A Flicker in the Dark was one of those impulsive purchases that I knew nothing about. I’m actually 99% positive I purchased it actually thinking it was All the Dangerous Things. Am I mad that it wasn’t? Keep reading.

The Story

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?

My Thoughts

All in all, this was a good book. To carry on from the intro, I wasn’t necessarily mad that it wasn’t the book I thought it was.

I will also say that this is Stacy Willingham’s debut novel, which is impressive. The writing style continued to move and was engaging overall. One thing I really appreciated was the single POV. I feel a lot of authors (especially thrillers) will add in multiple points of view to pad the story a bit. Willingham committed in A Flicker in the Dark.

Now, if you know me and have read this book, you know I will have to say something…WHY DOES THERE ALWAYS NEED TO BE SUBSTANCE ABUSE? Is that a staple of the mystery/thriller genre right now? There are so many more ways to make someone an unreliable narrator.

I will say that the ending of A Flicker in the Dark got me. It really did. You could kind of feel it coming, but it was a good one.

Now, I will try to get my hands on All the Dangerous Things and let you know what I think of Willingham’s second novel!

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