Book Blurb
When Chloe Davis was twelve, six teenage girls went missing in her small Louisiana town. By the end of the summer, Chloe’s father had been arrested as a serial killer and promptly put in prison. Chloe and the rest of her family were left to grapple with the truth and try to move forward while dealing with the aftermath.
Now 20 years later, Chloe is a psychologist in private practice in Baton Rouge and getting ready for her wedding. She finally has a fragile grasp on the happiness she’s worked so hard to get. Sometimes, though, she feels as out of control of her own life as the troubled teens who are her patients. And then a local teenage girl goes missing, and then another, and that terrifying summer comes crashing back. Is she paranoid, and seeing parallels that aren’t really there, or for the second time in her life, is she about to unmask a killer?
In a debut novel that has already been optioned for a limited series by actress Emma Stone and sold to a dozen countries around the world, Stacy Willingham has created an unforgettable character in a spellbinding thriller that will appeal equally to fans of Gillian Flynn and Karin Slaughter.
My Rating
Book Review
What a freaking DEBUT!
Stacy Willingham’s debut novel A Flicker In The Dark has already captured the attention of all and sundry with all the right noises including a TV show in the making and phew I thought my mile-high expectations would itself spoil the fun but OH MY, what an absolute WOWZER this turned out to be…
There are many psychological thrillers in the market currently but to write one that causes whiplash in the reader with breathtaking twists adding to the thrill and especially seeing that it is just the first novel by the author I think Stacy Wellingham has firmly established her calibre.
The story does have the tried and tested formula of a broken heroine, but not completely an unreliable narrator. Chole is more or less a walking pharmacy popping pills to keep herself moving forward after the trauma that has destroyed her family but thankfully not that far gone into la la land where she questions her sanity. The author’s writing is fantastic, there is an eerie sense of impending doom and also a kind of emotional mayhem as Chole senses a déjà vu of events repeating in her life. The story is peppered with red herrings, honestly, I went about suspecting every single character in the novel and each time, the author brings forth another shocking surprise that had me reeling.
The story being narrated thru Chole’s POV plays out like a TV show, each event causing an exciting reveal and it is fairly easy to guess why this story would appeal as a series on screen.
Riveting and utterly gripping, A Flicker In The Dark is a must-read for fans of thrillers.
Many thanks to NetGalley, HarperCollins, and the author for a chance to read and review this book. All opinions are expressed voluntarily.
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