Title: A Flicker in the Dark
Author: Stacy Willingham
Publication: January 10, 2023
Publisher: Minotaur
Genre: Thriller, Suspense
Pages: 384
SYNOPSIS: (From Goodreads)
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.
REVIEW:
This book had been on my TBR pile for quite some time and then one day it popped up while I was searching for an audiobook to listen to. A Flicker in the Dark by Stacy Willingham was more than I was expecting and kept me guessing the whole time.
The story got you interested right from the start. Chloe seemed like a good enough lead character, albeit a bit paranoid it would seem. As soon as things started happening she was instantly suspicious of everyone around her. She was also extremely secretive even with those closest to her, which seemed a bit of a weird behavior all things considering. Overall her story did hook me and I was instantly wanting to know what was going to happen going forward.
Being a naturally suspicious person, I was also automatically suspicious of everyone around Chloe. I even grew suspect of Chloe herself. Everyone was acting weird in different ways and with a serial murderer on the loose, probably not the time to be acting up. Willingham did a great job keeping the intrigue flowing throughout the book and making me second guess every suspicion I had the entire time.
While it was interesting, at times I wondered how this woman would have ever been allowed to be a doctor, and why didn’t her staff or her patients not mention she was acting extremely out of character and unprofessional at times? This made parts a little unbelievable.
Stocked full of great, interesting, and deep characters, Willingham sews a path of suspicion and suspense the entire book as you wonder what is really going on. A must read for thriller lovers!
