Many thanks to NetGalley, Flatiron Books and Macmillan Audio for gifting me both a digital and audio ARC of the latest thriller by the wonderful Alice Feeney, wonderfully narrated by Stephanie Racine - 5 stars!

Daisy Darker's entire family is assembling for her Nana's 80th birthday at her gothic manor located on a tidal island. Once the family assembles and the tide comes in, it will be 8 hours before they can leave. The family arrives - Nancy (never called Mom), their father, the three Darker sisters (Rose, Lily and Daisy), their niece, and family friend, Connor. But by the time the first of Nana's 80 clocks strikes midnight, Nana is dead. An hour later, another family member is also dead. And so it goes on...

I was so thrilled to get lost in another Alice Feeney world - and this one was fabulous! I love a good locked room mystery, where the atmosphere is tense and a part of the plot, and everyone is suspect. Everyone is holding on to secrets from their past as well as a whole lot of family dysfunction. Clear your calendar and do not miss this book!

One of the best books I have read all year.

I love strange family dynamics in books and this one has it in spades. The Darker family is full of secrets and everyone is a mess in their own way. I loved it! Daisy was such a fantastic narrator in this story. She does a great job of showing the love she has for them even in their dysfunction.

This is a whodunnit-type read where the Darker family all arrive at Seaglass, the island home of Daisy’s grandmother for her 80th birthday celebration. Though soon, the celebration turns deadly and this family is out through the worst of the worst.

This is one that you want to go in about as blind as possible. Go in blind and simply enjoy the ride!

Another twisted and excellent read by the author! I'll read anything she writes because they are all amazing!

Alice Feeney can do no wrong. Her books are always so twisty and leave me mind blown every freaking time. She’s a genius. This one was a really slow start for me, but man did that ending knock me off my feet and make me want to reread the entire book. Incredible 👏

The atmospheric seaside location, completely surrounded by water at high tide location for this book really ratchets up the suspense and creep factor. It takes place at a cottage named Seaglass that has been home of the Darker family for many generations. Nana, the matriarch is having her 80th birthday and she prefers to celebrate on Halloween, so she calls her entire family to Seaglass, and they meet up on the tiny little island after not speaking to one another for many years. Nana's son Frank, his estranged wife Nancy, and their 3 adult siblings (Rose, Lily, and Daisy) and a close family friend, Conor, who is like a sibling are now at Seaglass together for what will prove to be quite the reunion. However, soon they realize that they may not be alone and there is a more sinister plot in play for their entire family. If you thought your family was dysfunctional, just wait until you meet the Darker family. Feeney provides a classic nod to Agatha Christie's And Then There Were None, as well as her trademark twists and turns throughout the story. Good luck putting this one down.

This book reminds me a bit of an Agatha Christie novel in that it’s a closed door whodunnit type of affair with a interesting cast of people who have secrets and motives. I felt like it was too wordy at times. It had similes and metaphors coming out of the ears and it got me feeling meh at times but I do think the twist is solid. I didn’t guess it! That’s special.

While the dysfunctional family with the terrible secret is a familiar trope, Feeney turns it on its ear here by pairing it with an atmospheric, creepy setting reminiscent of Agatha Christie’s masterwork, And Then There Were None. However, the pre-pub comparisons to Christie’s work helped me guess one of the two big twists. Even so, that did not disrupt my enjoyment of the story.

Feeney has a way of peeling back the layers of her characters to reveal the worst. She writes some pretty horrible humans into her books, and gives us a couple of doozies here. Daisy’s sisters are the worst. Daisy's relationship with her sisters reminded me a bit of the Flavia De Luce series by Alan Bradley, except Daisy's relationship with her sisters was far darker. Feeney explores the lifelong consequences of one bad decision and mixes karma with gleeful revenge.

Fans of Gillian Flynn and Paula Hawkins will enjoy this dark and twisty mystery.

In the author's latest release, we get an adaptation of the well-known Agatha Christie book, And Then There Were None.

The set up was perfect:
A family gathering where the characters don't like each other much.
Trapped in a dilapidated house until the tide changes.
The contentious reading of the will.

At the stroke of midnight, and just about every hour thereafter, something tragic befalls one of the characters in the home. Is the killer someone they know, or is there another person in the house responsible? How things unravel definitely kept me on my toes.

