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 and convicted as a serial killer. Chloe, along with her family, struggled with the aftermath of this bombshell for the rest of their lives. Twenty years later, Chloe is a successful psychologist in private practice in Baton Rouge, preparing for her wedding. She feels like she finally has come to terms with her past in order to take control of her life. Until a local teen goes missing, then another - she's thrown back into that terrifying summer. With her father still in prison, she takes it upon herself to delve into an investigation to unmask the killer.

I loved the premise of this book - that Chloe's father is an imprisoned serial killer and the emotional impact this had on her, long-term. I also loved the setting - steamy small-town Louisiana. I enjoyed the split timeline and how the story unfolded as the narrative moved back and forth. However, within the first 20% of the book, it was pretty clear to me what the ending would be. It's very hard to keep reading when the twist is crystal clear. I don't strive to foresee the ending of a thriller or usually solve the mystery before the end, but in this case it was completely obvious. It ruined this book for me - it no longer held my interest after that. I would absolutely read another book from this author - I liked her style - but the plot for this one was too transparent to me.

Thank you to Minotaur, Macmillian Audio and Minotaur Books for providing me with an ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

I'm back on the audiobook train and this one convinced me to ride again.

What an AMAZING first thriller of 2022!!!!!

⭐⭐⭐⭐(.5)

Thank you Stacy Willingham, MacMillan Audio and Netgalley for helping me believe in listening to books again!

I have to admit I saw a ton of mixed reviews when Flicker first came out and I became very apprehensive going into it.

But those reviews were SO wrong! Flicker in the Dark is absolutely bananas! I heckin loved it! It was unpredictable, intense and wicked fast-paced. The main characters are unreliable (which is something I LOVE in my thrillers and mysteries) and never truly know who to trust. You won't want to put it down. (Trust me I listened to almost six hours at work one day...it's addicting)

10/10 recommend listening to this audiobook! It's very similar experience to watching a movie. The narration was excellent. The action and thrill was intensified for me. You could feel the emotions being portrayed perfectly through her voice and I was drawn in even deeper.

Grab your copy from stacywillingham.com or your favorite local bookstore on Tuesday!!!

Wow, what a debut! Thanks to @netgalley and @macmillan.audio for the audio ARC.

I did this one as a buddy read with @briannak_bookshelf , @thebookishplantgirl and @agirl_and_her2dogs which was so much fun cause we were all on the edge of our seat the whole time!

A Flicker In The Dark follows Chloe who seems to always be surrounded by death. When she was 12 her father was convicted of killing six teenage girls in their hometown, and now twenty years later, teenage girls are starting to disappear again.

While I guessed what would happen pretty early on, I really enjoyed listening to this audio. The whole book was action packed and kept me on my toes. Definitely would recommend to anyone looking for a non-scary who-done-it thriller.

Thank you NetGalley and publishers for providing me with this advance listener copy.

Description from NetGalley:
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 chapter.

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?

I’ll admit: I am relatively new to the mystery/thriller genre. I have read plenty of cozy mysteries, but the harder hitting thrillers are a whole new kettle of fish. I received a copy of the audiobook to listen to and review.

I really found myself drawn into the story by the narrator. Bouncing back and forth between the past and present helped to drive the story and mystery further. There are also so many things going on in Chloe's life that come to a head, making even my head spin. In the end many people may not find the story innovative when it comes to plot or characters; however, the writing is so good at putting you in Chloe’s mind and laying out the story that I didn’t mind. It reminded me of a solid thriller movie that is shot and written very well.

I’d definitely pick up Stacy Willingham’s next book. 4.5/5

Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for an advance audio copy of A Flicker in the Dark by Stacy Willingham and narrated by Karissa Vacker. My review consists of thoughts and opinions which are all my own.

If this is the debut work by Stacy Willingham, I CANNOT WAIT to see what amazing works this author graces us with!

This book was fantastic! Just when I thought I knew whodunnit, I was thrown and cleverly led down other paths of potential suspects. This book keeps you guessing until the very end and the delivery between timelines was very fluid.

I appreciated how the author portrayed the main character, Chloe, doing her best to have a "normal" life after her childhood trauma. What is "normal" anyway? Chole seems to have overcome until it seems her past is catching up to her. Will she be able to solve the mystery before she completely loses her mind? Did she remember things wrong?

The narrator did a wonderful job with this story and I loved her tone, pitch and emphasis when and where it was needed.

