Title: A Flicker in the Dark by Stacy Willingham
Publisher: Minotaur Books
Genre: Contemporary, Psychological Thriller
Length: 356 pages
Book Rating: B+
Complimentary Review Copy Provided by Publisher Through NetGalley
Summary:
When Chloe Davis was twelve, six teenage girls went missing in her small Louisiana town. By the end of the summer, her own father had confessed to the crimes and was put away for life, leaving Chloe and the rest of her family to grapple with the truth and try to move forward while dealing with the aftermath.
Now twenty years later, Chloe is a psychologist in Baton Rouge and getting ready for her wedding. While she finally has a fragile grasp on the happiness she’s worked so hard to achieve, she sometimes feels as out of control of her own life as the troubled teens who are her patients. So when a local teenage girl goes missing, and then another, that terrifying summer comes crashing back. Is she paranoid, seeing parallels from her past that aren’t actually there, or for the second time in her life, is Chloe about to unmask a killer?
From debut author Stacy Willingham comes a masterfully done, lyrical thriller, certain to be the launch of an amazing career. A Flicker in the Dark is eerily compelling to the very last page.
Review:
A Flicker in the Dark by Stacy Willingham is an enthralling psychological thriller.
Twenty years after her father pleaded guilty to murdering six teenage girls, thirty-two-year-old Chloe Davis is a self-medicating psychologist. She is engaged to marry pharmaceutical salesman Daniel Briggs and she remains close to her brother, Cooper. Chloe is dragging her feet finalizing plans for her upcoming wedding when she is contacted by a reporter writing an anniversary piece about her father. The memories of her father’s crimes have been simmering under the surface and when a teenager girl goes missing, Chloe is overwhelmed by anxiety. She becomes suspicious of people around her and her apprehension grows after she hears about another missing teen. Is there a copycat murdering teenage girls? Is the killer someone Chloe knows?
Chloe is incredibly distracted and uneasy as her life begins to spiral out of control. Daniel is gone a lot more than usual and she is not sleeping well. After she learns of the first missing teenager, Chloe makes a spontaneous decision that could come back to haunt her. She continues self-medicating and she is making some pretty wild assumptions without much evidence to back up her theories. As doubts begin to assail her, Chloe is determined to find out the truth about a loved one and she puts herself in increasingly dangerous situations.
A Flicker in the Dark is a fast-paced and engrossing psychological thriller. Chloe is a sympathetic character who questions how well she and her fiancé really know each other. Daniel is very solicitous but he is gone when Chloe needs him most. Cooper loves his sister but even he thinks is making mistakes she might regret. The storyline is captivating and fully holds the reader’s attention. With clever red herrings and misdirects, Stacy Willingham brings this finely crafted debut to an edge of the seat conclusion.