The book title is that of one of the family members, Daisy Darker, who was born with a heart condition. Told in the past and present, we learn how she is basically treated as the "black swan" of the family, too damaged to love. Only two of the family members seem to actually care for her well-being, her Nana who called the family to hear her will prior to her death, and her niece, Trixie. And while it was good to see she had two people on her side, the story highlights all of the times her family mistreated her. And that mistreatment seems to be a warning prior to a new murder being discovered.

I figured out the one twist midway in the book (not sure if that was the author's intent, but the clues are there if you pay attention). However, how the book ended was definitely a surprise. This author always finds a way to shock me.

If you like a good whodunit mystery, check this one out!

This was an advanced reader's copy from @Netgalley for an honest review.

I really liked this one, but I called two of the major twists from the beginning. A good majority was slightly meh, and then it got really exciting at the end. If you are looking for a good mystery (I wouldn't call it a thriller) this is for you. Daisy feels like the invisible sister in the Darker family full of dark secrets. It's definitely worth a read.

This one had a little bit of everything and was a really quick enjoyable read. There was a mysterious island, an old house, chaacters with secrets, and a locked room type mystery with some good twists. I did figure out some of the twists prior to reading them, but that didn't take away from any enjoyment in reading the book.

Let me start off by saying that this review will be super short and super vague, as it’s very hard to talk much about this book without giving something away. To get the full experience of this one, it’s necessary to go into it knowing as little as possible (and yes, that includes NOT reading the blurb if you can help it). Pretty much the only thing you need to know is that this is a murder mystery that revolves around the Darker family, who come together to celebrate the 80th birthday of family matriarch Beatrice (known as Nana throughout the story) at Sea Glass, her decades-old crumbling estate that is only accessible when the tide is low. What happens from there, you will need to read the book to find out.

Having read all of Alice Feeney’s books, there’s no doubt in my mind that she has absolutely mastered the art of the plot twist. Her newest work, aptly titled Daisy Darker, is yet another dark, twisty thriller that takes readers down the path of the unexpected, leaving us guessing every step of the way. Similar to last year’s hit Rock Paper Scissors, Feeney creates an atmospheric setting through the gothic-style,isolated “estate-on-an-island”, though this time around, the house is as much a “main character” in the story as the Darker family that occupies it. I’m not sure if it’s just me, but each book Feeney writes seems to get creepier and creepier, though that’s not necessarily a bad thing, it’s just something to be aware of for those who might be sensitive to such things.

While I’m not a fan of dysfunctional family stories where every single character is deplorable in some way (to the point that I honestly couldn’t bring myself to like anyone, even for a little bit), that didn’t prevent me from being so absorbed in the story that I basically finished this in one sitting. With that said, even though I did “enjoy” this one overall, I wouldn’t consider it a “favorite” (that would actually go to Feeney’s first and fourth novels, for me at least). Even though not all of her books work for me (there’s one in particular that left such a bad taste in my mouth that it almost turned me off to Feeney’s works at one point), I still look forward to reading them (mostly for the story, not the characters), but especially to see what twists she will have up her sleeve next!

Received ARC from Flatiron Books via NetGalley.

Daisy Darker by Alice Feeney



READ THIS BOOK IF YOU LIKE: Mystery and Thriller with creepy undertones

This was one of my most highly anticipated novels for 2022! I love Alice Feeney’s books and eagerly dove into Daisy Darker. I loved the setting of an old Victorian house on the coast, it gives the book a creepy, dark vibe. Once the tide goes out, no one can arrive or leave, essentially forcing everyone to stay put, no matter what. And when family members begin to die off… it’s clear the murderer is someone in the house.

SYNOPSIS:

After years of avoiding each other, Daisy Darker’s entire family is assembling for Nana’s 80th birthday party in Nana’s crumbling gothic house on a tiny tidal island. Finally back together one last time, when the tide comes in, they will be cut off from the rest of the world for eight hours.

The family arrives, each of them harboring secrets. Then at the stroke of midnight, as a storm rages, Nana is found dead. And an hour later, the next family member follows…

Trapped on an island where someone is killing them one by one, the Darkers must reckon with their present mystery as well as their past secrets, before the tide comes in and all is revealed.

