Stacy Willingham

A Flicker in the Dark

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.

Hannah Nugent

And in that moment, the moment of the crash, it made me realize that monsters don’t hide in the woods; they aren’t shadows in the trees or invisible things lurking in darkened corners. No, the real monsters move in plain sight.

Anahi Romero

Even in the daytime, I felt the evil lurking just behind every corner. The anticipation that it would be -that It would be me

At twelve years old, GIRL GOES MISSING doesn't have the same sinister implications as it does when you're older. Your mind doesn't automatically flicker to all those horrible places: kidnap-

Luna 🌙

Courtney Passio

This book started off like, “Ooh, okay, maybe this will be fun,” but then… nope. I spent most of it confused, bored, and honestly wondering why I didn’t just scroll TikTok instead. I literally don’t remember much of the plot, which is never a good sign. All I remember is the feeling of meh.

The first third was kinda interesting, I’ll give it that. But when the girls started going missing again in the second third, I lost focus faster than my will to do homework. There were 

 many characters popping in and out that I kept asking, “Wait… who now?” By chapter 35, I had basically predicted the bad guy and the copycat killer. It wasn’t thrilling, just… predictable. Chloe’s weird little interactions were about the only thing keeping me awake.

Most characters were totally forgettable. I didn’t care about them, which made me care even less about the story. Chloe was the only one remotely worth noticing, but that’s about it. The rest? Background noise.

Writing was… fine. Easy to read, zero brain strain, but also zero “wow.” Nothing made me feel like I was actually there, just skimming along.

Honestly? Nah. If you want a real thriller that keeps you awake at night, this ain’t it. Forgettable and painfully predictable. There are way better modern horror/mystery books out there that won’t make you check your phone every five minutes.

 had some potential, but it fizzled faster than my excitement after chapter 10. Confusing characters, a predictable ending, and a general feeling of meh left me disappointed. Skip it, or at least don’t expect to remember it next week.

Tali ⋆.˚🦋༘⋆

Introduction
A Flicker in the Dark by Stacy Willingham
Rating: 2.5 stars
This book started off like, “Ooh, okay, maybe this will be fun,” but then… nope. I spent most of it confused, bored, and honestly wondering why I didn’t just scroll TikTok instead. I literally don’t remember much of the plot, which is never a good sign. All I remember is the feeling of meh.

Plot Analysis
The first third was kinda interesting, I’ll give it that. But when the girls started going missing again in the second third, I lost focus faster than my will to do homework. There were so many characters popping in and out that I kept asking, “Wait… who now?” By chapter 35, I had basically predicted the bad guy and the copycat killer. It wasn’t thrilling, just… predictable. Chloe’s weird little interactions were about the only thing keeping me awake.

Character Analysis
Most characters were totally forgettable. I didn’t care about them, which made me care even less about the story. Chloe was the only one remotely worth noticing, but that’s about it. The rest? Background noise.

Writing Analysis
Writing was… fine. Easy to read, zero brain strain, but also zero “wow.” Nothing made me feel like I was actually there, just skimming along.

Would I Recommend
Honestly? Nah. If you want a real thriller that keeps you awake at night, this ain’t it. Forgettable and painfully predictable. There are way better modern horror/mystery books out there that won’t make you check your phone every five minutes.

Conclusion
A Flicker in the Dark had some potential, but it fizzled faster than my excitement after chapter 10. Confusing characters, a predictable ending, and a general feeling of meh left me disappointed. Skip it, or at least don’t expect to remember it next week.

 I’m conflicted because I was genuinely hooked by this book and enjoyed Willingham’s writing style, but also found the plot pretty predictable and the ending lack luster. Nonetheless a fun, twisty psycho thriller

Kaitlyn Wendler

It starts pretty well, but I found the ending a little bit obvious, I was expecting a really good plot twist.

Overall, it was a fun and light reading, with a great hook.

Luis Letelier

It starts pretty well, but I found the ending a little bit obvious, I was expecting a really good plot twist.

Overall, it was a fun and light reading, with a great hook.



Found the first 2/3 of the book fairly dull and the protagonist was not super exciting to follow. I was expecting a lot more thrill or twist and found neither. Pretty mediocre.

Paige Paul

The ending really saved this one in my opinion. It started out good, was shaky in the middle but the ending had a crazy twist in it

Lauren Dale

Rebecca Hurd

Decent story with an unreliable narrator. She is so consumed with her “father’s” crimes that she never looks deeper to really figure out what happened. I knew who was responsible pretty early on!!

This was such an amazing book. The pacing of the book was great, and the plot twists were insane 

ava<3

Bria

i guess the killer in the first chapter, so that was kinda disappointing.

maya

Cortni Bell

This was a great book. I never saw the end coming. My only problem was I wonder how much research the writer did about Louisiana. For the crawfish boil, we don’t use ole bay! We use zatarain’s or la fish fry products. Also. We don’t have counties, we have parishes. The only state with them. I’m very proud of my state like most people. Just research!

