Twisty until the end! Chloe Davis was twelve the summer her father confessed to murdering six local girls in their small Louisiana town. Twenty years later, she's planning her wedding and using her traumatic childhood to help other wayward teen girls as a psychologist in Baton Rouge. Chloe pretends she has it all together, but what happened that summer still follows her around, heavy and cloying like the Louisiana humidity. When a new set of teenage girls goes missing, Chloe can't tell if she's imagining the coincidences or if someone is truly pulling off copy cat murders of what her father did 20 years ago. Is she going to unmask a second killer?

I really enjoyed this book! I've never read a mystery/thriller novel and this was such a great introduction. I listened to the audio book and felt it was well paced and Karissa Vacker is great at portraying emotion through her voice. It was occasionally difficult to figure out which character was supposed to be speaking, but the issue quickly resolved itself. I would like to credit my Criminal Minds know-how as the reason I guessed the big plot twist. There were points in the book where I was doubting myself, with new evidence and rabbit holes Chloe would go down, but I was confident in my answer. I enjoyed the challenge this book presented and it did keep me guessing throughout, there were some twists that I never saw coming.

CW: prescription drug use, death, on page sex

Thank you to Net Galley and Macmillan Audio for the audio ARC. This is a voluntary review.

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?

This novel kept me up late at night trying to figure out who the killer was.. The narrator did a wonderful job with each character especially the main character. She set the right mood up to the end of the novel.  The author brilliantly added so many red herrings to the story, I never guessed the ending.  From the beginning this story gripped me with its unsettling premise.  The unreliable narrator and so many twists and turns kept me interested until the end.  This is honestly one of the best thrillers I've picked up.  I hope more readers get a chance to enjoy it when it comes out next year.

Chloe Davis is a psychologist in Baton Rouge preparing to marry Daniel Briggs. When teenage girls begin to go missing, Chloe finds connections between current events and her father being put in jail for similar crimes when she was 12. Chloe works to find connections between the cases. Could her father be involved? Is there a copycat?

I thought this book was well written as it bounced between present and past experiences. The author did a great job of including details that made you think of different possible endings.

Wow. I received an early release of this audiobook thanks to #netgalley and I finished it in a day!

First of all, I did guess the main twist, and started to get really frustrated when it seemed I had guessed wrong. Then things started to get really crazy in the best possible way. The author did a fantastic job of weaving this story together and tying up the loose ends. The only issue I felt was that the pacing lagged a bit a couple of times, but that’s to be expected in a debut thriller.

One thing I really appreciated in this book featuring serial killers is that the author spent almost as much time talking about the victims (specifically Lena) as much as she did the the killers. It was honestly refreshing, and it’s the first time I’ve seen it pulled off this well. I felt the victims were really fleshed our characters.

I enjoyed the narration quite a bit. I only wish she would have read a bit faster through those climactic scenes because I couldn’t stand the waiting!

Twenty years ago young girls started vanishing in Chloe’s small Louisiana town. The summer of terror put everyone on edge, until Chloe’s father confessed to the abduction of the girls. From then on, Chloe has been forever haunted by the actions of her father, being the daughter of a murderer. Now, years later, Dr. Chloe Davis is trying her best to move on, to help others with her physiatry clinic and to plan for her wedding. But the past has its ways of sneaking up on her, when now, in a new town and twenty years later, girls once again start to go missing. Is there a copycat? Or is this all just a big coincidence that Chloe is destined to endure?

A Flicker in the Dark was a quick moving thriller that kept me guessing. Written from Chloe’s perspective, woven between the present and flashbacks to her childhood memories- the story gradually unfolders revealing small bits of information for the reader to piece together. With each new revelation, I started to think I could make connections and figure it out, but really by the end I just did not know who to trust.

Along with a digital arc, I was also privileged to be provided with the audio version of the novel. I thoroughly enjoyed the listening experience. The narrator’s voice was clear and crisp and afforded a listener to get into the story and feel invested with the characters through the narrator’s charisma. I will definitely seek out other books read by this narrator in the future.

Definitely for fans of fast paced plot driven thrillers, it was a good quick read!

I LOVED this. I kept jumping back and forth between what I thought happened and what was happening when the new evidence was presented. I kept second guessing myself. I feel like that is the best kind of mystery/thriller. I would recommend.

OMG! WoW! I loved this debut book! What an amazing thriller. It had me on the edge on my seat the whole book and I couldn't put it down. The story starts out with twelve year old Chloe Davis, who finds out her father is the serial killer who has been killing young girls in town, including her best friend. She watched him being arrested and experienced the aftermath of an angry town. Years later Chloe, now a psychiatrist, finds herself in the center of a new investigation of more young girls coming up missing. No spoilers! I can not recommend this book enough! Thanks so much to #netgalley for the early review copy! This book made it to my 2021 Favorites List!

At the age of 12 years old, Chloe Davis’s father was arrested for killing 6 girls. She lived her life, the daughter of a serial killer, a monster. Now 20 years later, Chloe is a psychiatrist trying to move on from her past, but now girls are starting to disappear again, giving Chloe a sense of deja vu. Are these disappearances connected to her father? Is this the work of a copy cat?

