Thank you to NetGalley and Flatiron Books for the eARC in exchange for an honest review.

A run-down, falling-down house surrounded by the sea and a visiting family so fractured it’s a wonder if they are even related.

Daisy Darker has died so many times. Ever since she was young with a heart too weak to beat properly. Her life has been one big question mark of when will it happen next.

It’s no surprise that I was drawn to this one. The mere mentions of anything Agatha Christie inspired whatever has me interested. And I was not disappointed.

This novel starts dark and gets darker as it plays out. One by one people start to die, clues and hints, and macabre poems are left for the remaining to find. Building the tension here is something Alice Feeney does masterfully. Blending beautifully tragic laced prose with delicate and deceiving dialogue left me on the edge of my seat the entire time I was reading.

While familiar elements to Agatha Christie’s And Then There Were None were there, Feeney creates her own mystery masterpiece that is sure to please many.

Amazing !!! OMG i couldn’t put the book down . The plot is unique the characters well developed . You will never decipher the plot . I love her … omg love the book. 100 recommended ..

I love this author and this book was a slam dunk. Did I guess the end? Not even close. This has happened a few times in the past- to the point where I want to reread it to see if I missed something.

Daisy Darker’s family is screwed up. She can always count on her Nana, so when she calls them all to Seaglass, the family home, for her 80th birthday celebration, everyone shows up. But, when family members start being killed and they are trapped by the tide it’s a race to find out what has happened, even though there are clues along the way.

I couldn’t stop turning the pages at the end and couldn’t believe what I read. I would highly recommend!

I was so excited to see a new Alice Feeney book, but this one disappointed. The characters were too over the top, the writing style felt odd and the twist at the end was clever but still felt contrived. The parallels to Agatha Christie were clearly acknowledged but the book needed a new take on the classic other than the way it ended.

Alice Feeney is an auto-buy author for me, and Daisy Darker didn't disappoint.

Daisey is returning to her Grandmother's home on an island for a last birthday party. Her family will all be there and she's not seen them in years.

That's all you really need to know. This is very much a closed-circle, family secrets type of book. The old family home gave the novel gothic vibes, and I loved that. The character development and writing were top-notch and I didn't see the ending coming. I loved this book.

Daisy Darker is my fifth Alice Feeney book. If you’ve read anything by her, you’ll know to expect an unreliable narrator, witty one liners, and some eccentric characters. This one is definitely a slow build, and has a lot in common with ‘And Then There Were None.’ I did figure out the twist early on, but it was still interesting to see it all come together.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the advanced copy.

Alice Feeney is a good writer who knows how to pace a story, and her use of shocking twists is usually successful. So, I was excited to get an ARC of Daisy Darker. I am happy to say that she gave me a 4-star read.

Daisy's Nana is a famous author, Beatrice Darker, who made her fortune writing a children's book titled Daisy Darker's Little Secret. Nana's family consists of her son Frank and his ex-wife Nancy, and their three grown daughters Rose, Lily, and Daisy, as well as Lily's teenage child Trixie. The family is terribly dysfunctional and rarely speaks to one another. But, they all agree to come to Nana's home one Halloween to celebrate her 80th birthday.

Nana, although technically not our heroine, really makes this book work. She is one of the best characters I have read in a while. She lives in a gothic house named Seaglass set on a tiny island off the coast of Cornwall. The house can only be accessed by a sandy causeway when the tide is low. Nana is eccentric and has many wonderful quirks. She has a clock for every year of her life, so there are now 80 clocks in her house chiming the hour every hour. She insists that guests "punch in" with an old time card system when they visit - and punch out when they leave. She puts candy on all her food. She got rid of her landline telephone, and when asked why says, "people kept calling me." It's no wonder that Daisy adores her; I did too.

