Stacy Willingham is an impressive debut author who has created an exciting, twisty tale! A Flicker in the Dark is a very suspenseful thriller that will immediately catch the reader's attention and keep you guessing as the story unfolds! This story works well as an audiobook with a wonderful narrator!

Wow. Just wow. I know its still early but this is my first 5 star read for the year. I have been watching a lot of #grimmlifecollective and #mrballer on #youtube lately so I think I was in just the perfect mind frame for this book. Serial killers. Its such a gruesome concept. But what if you had to live your life in the shadow of your parent being a serial killer?? Luckily there aren't very many people who have to know how that feels. But what if, as an adult, the killings start happening again? And they seemed to be linked to you?? And your parent is in jail still? Then what? Definitely a book that will stick with me for a while. The twists were top notch (chef's kiss)

Excellent audio narration by Karissa Vacker. Her narration brought the necessary tension to the story and kept me engaged throughout. While the plot was a bit slow moving, the writing was exceptional and I enjoyed the twists at the end and how it was ultimately wrapped up. Wonderful debut!!!

This one started out strong, and then just lost me. The narrator was good. She differentiated between characters easily and was easy to understand. The story though…..it just seemed to drag a bit. I know it depends on the audience, but I don’t think I was the targeted audience since I wasn’t very interested in it.

This book was pretty good. A little predictable for my tastes. A plot twist here and there. Nothing to write home about. I had the ending figured out by the middle of the book. The narrator was pretty good, but all of her male voices sounded exactly the same.

Thanks to Netgalley for allowing me the opportunity to listen to this book. All opinions are my own.

First and foremost, I would like to thank NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for giving me the opportunity to review this title. Please note that this in no way affects my opinions. Also note that was I received was an ARC, and things may be subject to change for the final copy.

This book was, to sum it up simply, frustrating and disappointing. My emotions while reading this can be aptly summed up with the Picard facepalm, because I just could not get past how chaotic the main character's story was.


Narrating:

The writing was perfectly digestible, but my only complaint would be that sometimes there were words and sentences that the author used that threw me off because they sounded odd. For example, at one point the words mouth hole were used, instead of simply just saying mouth.


Plot:

This was just not what I expected, nor wanted, this to be. I thought I was getting myself into an engrossing mystery thriller that focused on the crimes that happened in the past and present. That, unfortunately, was not really what I got. Instead, I got a story that focused on an unreliable main character who was slowly spiralling (I will get to this more in the characters section). It wasn't very fun being in her head and having to listen to her panic and draw conclusions.

As for the mystery, while it was multi-layered and there were a lot of pieces at play, I was able to figure out all of them either right off the bat or as I read. That is not a good sign for a book that is supposed to be full of twists you're not supposed to see coming...because I did.


Characters:

As I said earlier, my feelings for this book can be summed up with the Picard facepalm, and that is mainly due to how frustrating the main character, Chloe, is. The urge to knock some sense into her was incredibly strong for several reasons. Chloe is a psychologist who has a lot of issues going on.

She is suffering from, or I can assume she is, PTSD due to the trauma of her childhood. In order to cope with it, she does so rather unhealthily with constant denial that everything is okay, and with substance abuse. I don't know about you, but I would not be lining up to book an appointment with a psychologist who will not seek help for themselves.

Now, I get that I have not been in her position and have no idea what it would feel like to go through her trauma and have to deal with it, but that is exactly why I had such a hard time following her story. Her life was in shambles and I couldn't muster up any sympathy for her because of all the things she does throughout the book.

All in all, I just didn't enjoy listening to this book from Chloe's perspective, because she made me want to smash my head against a wall, to put it bluntly. I would go into detail about why I feel so strongly about this, but then I would have to go into spoilers which I am not going to do.


Concluding Thoughts:

The mystery aspect wasn't strong enough and was very predictable, the characters were frustrating to read about, and I felt more annoyed than thrilled while reading this. As a debut novel, it was a pretty big swing and a miss, but, I do think that the author has the capabilities to improve.