This book had me guessing until the very end. It is full of twists and turns and due to her drinking and prescription drug use, Chloe can be a unreliable narrator, making herself and the reader second guess how she perceives things or if things were real or imagined. The pacing of the book is a little slow at first but takes off towards the end.

The narrator did an amazing job.

All in all an impressive, twisty debut about the daughter of a serial killer who becomes a psychologist due to her traumatic childhood. Seeing her father imprisoned for the murder of several teenage girls, Chloe is left quite damaged. My only problem with this book was how blind ( for a psychologist) the protagonist was to literally everything. The writing was decent, but the story took longer to tell than necessary and Chloe was pretty clueless, even for a shrink prescribing herself Xanax.

Five stars.
This was a book that I couldn’t stop thinking when I wasn’t listening. This is also one of my favorite narrators.
I felt like I thought I know what was going on and then I though “hmmm can I trust Chloe? That’s too obvious. Maybe it’s this one”
I love a novel that can keep my guessing.

A flicker in the Dark was an impressive debut novel and the audiobook has excellent narration by Karissa Vacker. What's not to love about a book with a serial killer, an unreliable narrator and a copycat serial killer! 20 years ago in a small Louisiana town young girls go missing and are found murdered - 12 year old Chloe Davis finds the evidence that ties her father to the murders and sends him to prison. Fast forward 20 years and Chloe is now a psychologist in a private practice, engaged to be married and is trying to move on with her life but she does so with the aid of some alcohol and pills. As she begins planning for her upcoming wedding - copycat murders begin and Chloe is becoming increasingly paranoid. I really enjoyed reading this book and I look forward to seeing what Stacy Willingham writes next. Thank you Macmillan Audio and Net Galley for the opportunity to listen to an advance audio copy of this book!

History seems to be repeating itself in Louisiana. Chloe Davis is a psychologist in Baton Rouge, and 20 years ago in her hometown, teenage girls went missing, and Chloe's dad was eventually arrested and convicted for the murders. For her whole life, she's been known as the daughter of a monster. When girls start going missing again, Chloe fears the culprit is again someone a little too close to home.

Oh my gosh this is the most delicious thriller I have devoured in a long time. I was absolutely hooked from chapter one. I found Chloe unreliable as a perspective and questioned everyone in her life. I did dream up who I thought did it very early on... but I would later have several other guesses throughout the novel. UGH it was just so so so dang good! Stop whatever book you're reading and read this one now.

My one tiny complaint is I wanted more in the ending. There were so many characters I wanted to know more about and we don't get much in terms of an epilogue.

I thought the audio for this book was really solid. I really enjoyed the narrator and have zero complaints about the audio experience!!

Read if... you loved When The Stars Go Dark by Paula McLain.

Engaged psychologist, Chloe Davis, whose job it is to help others deal with trauma, has unresolved trauma of her own. Years ago her father was convicted of killing several teenage girls. Her mother couldn't handle the pain and almost took her own life. The only family she can rely on is her older brother. Years later, she is still paranoid about the men in her life, including her fiance, who seems too good to be true. When a string of new teenage girls begin to disappear, she doesn't know whom she can trust.

The book hooked me from the start. The narrator did an excellent job of conveying Chloe's feelings. The plot was fast paced and the flashbacks were perfectly placed to give the story the necessary background without breaking up the narrative. Although the culprit was pretty obvious to me from the start, I didn't let that ruin the book. I still highly enjoyed it and will definitely read this author's next book.

Thank you Netgalley for this audiobook edition of A Flicker in the Dark by Stacy Willingham.

First, the narration was great! Clear and enjoyable to listen to, well done.

Chloe has been living her life as a pariah, and in constant need for absolution after her father was arrested for the heinous crimes of murdering young girls. Now Chloe is a psychologist, seeking to help and understand others who have been traumatized. But another girl has gone missing all these years later, and Chloe's road to recovery is quickly derailed.

This is a twisty moving suspense whodunit, with great underlying tension. The characters and their history are very three dimensional. My only complaint was the pace, it did tend to drag a bit. Otherwise, very fun read!

Chloe Davis is a successful psychologist living in Baton Rouge and currently planning her upcoming wedding. Although her life seems perfect on the surface, Chloe’s family history is far from it. When Chloe was 12, teenage girls in her hometown began to disappear. By the end of the summer, her father was arrested and charged with six murders. With her father serving life in prison and her mother in a nursing home, Chloe’s closest family member is her older brother.

When one of Chloe’s patients is the second girl to go missing in a span of weeks, old feelings and paranoia start creeping back. Is it a copycat or is someone connected to Chloe’s past to blame?

I think my favorite thing about this book was the feeling of unease while I was reading. Chloe is an unreliable narrator and her internal dialogue kept me on edge the entire time. I was creeped out when she was and at times, started to suspect her as well.

The narrator, Karissa Vacker, did an excellent job and is able to voice both male and female characters well.