The family all gather - reluctantly - for Nana's birthday celebration, and the events of the book all take place over the course of one night. That said, we have flashbacks to the past. As the first line of the book states, Daisy was born with a "broken heart." Her heart condition is never explicitly named, but it's made clear that doctors did not think she would live to see adulthood. Daisy is a lonely soul, and the very start of the book is honestly somewhat gloomy, as Daisy ruminates on her empty life, her lack of relationships with her family, and her overall sad state of being. It's made clear right away that something awful happened in the past that drove this family apart, and it's also made clear that Daisy has a dark secret.

To reveal anymore would be a cheat. The story goes on some pretty wild twists and turns and Feeney's trademark surprises-you-did-not-see-coming are here in full force. One twist I did figure out pretty early on, but given the way the story is written, I really don't think the author was trying too hard to keep that one under wraps. The end is shocking as well as unbelievable, but not in a way that doesn't feel authentic to the characters. It's just, as per Feeney's style, a really crazy story. And a LOT of fun to read. Agatha Christie fans will love this, as will anyone who likes a good mystery with some out-there twists.

This book is saved by an ending twist that I didn't see coming, one that actually made my jaw drop. That's not to say its a BAD book, but much of the plot plods along until the end twist, after which i ravenously read the last act of the book well past my bedtime because i HAD TO KNOW what the hell was going on.

I am a firm believer that an ending can justify the rest of the journey. The journey throughout Daisy Darker is a bit convoluted. I love the nod to And Then There Were None. I love that there were actual stakes and people dying. But some of the plot devices did not work for me.

For example, throughout the story, random VHS tapes show up, home movies of what could be seen as pivotal points in the family's history. But to me they don't actually further the plot, nor do they actually tie into the reason that all of this is happening. Each time we flashback to whatever has been recorded, we do get a sense that our titular Daisy felt left out and lonely because of her heart condition, because she had two beautiful and perfect older sisters, but it almost feels like, because of Daisy's recollections of what happened at the time, that the story is trying to set up Daisy as the mastermind, while in the present she's adamant that she is not, and the others don't seem to think her capable either (which is a whole other issue in and of itself).

But Daisy is not the mastermind, though she is the impetus. Read no further if you have not read this book.

I've warned you!

Still here and you have read it (or you're a sucker for spoilers?)

Okay.

Daisy is not the mastermind because Daisy is FUCKING DEAD. It makes zero sense and then it makes all the sense and I immediately began thinking of every interaction, or supposed interaction she had throughout the night. (side note: this is the first time since getting a kindle that i have been angry about it because a physical book would be so much easier to flip through to see the hints and exchanges in a very different light) Daisy is dead and her GRANDMOTHER and 15-year-old NIECE are behind everything, literally killing off their family members because, drumroll please, conor, lily and rose killed Daisy. and the rest of the family knew, at some point.

Talk about shocking. I thought it was a very interesting choice to actually have actual teenagers debate whether to get help for the sister they had just hit with a CAR or to throw her over the cliff to save their futures. I was shocked and appalled and I applaud Feeney's audacity to go through with it. This one action, and the grandmother's heartbreak at finding out the truth and that her whole family had known over the years, and Trixie's connection to Daisy through her shared heart problems and casually being able to see and hear her dead aunt, make the machinations of the night actually feel satisfying. I honestly feel like if this twist hadn't happened, if it had somehow been Daisy all along in some fugue state (which i honestly thought was going to happen as the truth started to come to light) in some bitter need for revenge against a family who wasn't all that bad? who "tortured" her like big sisters would normally do? who stopped talking to her because of some big event when they were younger (which turns out to be her FREAKING DEATH)? That would have felt cheap. But the way direction Feeney chose to go made the journey worthwhile.

YES! Alice Feeney outdid herself with this intricate and flawlessly, dark tale about the Darker family. I believe this engrossing plot kept me up reading for about four days straight. A perfect setting for a gothic, atmospheric vibe with an 80s twist. Once you get pulled into the Darker family's dysfunction, you must know how this storm ravaged night on Nana's Island will end. Because someone has not let go of their anger from the past.....and in the end,,,you will thoroughly enjoy the twist. Very well thought out and immersive. I highly recommend on a dark, and stormy night. for any fans if mysteries, thrillers, and dysfunctional domestic dramas! #daisydarker #alicefeeney #netgalley #goodreads

I am a fan of other Feeney titles and this one did not disappoint. You need to suspend reality quite a bit, but it was an entertaining, fast-read of a thriller. Good read in fall around Halloween!