Twisty and crazy and right to the end not sure who done it! Chloe is now a psychologist after her father confessed to killing 6 girls 20 years ago. She gets through her days with the use of drugs and alcohol, not the most healthy way to go, and while planning a wedding. Now, girls are starting to disappear, the first one was a girl who she first saw in her office. This has her scared. Again, so many twists and turns but this one was so good. To the point I was walking through a bookstore with my daughter on Saturday and picked this one up off the shelf and offered to buy it for her. She just smiled and told me it is her next month's BOTM selection. Win for her!

I guessed the vilian correctly at the beginning of the book!
Ok, maybe more like 47% into the book I had a suspicion of who it was.

This was a very theatrical thriller, and I can see why HBO optioned it. The story is pretty perfectly set up for a murderous thriller. Young woman trying to make her own way after her father is convicted and put in prison for mass murdering teenage girls. Girls that were her own age and being kidnaped and strangled in her home town.
Chloe has her brother, Cooper, and her fiancé, Stephen, for support though. Her mother wound up in a hospital after the trauma of seeing her husband go through trial and sentencing.
But just when Chloe feels like she is coping and having a normal life, young girls start going missing again. A report from the New York Times throws out a theory that there is a copy cat killer following in her father's footsteps.

The books throws out quite a few red herrings , but for most of the plot Chloe is chasing the suspicion that Daniel is the copy cat killer. I suspected right away it was Cooper (the brother) but was honestly kind of waiting for the author to make Chloe herself the killer, but I'm glad it didn't go that route.
This is a pretty typical modern "whodunnit." My biggest complaint is Chloe--I did not like her very much, was frustrated by her dumb mistakes nd honestly kind of was hoping she would end up dead.
Yikes, that might be a little harsh, but she got on my nerves a bit.

This was a very fast and fun chase of a book, but I think there is a lot of room for improvement in the TV version. It wasn't a fantastic book, but I can see that it is easily adaptable to the screen.

I am a sucker for thrillers whodunnit mysteries. This one was a solid debut and the audiobook was on point! Whenever I read these type of novels I’m guessing who the culprit is and at the same time hope that the plot twist will slap me! That is exactly what happened here. I was wrong and I did not see it coming. I will definitely be reading more of her novels!

How is this a debut novel?! I’m in love.

Thriller lover? Read this book. Serial killer thriller lover? Read this book!

I flew through this fast-paced, enthralling novel and didn’t see the very end coming. While I predicted a big part of it through all the red herrings, it’s the end that left me mind blown.

I feel like I can’t say much without spoiling anything, but get this book on your tbr if you’re into thrillers.

Stacy Willingham is one to watch for sure! Cannot wait to see what she publishes next. Bravo!

Thank you for the publisher, author, and NetGalley for allowing me an early listen to this book.

This is a good one! You never stop guessing until the very end. I loved the characters, the mystery, and the narration as well. The writing is so good and it hooked me from the beginning. If you love thrillers, you'll love this one.

What the what?! It’s hard to believe that this is a debut author. It’s just that good! I had so many theories and every time I had it sorted-wham! A new twist changed everything!! Sucked me in from the get go and I didn’t want it to end. Super enjoyed the narration as well-she really addd depth to the characters.
When Chloe was a girl, six teen girls went missing in her tiny town. By the end of the summer, Chloe’s father had been arrested and imprisoned as the serial killer responsible for the missing girls and Chloe and her mother and brother are left to pick up the pieces of their lives afterwards.
20 years later, Chloe is a psychologist with a handsome, successful fiancé but behind the scenes she is still a mess from the trauma of her childhood. Then, teen girls start disappearing again which triggers her and her fragile mindset is on the verge of shattering. Then, when one of her patients becomes one of the missing, Chloe is forced to face her past all over again.
The reader is left feeling that they never really know what to expect from Chloe-she is the definition of an unreliable narrator because she is self medicating her trauma with pills and wine. As the reader, you never know what is actually happening versus what she is imagining/dreaming.
There are parts where you definitely have to set all reality aside otherwise you’d be pulled out of the story because it’s quite unrealistic but that’s what I read fiction for-to be completely immersed! And this book definitely did that.
Overall, the story is a gripping thrill ride. Dark and satisfying, this is how thrillers should be done.
Thanks to Minotaur Books and NetGalley for this arc in exchange for my review.