Although I did predict the ending, I was still satisfied with the story. The author provides multiple twists and turns that kept me entertained so I very much enjoyed this thriller. 4 stars!

Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for the advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

<b>4.0 Stars</b>
The setup was not particularly original, but this one ended up being really entertaining. The characters and story immediately hooked me in. The story seemed rather predictable but I was happy with some of the choices made in terms of the ending.

I would recommend this thriller to readers looking for a new pageturner.

Disclaimer I received a copy of the audiobook from the publisher for review.

For two decades, Chloe Davis has lived with knowing that her father is in jail for being a serial killer, and she herself had a hand in putting him there.

Chloe hasn't spoken to her father in decades after the trauma of what her father did. Now a psychotherapist in another city with an up and coming wedding, she is doing well for herself until out of the blue, similar disappearances mirroring what her father did all those years ago start to happen. Is Chloe going crazy or does this actually have something to do with her father? Or perhaps even Chloe herself?

An eerie and intriguing story from start to finish, A Flicker in the Dark by Stacy Willingham will surely give you goosebumps, especially listening to audiobook narrator Karissa Vacker bring life and dimension to all of the creepy things that surround Chloe's world. Karissa has made clear and distinct character choices that every time she voiced certain characters, her voice totally changed and one in particular gave me goosebumps every time I heard it. It never lagged and I got through it so quick. I was always on the edge of my seat.

The one negative thing is that it was pretty easy to guess who the killer is from the beginning of the book. In a way that was disappointing, but I also thought it was interesting going on the ride with Chloe to find out how she reacts to what I already knew.

Physiologically haunting, it's the story of how a daughter has coped with what her father did all those years ago while dealing with her own feelings about how she was involved. The fact that she provides her own therapy services to clients adds an interesting and frightening layer to the story.

Stacy Willingham has created a new and original creepy store and I look forward to many more to come!

Thank you to Net Galley, Stacy Willingham and MacMillan Audio/Minotaur Books for the complimentary audiobook listen.

I will be posting about this book on my IG https://www.instagram.com/readwithjd/ within the next few days.

This book is the perfect page turner!

This book grabs you from the first page and keeps your attention throughout!

I saw the ultimate twist coming from pretty much the beginning, which is usually a killer for me, but with this one it didn't make a difference in the slightest. I was still glued to the book and was so excited to have time to walk my dogs so I could listen, and I finished it within 24 hours of starting. There were just so many great things about this book!

The main character was awesome-- real and believable. The secondary characters also jumped off the page, and each of them held just enough suspicion to make you wonder about all of them.

I would 100% highly recommend this book to anyone who loves a good quick read or a solid mystery. I am definitely looking forward to more from this author!

TW: Rape, toxic parent relationship, teenage murder, metal health, cheating, gaslighting

*****SPOILERS*****
About the book: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?
Release Date: January 11th, 2021
Genre: Thriller
Pages: 368
Rating: ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐

What I Liked:
• The writing style was really good
• The storyline sucked me right in

What I Didn't Like:
• The characters are so over the top
• Chloe does stupid things
• The killer is pretty obvious

Overall Thoughts: I don't know but this book gave me serious vibes of the Kevin Bacon show The Following and with a hint of the book A Serial Killer's Daughter: My Story of Faith, Love, and Overcoming (BTK's daughter) .

I was completely sucked into this book from the opening. The tone of the book just catches you and makes you want to know what's going on. Chloe kind of got on my nerves as she wonders around doing dumb girl things like; sleeping with the "killer", sleeping with the "reporter", and putting her finger prints all over the evidence of trinkets taken from murder scenes. It's odd that there would only be her fingerprints over an object that a killer took and had on their home, because at that point wouldn't he be handling the object and not care about prints? Don't cops think about these things?

The part with Bert being the one that shows up just as she was looking him up was odd. I think that was a weak part of the book. So annoying how Bert was taking out all of the shit out on Chloe when she was a kid when her father was murdering. She was 12 when he started yet Bert brings up the fact that she has a Practice and makes 6 figures, it felt so out of place and weird.

Also the random sex scene with Erin was not needed. I hate when books put in sex for no reason. It's like a movie where a women walks out the shower with her boobs hanging out, it serves no purpose. Chloe could have easily shared a random kiss with him and been on her way. I get sex in books but when it serves no purpose, and here it had no place.

It's kind of easy to know it's her brother that's the murderer the whole time. He tries to tell her in the beginning how much better she is than Daniel and even when she was younger he makes out like the girls are total sluts. He clearly just wants Chloe all to himself. I don't even care that it was easy to know he's the killer. I was on the edge of my seat the whole time gasping at certain parts. I feel bad for my co-workers for having to watch me get all dramatic talking out loud. Sorry lol.

Final Thoughts: Read it. It doesn't invent the wheel but it definitely will take you for a ride.

Thanks to Netgalley, Macmillan Audio and Minotaur Books. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
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So... I figured this one out pretty early on but it was still a fun listen getting the the reveal. The author threw enough possibilities in there to make the reader second guess their initial theory.

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