I highly recommend A Flicker in the Dark.

This was such a fantastic thriller, it was original and absolutely kept me guessing all the way through. Each time I thought I had it figured out I was wrong, I love a thriller that’s deep and leaves me shocked

3 stars. I am perhaps overly forgiving of the "main character's family member was a serial killer" trope that has seemed to dominate the thriller genre for time untold. This automatically creates an ostracized yet sympathetic main character that is easy to connect with, even if the circumstances of their life aren't relatable.

Stacy Willingham unabashedly uses this trope with her debut novel A Flicker in the Dark. I was intrigued by the premise of this one - a psychologist whose father was convicted of a series of murders 2o years ago who must face her childhood trauma from these events when copycat murders begin to happen around her. It was a familiar enough summary that I couldn't help but hope that Willingham would take this not unenjoyable but definitely well-worn concept and do something wholly unique with it. But... I can't fully endorse that it did.

The protagonist Chloe is resourceful, independent - a career woman. All great things to see in a thriller protagonist. Unfortunately, she also falls into the category of unreliable narrator through the hazy lens of drug and alcohol abuse. She utilizes these substances to distract from her own guilt attached to her childhood, once again falling into the category of the "frequently intoxicated and sometimes making bad decisions because of it" thriller protagonist that I'm frankly a little tired of in the genre. And while this isn't a deal-breaker for me, I do wish this aspect of her character didn't need to function as such a key motivator of the plot. Rather, I would have preferred more time spent with her interactions with the three members of her family, be it in flashbacks or otherwise. Besides the quick pace of this book, it was Chloe's dynamic with her shattered family that was the most gripping part of the narrative.

In the end, I think there is definitely an audience for this novel - if the success of similar stories in the genre are any indication. A Flicker in the Dark is a surprisingly hopeful take on a thriller that doesn't hesitate to discuss gruesome subject matter but leave the audience with an altogher uplifting message at the novel's conclusion. Even if this wasn't my ideal version of a well-loved serial killer trope, I won't say I didn't have fun with this one.

3.75 🌟 A book about your dad being a serial killer and the aftermath that follows when new murders start to occur!? Talk about a strong plot concept 👏🏻

To me the execution was done pretty well, and overall this was a solid debut! I enjoyed the setting, the leading up to the reveal, and the twisty reveals throughout the book.

Some things that didn’t work for me were the number of red herrings in the novel, the unreliable narrator (maybe I’m just over that concept in a thriller tbh), that it dragged a bit in the middle, and finally the amount of times the word “flicker” is used in the novel.

This is being adapted to a film series starring Emma Stone, which I’m excited to see!

The narration was done really well, and would definitely recommend that format if you’re interested in reading this book!

Thank you to NetGalley and Minotaur Books for this ALC in exchange for an honest review! ✨

Happy Pub Day to this 5⭐️ thriller blowing up bookstagram!

This one follows a main character, a psychologist who has had a traumatic upbringing as the daughter of a serial killer. Twenty years later girls start disappearing again…. Is the same thing happening again or is Chloe drawing parallels that aren’t there?

You feel like you’re stuck in Chloe’s head and it can be a messed up place where you don’t know what’s true and who you believe.

The character development in this one is quite complex and also real. I thought many different people were guilty along the way. I am in awe about this one to be honest. Highly recommend.

Thank you to @netgalley and @macmillanaudio for the ARC.

Also - looking forward to this as a mini series with Emma Stone?!!

Thank you for the opportunity to read this suspense/thriller novel.

I thought the audio narration was excellent. This book is a solid choice to either listen to or read. Not all audiobooks can pull this off but this totally works as an audiobook.

I really enjoyed the pace of this book. I was never left feeling bored or wanting to rush through it. Perfectly paced.

Chloe is your typical, unreliable narrator and at around 30% into this book, I thought she was overmedicating herself and that she was the killer but her dad took the fall. I was looking in the wrong direction entirely lol.

This book had a lot of moving parts and I liked that she made Cooper a bit overprotective and overbearing, so you always knew there was something "off" about him but couldn't really put your finger on it because he was so concerned about Daniel and the fast progression of his relationship with Chloe. The thing about Cooper was EVERYONE seemed to like him.

