I just don’t think Alice Feeney is for me.

This was a beautifully written mystery that had me hooked from the start. Daisy Darker and her dysfunctional family are captivating. As the story unfolds you'll find yourself in the middle of a whodunit like no other. Definitely read this one!

This was a pretty decent book!! The writing style was a little too flowery for me especially for a thriller/suspense novel Daisy as a narrator was just very poetic in her explanation of things. But the thriller part was really interesting and made for a great story!!

I’ll admit I did NOT see that twist coming. I didn’t really vibe with the writing style though.

Very heavily inspired by Agatha Christie with a surprising and emotional twist. The writing was good for the most part, with just a few sections feeling like postponing the substance for the final twist. This can usually hurt a story but I felt that the twist here was good enough to balance that. (view spoiler)[I didn't see the big twist coming, definitely didn't think it would be of the paranormal nature. I'd have preferred if it was the result of a mental trauma instead of a full-blown ghost situation, but that would probably not account for certain parts of the story. So, I'll take it. (hide spoiler)] Overall, a good isolated-closed-circle mystery.

This story follows the Darker family, as they all reunite at their Nana's Seaglass cottage to celebrate her 80th birthday. Nana was infamously told by a palm reader years prior that she would die in her 80th year, so when she's found dead on the kitchen floor after the stroke of midnight, the family wonders if the fortune tellers prediction was true.... but then another family member turns up dead... and it's clear nothing is what it seems. This story switches between past and present as you learn more about each Darker family member. There were twists and turns I didn't see coming and while I had an inkling or a few things that ended up being true, I was farrrr from spot on. Overall, I enjoyed this book but I found the writing to be a bit flowery and poetic in a way that felt forced. I typically love this, but it didn't work for me here. The ending was surprising but I was a touch disappointed. I'm the pickiest thriller reader, so take this with the grain of salt. All in all, I would recommend this one and will read more Feeney books in the future.

I binged this in about a day! Something in it just grabbed me and I couldn't put it down. And I will be honest I am sad this is a stand alone, bc I totally love the characters and would love to hear more about them.

** spoiler alert ** alice feeney got me again :,) i didn’t see any of the plot twists coming. i was shocked and very confused - and at first i thought they were trying to frame daisy!! while i did like the story, i didn’t enjoy it quite as much as i’ve enjoyed alice feeneys other books. i feel like it dragged on and left a few things unanswered :( like what’s going to happen to trixie? did daisy end up moving on? what’d they do with nana? (nana’s death scene made me CRY .. this woman killed herself to see her granddaughter ffs😭) i’m not usually drawn to these kinds of thrillers/murder mysteries so i might be a bit biased? i just didn’t love it. i picked it up because it’s alice feeney :,)

Lowkey boring… but I still liked it

What. just. happened??? The ending certainly had a plot twist and I’m still trying to wrap my head around it. I’ll start off by saying I really liked how the story started, however it did feel a bit long and parts of it were just odd and made me feel weird… especially with the way this book ended. Because of that, I’m rating it a 3/5. I liked parts of it, but I didn’t connect with any of the characters and it turned out to just not be what I expected. I truly don’t even know how to explain this book?¿?

it was good. An exciting mystery story with an exciting twist that was taken from one of Agatha Christie's most famous books. But its conclusion was somehow illogical and strange.

If Daisy wrote, "Sometimes [insert banal aphorism]" one more time, I was going to lose my chill. This book was a page-turner for me, but it was not at all surprising and not nearly thrilling enough to be called a thriller. The characters were all terrible people, which doesn't bother me, but they were pretty one-dimensional. I like my terrible people to be complex, and these are not. Anyway, I somehow still kind of liked it, even though I found almost everything about it annoying. Go figure.

Cool “who-dun-it” book… plot twist was a little cheesy at first in my opinion… but I liked how it was incorporated into the book after the reveal. First Alice Feeney book… and I would definitely pick up another book from her.

⭐️3

This was an okay mystery thriller. The first 10 chapters or so of this book piqued my interest, but I didn't feel the excitement or thrill you usually experience when reading thrillers.

The portrayal of a dysfunctional, flawed family filled with secrets and lies, while also bringing out the differences between each family member is done perfectly.

There were some things I wasn't too pleased with, such as the present chapters being repetitive, paranormal-ish twists at the end, and it was surprisingly obvious who the mastermind was early on. I was a bit disappointed with the final reveal/twist, especially the motive for the murders, which I found implausible.

Overall, this book wasn't terrible, but it wasn't great either.

My gosh this book was sad. I had a million in one theories about how this book would end and I didn't realize until too late what it was. It was creepy at times because of the setting and well... the murder... Highly recommend the audiobook the narrator was phenomenal.

4.25

I worked out the twist somewhere around chapter 2, but that really didn’t diminish my enjoyment of the book. It feels like a better written Lucy Foley, and the And Then There Were None influence is apparent. The setting and the characters were very good, and my only complaint was that the reveal felt very rushed, like too much was being explained at once.

Review to come.

**I received an ARC from Flatiron Books as part of a TikTok giveaway** 4.25 stars This is my first Alice Feeney, and I am impressed. I know this story is very similar to Agatha Christie's And Then There Were None, but there was so truly messed-up twists. I figured out something pretty early on, but the killer eluded me and I was shocked! It's a sad, spooky mystery. Definitely put on a Halloween reading list!

Boring. Yawning. Sloppy. Lol, to be fair, I didn’t enjoy And Then There Were None either. I don’t think the picking people off one by one style is for me. However, I heard the twist was ~crazy~ so I picked this one up for a quick audiobook. Ummm super boring, twist was meh. Also the swapping timelines thing did not work, the past was also super boring and I just wanted to get back to the people dying lol.

Even though I had to spoil the ending for myself about 3/4 the way through, I would still give this book 4 stars! The last quarter was SO GOOD! I had to spoil it for myself because it wasn’t moving quite fast enough for the limited amount of time I personally have to sit down and read a physical book. That’s the only reason I’m taking a star away. I’m not overly familiar with the material this is regularly compared to, which might have helped with my enjoyment but might have also aided in the slowness I felt. 

3.5 Ok I have some thoughts. I thought the first like 200-250 pages were really good and thrilling. It has short chapters and was really fast pasted and interesting, and pretty much has the same idea as And Then There Were None which is one of my favorite books. But the whole reveal of the secret Daisy was keeping from the night of the party was so underwhelming and just not her fault at all? And then when the whole mystery was revealed it was still disappointing and underwhelming. It felt like such a good build up to a really boring and stupid ending. 3.5 just because the beginning was really good but kinda feel like I wasted my time with that ending. Don’t know if I would recommend but I am glad I finally got that off my TBR… also took less than a day to read so do with that information as you will!

That ending was crazy. I never in a million years would have seen that coming

Fantastic whodunit! Lots of twists and I really enjoyed the whole story being played out over one night.