Maybe it's my distrust of men but I didn't trust a single male character this whole time

Megan Christensen

Jonathan Garcia

10/10. Did not expect the plot twist AT ALLLLLL

This book starts with an unnecessarily triggering description of a mentally unwell teenage girl. I was able to mentally push past that just to get 80% of the way through the book where the main character does something I CAN’T stand in books and find incredibly unethical. So I know for those reasons I can't rate it higher than a 3...it's getting a two because quite frankly there were just too many oh my God I can't trust these people in her life and like i get it, but also like couldn't she have at least ONE person in her life who could be trustworthy? Oh she did...but yeah they weren't actually so this poor girl (woman) left the book with literally no ONE. Had that plot twist 80% of the way through NOT happened and she at least got a HEA I THINK I could have gotten up to a 3.5 4 star. <spoiler> I just can't with people who use their horrific experiences as a reason to cheat on an otherwise loyal partner. </spoiler>

Katie B.

“There are so many subtle ways we women subconsciously protect ourselves throughout the day; protect ourselves from shadows, from unseen predators. From cautionary tales and urban legends. so subtle, in fact, that we hardly even realize we’re doing them.”
This book sorta remind me of The Notebook? Gone Girl? Or any kind of romance story with tragic plot that makes this book so unique. As this story came from thriller, I expected lot of detective cases but turn out it’s whole grudges and how we protect our loved ones that keep in the memorials for a long time looks like. 

A Flicker In The Dark, like its name, it’s how we see the little spark among the endless hallway. How the deep love that comes as seeing our beloved every day makes us happy, can turn into whole evil nightmare. I wasn’t really into the character and make me want to re-read this someday if I have time. If you are looking for the detail cases of murder, you probably would never find it in here. But if you love something like psychological thriller (Haunting of Hill House) it probably will your highest forté!

The premise of this book was so strong and it was certainly a page turner. The Louisiana setting constantly gave me chills and was the perfect backdrop for this thriller. 

Knocking off a star because the handful of strange/unanswered plot points and the main character, Chloe. I have a few unanswered questions after finishing the book, about Chloe’s past, her brother, her profession. Somethings aren’t adding up. Chloe could have been stronger. She was complex, but jumping to conclusions became repetitive and her drug use made her unreliable in a way I didn’t enjoy. 

All of that being said I was in a reading slump and wa sable to become addicted to reading again just in time to make my reading goal!

Kristen G

The premise of this book was so strong and it was certainly a page turner. The Louisiana setting constantly gave me chills and was the perfect backdrop for this thriller. 

Knocking off a star because the handful of strange/unanswered plot points and the main character, Chloe. I have a few unanswered questions after finishing the book, about Chloe’s past, her brother, her profession. Somethings aren’t adding up. Chloe could have been stronger. She was complex, but jumping to conclusions became repetitive and her drug use made her unreliable in a way I didn’t enjoy. 

All of that being said I was in a reading slump and wa sable to become addicted to reading again just in time to make my reading goal!

Kenzi Linton

jess larry

the writing style was simple enough to keep me engaged & completely pulled into the story

the plot twist definitely got me fooled, like i was acting so smug thinking i solved everything then boom

there's nothing crazy about this book, i don't have any strong feelings about it but it was a nice & quick read

the locked door is basically an aliexpress version of this book lmao

Great book, the twist was interesting but I wish the ends were tied up a bit better. 

Tate

Mae Erceg

Good, easy read, and interesting characters, but not for me. It dragged on. There was too much back and forth on who did it, everyone’s obsessed with murdering, and I knew how it ended from the beginning. I did enjoy the symbolism and some of the experiences our protagonist Chloe went through. Other than that, I’m glad I’m done reading it and I, sadly, think it’s a bit overhyped. 6/10, would recommend if you want to get it off your tbr, like I did.

Jodie Reads

A page turner till the very end. Did not expect Daniel to actually be a good guy. Aaron being a enemy and manipulative bastard caught me completely off guard. AND COOPER BEING THE KILLER ALL ALONG 😱😱🫣🫣😶‍🌫️😶‍🌫️

Susan

Katelin Hippe

Gripping! Everyone has a secret, and it kept me interested as the plot unfolds and you find out what everyone is hiding. 

Michelle Hruby

Charlsy Sekyere

⭐️2-2.5

A painfully average book. The first half of the book lacked suspense; it was slow, and there was no mystery at all. 

The book gradually started to pick up once the girls started disappearing, but by that point a significant fifty percent of the book had been read. So the pacing wasn't the smoothest in this book. 

However, as terrible as the pacing of the book or the lack of suspense and tension were, Chloe was even less enjoyable. I couldn't stand reading from her perspective. Through the entire book, I found her annoying and exasperating, which made reading this book quite painful. Throughout the novel, we spend a great deal (too much, in my opinion) inside Chloe's head, watching her attempt to play detective (she's not very good at it), panic, consume a great deal of alcohol, and a substantial amount of prescription drugs, become paranoid, and make herself a suspect in Detective Thomas' eyes every time they interact. In truth, having the book narrated by her ruined my reading experience, which is a huge shame, since initially, I was quite intrigued by the fact that it was being narrated by the daughter of a convicted killer.

While I didn't find the twists and turns particularly surprising, I thought they were fine. It was obvious to me who was the presumed copycat the whole time. The mystery isn't particularly great, but the idea/premise of the book isn't bad, but the execution just felt a tad flat and dull.

As a whole, the book is exceedingly average, especially when compared to the thriller mysteries I've read so far this year.

A Flicker in the Dark

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Highlights