest professional review.
Publishing Release Date scheduled for August 10, 2022.

Alice Feeney is a master of suspense. I didn't think there would be any topping Rock, Paper, Scissors but Daisy Darker surpassed my expectations (which were high to begin with).

Speaking as someone who comes from her own brand of dysfunctional family, there was something cathartic about this story for me. It's filled with miscommunication, revenge, bitterness, justice, as well as the complicated love that comes along with a toxic family dynamic. The book is told from Daisy's perspective but we get a good glimpse of all of the characters and why they might have a motive to kill.

There's a great mix of suspense, twists, and even a little bit of creepiness. Even while I did predict each part of the ending, I couldn't have imagined it as a whole. I had plenty of suspicions, but it was a situation with so many possible suspects that I didn't want to cling to any one theory for very long.

The narrator for the audiobook did a wonderful job, putting emotion in the right places but never over the top in her delivery. Her voice was a compliment to Daisy.

Thanks to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for providing me with a free ARC copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

WOW! WOW! WOW! I devoured this book within a day and loved it from start to finish. The ending!!! The only thing I am disappointed about is that I cannot pass this book off to friends to read right now. This will certainly be a book that I recommend to my book club who is big on thrillers and suspense novels.

While I feel like I was to predict some things other things surprised me outta nowhere. Now that I know the ending I am read to read it all over again.

Okay major spoilers ahead but: holy shit I loved this! Favorite book of hers so far, omg! I will admit I did guess the "she was dead the whole time" plot twist right at the start but I think that has more to do with the fact that the sixth sense scarred me as a kid (in a good way) and left me immediately looking at all the clues.

Knowing (or being sure I knew of) the twist didn't lessen the story for me by any means though! If anything it made it more fun as I paid close attention to every single time Daisy made a comment and the others in the house responded but not in a way that was them actually responding to her, more just them coming to the same conclusions and voicing them. Each time they ignored her or spoke to her, I was thrilled as I said "oh my god this is Bruce Willis as a ghost all over again, this poor girl!"

I genuinely enjoyed and stressed over every single moment of this book. It was the perfect gothic themed, locked room mystery. I held my breath with each piece of the puzzle that was revealed, and the final reveal did throw me through a loop.

I loved it. Cannot wait to sell the heck out of this one at work. Oh my goodness. Gonna make all my book loving friends and coworkers read it too. Yes. A hundred times yes.

I did not want this book to end! Alice Feeney and the narrator, Stephanie Racine, gave me a book that was so enjoyable to listen to, and it reminded me of a creepier version of Clue. I was hooked!

Nana Darker gathered every family member for her 80th birthday party at Seaglass, their family home on the Cornish coast. A storm was raging through, and everyone is now stuck on the island for the night. At the stroke of midnight, Nana Darker was found dead. One by one, more family members are found dead throughout the night. Everyone’s secrets are slowly coming out too.

This book is a well-done homage to Agatha Christie’s “And, Then There was None” with Fenney's own spin to the story. The unexpected and surprising twist at the end and the brilliant writing sealed my theory that Alice Feeney is one of the greatest thriller writers I have ever read.

I liked the first book and thought this was a good follow up read. The book was a bit slow for me but I did like the twists and turns at the end.

Alice Feeney does it again!!! Absolutely knocked it out the park with her newest book Daisy Darker. Five mesmerizing awesome stars!! This book totally lives up to all the hype!! Locked room mystery is one of my favorite tropes especially when they’re stuck on an island!!! Then add in, Then There Were None Vibes, yessssss please!! I couldn’t listen to this audiobook fast enough! The narrator, Stephanie Racine, did an amazing job narrating this story. I felt like I was stuck on this island with this dysfunctional family and I was totally there for it!! I was guessing all the way to end. The twist and turns were a plenty and so nicely done!

This book is coming out at the end of summer but it would totally be a great fall read!!! Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for this ALC in exchange for my honest review!! I HIGHLY recommend reading this one!

“I was born with a broken heart. The day I arrived into this lonely little world was also the first time I died.” - Daisy Darker

Daisy was born with a heart condition that caused her heart to stop. She is the youngest of three florally named sisters, who never quite accepted her. Daisy just wants to be treated normally and like other children, but she isn’t allowed to go to school or overly exert herself because of her heart. Her Nana is her biggest supporter, so when Nana is turning eighty, she decides to have the whole Darker family to her home for a party.

Nana’s home is on an island where the only way in is across the causeway at low tide. Once the Darker Family has assembled and high tide comes in, they will be isolated from the rest of the world for eight hours. After an an unusual dinner conversation, the Darker family begins to be murdered, one by one. Through flashbacks and vhs tapes with clues such as “watch me” and “see me” on them, we begin to piece together the secrets of the Darker family.

With Alice Feeney’s trademark plot twists, this locked room mystery thriller isn’t one to miss!Will the Darker family find the killer before there are none left?

“Daisy Darker’s family were as dark as dark can be. When one of them died, all of them lied and pretended not to see.”