I love a book that gives me such a twist I have to go back and reread portions! Alice Feeney has a way of dropping tiny, tiny clues along the way...but you don't see them until you go back and reread it AFTER the twist. This one does NOT disappointment.
I love that Alice Feeney keeps her stories very different, no feeling of this being like any of her others...except in that twist!
I feel like I can't say much because I don't want to spoil this one for anyone.
This will be easy to recommend!

Alice Feeney writes another addictive and fast-paced book that draws the reader in from page one. It is reminiscent of And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie. The feeling of isolation and dread amps up the suspenseful story, and you won't see the awesome ending coming!

Well ..... I had an inkling about what was going on, but even then I was pretty much thrown by the whole Sixth Sense type twist. I can't say too much without giving too much away, but I couldn't put this book down. As far as I'm concerned, Alice Feeney has done it again. Definitely will both recommend AND reread this, to see what I missed the first time around.

I went into this blind and I’m glad I did because I really liked it. The characters were all interesting and I liked the twist at the end.

I wish I hadn’t read any description or reviews about this one. It is a twist on a well known mystery book and knowing what happened in that one made this less satisfying. I always enjoy Alice Feeney and this was no different. I wish we could all go in blind for this one.

Alice Feeney can do no wrong!!! This book is another fantastic psychological thriller on her book belt! Love her

An excellent story that left me guessing until the very end. A shocking and unexpected twist that changes everything kept me on the edge of my seat. Well done.

I liked a lot of this book but it is a level bananapants I wasn’t expecting. You know going into it that it’s a riff on And Then There Were None, so the question present all along is “How will this be different?” And by the end it’s different to be certain, but also asking for an ever growing suspension of disbelief. The wtf moments get stacked on top of each other in such a rapid pace as the novel draws to its conclusion that it almost feels like you’re reading a different book.
I will say for the most part I enjoyed Nana so much as a character and wish I could have spent time with her at Seaglass. You know, before all the murdery stuff.

"I was born with a broken heart. The day I arrived into this lonely little world was also the first time I died."

Alice Feeney wastes no time in establishing a mood. From the first chapters of Daisy Darker, the tension is palpable. It starts with a general sense of foreboding as the setting is laid out in vivid detail: a gothic mansion on an island off the coast of Cornwall - which no one can access (or escape) during high tide. The Darker family has gathered there to celebrate Nana's 80th birthday and, just as the tide is rolling in, so is a thunderstorm. The tension continues its steady pulse as we're introduced to the cast of characters and, through flashbacks to Daisy's childhood, learn more about their complicated histories. All of them are holding grudges, but who so tightly they'd be compelled to murder? It doesn't take long for him (or her) to strike, and as the body count grows, so does the suspense - right up to the thrilling conclusion.

Alice Feeney has such a talent for creating atmosphere. Rocky cliffs, black sandy beaches, crashing waves. An aging home full of creaking floors, interconnected rooms, dark cupboards and, most unsettling, an entire wall of clocks that announce a new death each hour. With hauntingly detailed descriptions, it was easy (and scary!) to imagine being there.

Full of twists and turns, Daisy Darker has the feel of a classic locked-room mystery. I had a new theory with practically every chapter. None of them turned out to be correct (which is great because what's the fun in guessing the ending??). Instead, a final twist took me by total surprise and made me immediately flip back to see what clues I'd overlooked. While some details do seem a little far-fetched, agree at the beginning to suspend your disbelief and you won't be disappointed.

My thanks to NetGalley and Flatiron Books for providing me with an advanced copy of this book!

All I can say is WOW! This author really knows how to write a good story. The characters were really well fleshed out and the plot kept me on my toes the whole time! Would definitely recommend to a friend!