Wow, this was a great debut. It was a slow burn, but worth it. I really enjoyed the alternating timelines, and was very captivated with the story line.

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 when a local girl goes missing….
So so much telling- and first person introspection because chloe narrates whole thing

Interesting that she never seems to work after the very beginning when she had one client and since then nothing no mention of going to work or doing work or being at work or seeing patients I have a huge problem with telling us she’s a psychologist specializing in trauma and she’s got her own, and so she was drawn to psychology and trauma and we're never shown us anything about what she does or her in action to increase our lab ability to see her as a smart as smart and actually truthful in what she does
the police Asking her to come to morgue and look at body was very strange and didn't seem accurate.

This book continues to lose credibility for me when she goes and meets with a newspaper detective or newspaper journalist and gives him the inside details about some thing she saw when she looked at one of the bodies there’s no way that that that could be because even if the cops did show her the body which I don’t think whatever happened why would she go to a newspaper reporter with a detail about a murder that I’m sure the police would’ve said we’re not making this public or it’s important to the case this just makes no sense I’m finding it very unbelievable in the details maybe weren’t checked as far as police details. There was an abundance of similes that felt repetitive and annoying and detracted from the story

This was such a stunning and compelling debut from Willingham! I was totally immersed in this chilling read and I’m always fascinated by a good serial killer plot!

I throughly enjoyed the alternating timelines of Chloe’s childhood vs her current day and I loved that I was left continually guessing and seemingly mistrusting everyone!

Although I predicted one of the twists early on, I definitely didn’t see the other coming! I found it totally propulsive and ultimately unputdownable!

I had a really hard time with Netgalley with this book. It would only work in wifi even though i downloaded it multiple times. any who

Very slow burn. I love theses types of books but this one didnt really catch me. Kinda predictable and not very twisty.

Thank you netgalley for this ARC.

A serial killer. Dead teenagers. A drug-addicted psychologist. It has all the elements for a riveting thriller. And it does a pretty good job! It's not so much the plot (which is solid) that makes this such a great read, but just about everything else. Exquisite writing and strong characters make this a winner. I'd love to see the author branch out beyond this genre and dive into mystical realism, ghost stories, or even nature. Something gothic would be fun too. The writing is that good.

I would have LOVED for the storyline to delve more into Chloe's relationship with her father, or more details about his backstory from 20 years ago. Maybe a prequel? Hmmmmmm

An excellent narration keeps you listening. The suspense in her voice is amazing I love this narrator. Four stars

My third read of the year was A Flicker In The Dark. What a debut novel!! I thought I had this one figured out in the first third of the book and after one twist I thought, well that should’ve been obvious when they showed up but I was wrong again 🤭

Dr. Chloe Davis is a psychologist that has a private practice. 20 years ago, she found something in her parents closet and realized it was connected to girls who were disappearing. She had to come to the realization so young that her father was a serial killer.

He’s been in prison this whole time but around the 20th anniversary girls start disappearing again and it reminds her of her father’s killings. The police show up at her practice when one of her patients goes missing. And Chloe feels like she needs to try to figure out what’s going on before it’s too late.

Thank you so much to Netgalley , the author and Macmillan Audio for the ARC 🎧! I flew through this one in 2 days and can’t wait to see more from this author. This book comes out this Tuesday (January 11, 2022)

What a solid debut! Chloe Davis, a psychologist who is about to get married, has a past that never seems to be gone. She self-medicates with prescription drugs. At age 12 she learned that her father is a convicted serial killer. When a copycat killer emerges, Chloe is determined to find out what is going on. Soon one of her patients goes missing and Chloe was the last person to see her, she is dragged straight into her past. She starts suspecting everyone around her. Chloe is unreliable as a narrator and very complicated as a character. Things are not always black and white. I really enjoyed the writing and the story telling. It is very interesting liking a book but disliking the main character. This was one of those. I did guess the ending, but that did not stop me from enjoying the book.

I predicted the end of this one early on, but, what it lacks in originality, it makes up for in other ways. The characters are interesting and the plot twists keep you engrossed. This is a proper thriller and I very much enjoyed it. Thank you to Macmillan and Netgalley for the advanced copy. I’m looking forward to seeing more from this author.