Don’t miss this! Published on August 30

An estranged family gather on an island to celebrate the 80th birthday of their patriarch, Nana. The tidal island is inaccessible when the tide rolls in for 8 hours every day. Cue the creepy music. As the family members arrive each come loaded with secrets. All of them find themselves in danger when Nana turns up dead 💀 at the stroke of midnight.

That is all I am going to say about the plot because the less you know the better the story will be. Trust me! This pays homage to Agatha Christie in the best way. I was left reeling by the end and enjoyed every minute of the ride. Fenney’s best book to date.

Thanks to NetGalley for the advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.
#NetGalley #DaisyDarker #AliceFeeney

4.5 ⭐️

think Alice Feeney and I need to take a break...

I have read 4 out of Alice Feeney's 5 books. After being absolutely blown away by Sometimes I Lie, I've been hoping that her successive books will replicate that experience of being left guessing until the very last sentence. That book's ending was magnificent and it is still one of my favorites. However I am sad to say I feel like every successive book I've read, I've liked less and less.

The entire appeal of suspense / mystery is the twist ending. I do not want to be able to guess whodunnit. If I already know, the entire book is pointless, and I guessed 100% correctly from the get go what was happening here. There was one aspect that was surprising, but that didn't shock me after I'd already been proved right about so much else.

This book is an "homage" to Agatha Christie's And Then There Were None. I say "homage" in quotes because I kind of mean "this book is basically a ripoff of And Then There Were None" with a little extra thrown in. We have the same setup, family gathering, everyone's dying one by one, big reveal at the end. meh. (to be fair I didn't care for ATTWN either so if you liked that you might like this too).

2/5 stars, recommend for fans of Agatha Christie but fans of modern thrillers might be able to give this one a pass.

OK so the twist (she's a ghost the whole time) is my least favorite literary trope. But it was very atmospheric and I was into it until the twist was revealed. I liked the nod to And Then There Were None but it definitely made me predict that Nana wasn't actually dead. It was also never explained how Trixie was going to get away with it all, or why she kept saying that Connor's dad looked familiar.

Wow! This is hands down my favorite Alice Feeney book. I am telling everyone I know to get a copy of this one. The mystery & suspense that builds more and more with each page is brilliant! Fans of gothic fiction & phycological thriller fans alike will enjoy this story. It captured my full attention from the first page til the very last sentence. The story of Dasiy Darker & the rest of the Darker family will stick with me for quite some time. This is definitely a book that I'll be rereading that's how good it was, I don't reread books often but this has become a instant favorite of mine worthy of rereading multiple times.

A wonderful homage to Agatha Christie's 'And Then There Were None' with an entitled family that starts falling one by one! The ending was just perfect and I can't wait to read/listen to Feeney's next novel.

Alice Feeney the name means twisty thriller right?!?! I will be recommending this to my followers who are obsessed with thrillers.

Fans of And Then There Were None will devour Daisy Darker.
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Daisy Darker’s family avoids one another. It’s what they’ve done for years, but when Nana turns 80 on Halloween, the family gathers at her seaside home to wish her well. However, once the tide rushes in everyone is trapped in the house until the morning, but midnight brings the death of Nana. As bodies begin piling up, Daisy rushes to figure out who is killing her greedy and imperfect family and why.
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Man every time I think Alice Feeney can’t get me with the twists, she does it AGAIN! I’m obsessed with her and believe she continues to get better and better with every book she puts out. I can’t wait for this adult book to release on August 30 so I can talk about it because I need to so badly! TY @librofm for a copy of the ALC. Seriously preorder this one. I promise you’ll love it!

CW: death, murder, heart condition, car accident, poison, animal death (off page), gun violence, sexual assault

Wow! Alice Feeney has done it again! What an excellent read. While I feel it was slow to start, once you’ve finished, it all make sense. The reader needs the background story of the Darker family and their past mistakes to better understand how they end up together on their grandmother’s 80th birthday. As the story unfolds, and Darker family members start dying one by one, the reader is left trying to figure out who the murderer is and why they are killing everyone. Nothing makes sense until the finale and this one definitely blew me away.