The one thing I would have liked to know more about is the relationship between Chloe and Daniel at the end. Chloe comes back to the home of Daniel's sister to return her ring...Daniel is in the house. Clearly, Daniel & Chloe were no longer a couple at that point, but I do not recall there being any real certainty about WHY they weren't together. I would've liked something more concrete with that relationship, it just bugged me that I never got closure on that. I even asked a few other who read this book and they had no idea what happened with those 2 either. Either way we all still loved the book.

Thank you to Macmillan Audio and NetGalley for allowing me to read & review this author's thrilling debut novel.

This solid debut thriller revolves around Chloe, the grown daughter of a serial killer. Chloe's life has been spent processing the reality of her father's actions. She has a hard time forming any close relationships. It has taken years for Chloe to finally start living her life and put the dreadful past behind her. She begins her own practice as a psychologist in Baton Rouge. She meets a wonderful man that she can open up to and feel safe with. He proposes and her life is finally on track.... or is it? As luck would have it a local teen goes missing, then another one. Coincidently the 20th anniversary of her father's conviction is coming up. All of this floods Chloe's mind with the memories of the past. Are there connections to her father's crimes? Is it her imagination or is someone sending her a message? Chloe involves herself by investigating the disappearances. She must find out the truth at any cost.
This was a good story that left you wondering whether you could trust Chloe. There were a few similarities to other thrillers of this type but the twists at the end made up for it. The narration for the audiobook was done very well and kept me invested in the story.
4 stars

Thank you to NetGalley for the audio version of this book in exchange for an honest review.

In 1999, when Chloe Davis was a naïve 12-year-old girl living in Breaux Bridge, Louisiana, she was intrigued with 15-year-old Lena Rhodes. Lena was a free spirit who drank vodka, smoked marijuana, flirted with men, and had a belly button ring with a luminiscent firefly. Chloe wanted to be a wild child like Lena until Lena became the first victim of the Breaux Bridge serial killer.

In total, six teenage girls disappeared in 1999, and the crimes might have continued if Chloe hadn't found a wooden box in her father's closet - a box containing Lena's belly button ring as well as other trophies. Chloe reluctantly told her mother, then the police, and Chloe's father went to prison for life.

The rest of the Davis family - Chloe, her older brother Cooper, and their mother - suffered the wrath of the community. People came to the house, yelled insults, peered into windows, threw rocks, and so on.....and kids attacked Chloe at school. Chloe's mother tried to take her own life and ended up in a semi-vegetative state, and Chloe left town the minute she graduated high school.

Twenty years later, in 2019, Chloe appears to have a stable life. She's a psychologist in Baton Rouge, Lousiana; owns a nice house; has friends; and is engaged to a handsome drug rep named Daniel. Beneath the surface, however, Chloe is anxious and fearful, and she uses prescription pills and alcohol to calm her nerves.

Chloe REALLY needs the pills after she's contacted by a New York Times reporter named Aaron Jansen, who's writing a story for the 20th anniversary of the Breaux Bridge murders. Aaron wants Chloe's input, but she refuses to speak to him, not wanting her past raked up for public consumption. Chloe has spoken to journalists in the past, and the stories always brought unwanted attention.

Chloe's nerves are already jangling when a teenage girl from Baton Rouge disappears. Soon afterwards, another girl goes missing - and this one happens to be Chloe's new patient. While Chloe is still reeling from the shock, reporter Aaron Jansen shows up, wanting to interview Chloe for a story about (what he's calling) a copycat killer.

All this upends Chloe completely, and she starts her own investigation. Chloe comes up with one suspect, then another, and she fears the police won't take her seriously until she has real proof. Sadly for Chloe she's confused, has poor judgment, and harbors remnants of her 12-year-old self - who didn't want to admit the truth, even to herself.

Armchair detectives may suss out the killer, but then again, they may be wrong. 🙂

The story has a compelling plot, well-wrought three-dimensional characters, a Lousiana crawfish boil, and enough twists to keep suspense lovers happy.

I listened to the audiobook, narrated by Karissa Vacker, who does a fine job.

Thanks to Netgalley, Stacy Willingham, and Minotaur Books for a copy of the book.

Okay this one was good!! It really got me, because I really had noooo idea who the killer was going to be in the end. It really kept me guessing, because there were so many possibilities! The writing was great, and the characters even better! I really liked the MC and felt so bad for her when everyone kept thinking she was crazy, but then again at some points I even believed it myself.

