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I have trust issues with books that get optioned into TV shows before they are even released – especially thrillers. Stacy Willingham’s A Flicker in the Dark tries its best to help heal those old issues and is a must-add to your TBR list.
Synopsis from Goodreads:
From debut author Stacy Willingham comes a masterfully done, lyrical thriller, certain to be the launch of an amazing career. A Flicker in the Dark is eerily compelling to the very last page.
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?
In a debut novel that has already been optioned for a limited series by actress Emma Stone and sold to a dozen countries around the world, Stacy Willingham has created an unforgettable character in a spellbinding thriller that will appeal equally to fans of Gillian Flynn and Karin Slaughter.
⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ A Flicker in the Dark Review
My Book of the Month pick for December! Adding the latest thriller to my BOTM box is a habit at this point. Serial Killer? Something spooky on the cover? I’m sold. Rarely has one of these picks stuck with me past a ravenous first read like A Flicker in the Dark. Told from the point of view of the daughter of a serial killer, Chole is the friend that looks ok on the surface but is hiding the depth of her neuroses and trauma. Her work as a psychologist has given her the tools and stability to find love and purpose until local teen girls again start to go missing. A Flicker in the Dark reads as a combination of a traditional hunt-for-a-killer-tropes with the human impact of such violent and vile actions. There is a deep sense of unease that builds through the first half as Willingham slowly unravels the facts and complications within Chole’s search for answers.
Is there a twist? Absolutely. Are you going to guess HOW MUCH of one it is? I highly doubt it. I went from patting myself on the back for figuring (what I thought it was!) out, to all caps messaging my bookish group chat YOU WILL NOT BELIEVE WHAT JUST HAPPENED. Five full and hearty stars for all thriller lovers.
Shameless Book of the Month Plug:
I have been an evangelist for BOTM for over five years and would love to have you join me! Like everything affiliate-based, if you sign up using my link (this one) you get something ($5 for your first book! A monthly refreshing TBR!) and I get a discount on my next box. More books for everyone!