For a debut novel this was so incredibly good! I can’t wait for Stacey to release more books! Highly recommend for anyone who likes thrillers and murder mysteries!

Thank you to Netgalley and Macmillan Audio for giving me this arc in exchange for an honest review.

𝐀 𝐅𝐥𝐢𝐜𝐤𝐞𝐫 𝐈𝐧 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐃𝐚𝐫𝐤 by 𝗦𝘁𝗮𝗰𝘆 𝗪𝗶𝗹𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗴𝗵𝗮𝗺
Narrated by: 𝐊𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐬𝐬𝐚 𝐕𝐚𝐜𝐤𝐞𝐫
Pub Date: January 11, 2022

【ＷｏＷ　ｗＯｗ　ＷｏＷ】

First of all, a debut novel?!? I would never have guessed. If this is what Stacy has in store for me I am HERE for IT!! This is one of the best thrillers I have read in awhile. It was beautifully written.

Narrator Karissa Vacker is no stranger to me. I love listening to her voice and this was no exception. She sucked me in from the very first chapter. Her voice took the story to another level. When Chloe was scared, sad, mad and even tipsy I felt it!

𝘛𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘬 𝘺𝘰𝘶 @𝘯𝘦𝘵𝘨𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘺 𝘢𝘯𝘥 @𝘮𝘢𝘤𝘮𝘪𝘭𝘭𝘢𝘯𝘈𝘶𝘥𝘪𝘰 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘢𝘶𝘥𝘪𝘰𝘣𝘰𝘰𝘬. 𝘖𝘱𝘪𝘯𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴 𝘦𝘹𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘦𝘥 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘮𝘺 𝘰𝘸𝘯.

Chloe Davis was twelve when six teenage girls went missing in her small Louisiana town. Then as summer wound down, her own father confessed to the killing those girls. He was convicted and put away for life. Chloe and the rest of her family are left to deal with the aftermath and try to move forward.

Jump ahead twenty years. Chloe is now a psychologist in Baton Rouge and getting ready to be married. Seems she has moved on and finally has a chance for happiness. Still she sometimes feels as out of control of her own life as the troubled teens who are her patients.
Then it happens again! A local teenage girl has gone missing, and then another, and that terrifying summer comes crashing back. Is she paranoid, seeing similarities from her past that aren't actually there? For the second time in her life, is Chloe about to face another killer?
Excellent audio. I really enjoyed this narrator.
This is a story to, keep you guessing until the very end.

A Flicker In the Dark by Stacy Willingham is a wonderful, atmospheric mystery about a woman whose grim past and reality come to a head. I was drawn in immediately and sucked into Chloe’s life an past. The writing is lyrical and eerie, really adding to the plot. I loved the narration by Karissa Vacker. Her voice perfectly embodied how I pictured Chloe and really helped enhanced the story. I highly recommend this book if you’re looking for an atmospheric mystery!

Thank you St. Martin’s Press / Macmillan Audio and NetGalley for providing this ebook / audiobook in exchange for an honest review.

A Flicker in the Dark is one of the best thrillers I have read in a while. The author had me fooled right up to the end!

Chloe is the daughter of a convicted abductor and serial killer. One of the victims was her best friend. She is now grown and is a psychologist, but this doesn’t mean she isn’t fighting her own demons.

It is now the 20th anniversary of her father’s conviction. Chloe is planning a wedding and dealing with her brother’s lack of approval, when abductions and murders start up again. She is being contacted by a reporter who wants to do a story on her family and these new cases. I didn’t see the end coming!

I loved the author’s attention to small details throughout the book and tying them into the entire story. The book is fast paced and suspenseful. I couldn’t put it down!

I also had the luxury of obtaining the audio copy as well. This allowed me to keep going even in the car or while cooking supper! There were two different narrators that did a fantastic job. There were two different male perspectives, and it would have been more helpful to have those voices separated. That has nothing to do with the performances though.

Thank you to @netgalley @stmartinspress and @macmillanaudio for a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest opinion.

Recently engage Chloe Davis is a psychologist in Baton Rouge. In her practice she works with troubled teens. When she was a teenager some girls went missing from her hometown, and her father was arrested for the crimes.
Apparently girls are going missing again, which brings back painful memories. Is her past and present connected? Is she paranoid? This debut novel is fast past and terrifying.

Gloomy weather this weekend has kept me indoors, reorganizing my bookshelves to include all of my Christmas gift books. While I usually dread taking every title from my shelf and shifting things around, the task was made a bit more bearable by accompanying it with a new audiobook. It seems as if the entire book world is buzzing with anticipation for Stacy Willingham's debut novel A Flicker in the Dark. Lucky for me, Macmillan Audio provided a review copy of the new title for me to review. Now having listened to the book, I completely understand the hype.

The trauma in Chloe Davis's life started in her childhood. The summer when she was just twelve years old, six girls from her small town went missing. The community became saturated in paranoia, fearful that at any moment another girl could be next. This summer of fear came crashing down when Chloe's father was arrested as an accused serial killer, confessing to kidnapping and murdering each of the missing girls. How does a family reckon with this startling revelation? Chloe, her elder brother, and mother are left shocked, feebly attempting to pick up the pieces of their shattered life.

A couple of decades later, Chloe is an adult who has mostly moved on from those darker days. She's learned from navigating her own troubles and now works as a psychologist helping her patients to overcome their own hardships. Chloe is in a loving relationship with a fiance who truly cares for her. However delicate her happiness may be, she feels as if she finally has a grasp on a life that isn't about the horrific deeds of her estranged father. But then a local teenage girl goes missing. Then another and another after that. Suddenly Chloe's past comes rushing back to her, filling her with fear and paranoia that she hasn't felt in years.

It is hard to believe that A Flicker in the Dark is Stacy Willingham's first go at a novel. She expertly balances building complex characters with a driving plot that never lets up. As the work progresses, the main character begins to unravel, overwhelmed by the similarities between her past and the present-day crimes. I've grown to be a bit tired of the unreliable narrator trope that permeates much popular suspense these days, but Willingham imbues her character with enough of a grip on reality to help overcome that. Karissa Vacker's narration perfectly captured the tone of the book, allowing me to fully invest in the story as it unfolded. I did guess the ending fairly early in the book, but Willingham provided enough twists and red herrings to keep me thoroughly engaged. Overall, A Flicker in the Dark is an extremely solid psychological thriller that is worthy of all of the hype it is receiving.

𝐋𝐞𝐭 𝐦𝐞 𝐬𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐢𝐬 𝐚 𝐃𝐄𝐁𝐔𝐓 𝐍𝐎𝐕𝐄𝐋 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐢𝐭 𝐢𝐬 𝐏𝐇𝐄𝐍𝐎𝐌𝐄𝐍𝐀𝐋! If this is how Stacy Willingham rolls, I am here for 𝐀𝐋𝐋 of her tales! On a side note, I listened to this book on audio, and narrator Karissa Vacker was spectacular. Her voice was serene to listen to even during the darkest moments. ⁣

Willingham’s book captivated me because it satiated all my serial killer needs minus all the graphic gore. I loved getting a glimpse into what the collapse of Chloe’s family life was like when her father was sent to prison for murder. That may sound bizarre to some, but 𝐡𝐨𝐰 𝐚 𝐟𝐚𝐦𝐢𝐥𝐲 𝐫𝐞𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐬 (𝐢𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐢𝐬 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐧 𝐚 𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐛𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐲) 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐬𝐮𝐜𝐡 𝐡𝐨𝐫𝐫𝐨𝐫𝐬 𝐢𝐬 𝐛𝐞𝐲𝐨𝐧𝐝 𝐞𝐱𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐨𝐫𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐫𝐲 𝐭𝐨 𝐦𝐞 and 𝘈 𝘍𝘭𝘪𝘤𝘬𝘦𝘳 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘋𝘢𝘳𝘬 portrayed the aftermath of this fictional family in an exceptional way. The story bounced back and forth between the present-day and Chloe’s memories which made the suspense all the more intriguing. Willingham subtly peppered the pages with mini clues that threw me off track more than one time. I caught myself MANY times with my jaw dropped to the floor muttering, “Wait, what?”. All in all, 𝗪𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐡𝐚𝐦’𝐬 𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐲 𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐮𝐥𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐭𝐚𝐥𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐞 𝐮𝐧𝐭𝐰𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐝. 𝗪𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐚𝐧 𝐨𝐮𝐭𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐜𝐚𝐬𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐬, 𝐚 𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐥𝐥𝐚𝐫 𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐲𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐞, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐚 𝐦𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐬 𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐬𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐬𝐟𝐢𝐞𝐬, 𝘈 𝘍𝘭𝘪𝘤𝘬𝘦𝘳 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘋𝘢𝘳𝘬 𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐮𝐥𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝!