Name: Lizeth Esmeralda's review of Daisy Darker by Alice Feeney
Item: Daisy Darker
Rating: 4.5
Author: Lizeth Esmeralda

Alice Feeney

The New York Times bestselling Queen of Twists returns...with a family reunion that leads to murder. After years of avoiding each other, Daisy Darker’s entire family is assembling for Nana’s 80th birthday party in Nana’s crumbling gothic house on a tiny tidal island. Finally back together one last time, when the tide comes in, they will be cut off from the rest of the world for eight hours. The family arrives, each of them harboring secrets. Then at the stroke of midnight, as a storm rages, Nana is found dead. And an hour later, the next family member follows... Trapped on an island where someone is killing them one by one, the Darkers must reckon with their present mystery as well as their past secrets, before the tide comes in and all is revealed. With a wicked wink to Agatha Christie’s And Then There Were None, Daisy Darker’s unforgettable twists will leave readers reeling. “Wow! Echoes of Christie's And Then There Were None but turned into something wonderfully original and wrapped in a genuinely creepy dysfunctional family fairy-tale of a novel, this takes Feeney to the next level. I LOVED IT!” —Sarah Pinborough, bestselling author of Behind Her Eyes and Insomnia

A Novel

Daisy Darker

Lizeth Esmeralda

But success is a drug: the more people have, the more they want. And Conor has always been a man with something to prove, if only to himself. Sometimes when people try too hard to be more than they are, they end up being less than they were.

 The only nobodies in this world are the people who pretend to be somebody; the people who think they are better than other people because of the way they choose to look, or speak, or vote, or pray, or love. People are not the same but different, they are different but the same.

How do you know the answers to everything?" I asked. She laughed. "I don't, nobody does! But ifI do know more than most, it's because I read. Books will teach you anything you want to know, and they tend to be more honest than people."

People seem to know more about how their phones function than their own bodies. It's bizarre and makes no sense to me.

It has always fascinated me, how people seem to know so little about how their bodies work. But maybe that's because their bodies do work, and it is human nature to take things that aren't broken for granted.

but I never thought I'd live long enough… Which might be why I stopped aiming for a life that felt too out of reach.

Nana shook her head while searching for it, and her curly white hair seemed to dance. I wondered if mine would look like that when I was older. Then I remembered that I would never be old enough to have white hair, and it made me feel so sad. It's odd, the little things that used to upset me. Most people dont want gray or white hair, but in that moment, I did. Maybe people wouldn't complain about getting old all the time if they were scared that they never would. 

I wonder if other people look forward to seeing their families but dread it at the same time the way I always seem to.

I think knowing you might die sooner rather than later does make a person live life differently. Death is a life-changing deadline, and I'm forever in debt to everyone who helped me outstay my welcome.I do my best to pay it forward. I try to be kind to others, as well as to myself, and rarely sweat the small stuff these days. I might not have much in terms of material possessions, but that sort of thing never really mattered to me… Like my favorite resident says every time she sees me: the secret to having it all is knowing that you already do.

Sara Poole

The future is a promise we can still choose whether to keep. The past is a promise we've already broken.

She is a woman who never hides her seasons; she is winter all year round. 

Voices from my past trespass in my present, whispering through the cracks in the windows and floorboards, disguised as the sound of the sea. 

The lies we tell for love are the lightest shade of white.

Courtney Passio

Ellen Chisa

Absolutely loved the twist. I wasn’t crazy about the writing style but that wasn’t make or break for me. 

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

Kate W

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! 

Hannah Colbert

Rebecca Hurd

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!!

Kaylee Ray

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

Daisy Darker is an all-consuming tale of psychological suspense with a spectacular twist from the internationally bestselling author Alice Feeney Daisy Darker’s family were as dark as dark can be, when one of them died all of them lied and pretended not to see . . . Daisy Darker is arriving at her grandmother’s house for her eightieth birthday. It is Halloween, and Seaglass – the crumbling Cornish house perched upon its own tiny private island – is at one with the granite rocks it sits on. The Darker family haven’t all been in the same place for over a decade, and when the tide comes in they’ll be cut off from the rest of the world for eight hours. When the tide goes back out, nothing will ever be the same again, because one of them is a killer . . .

Suyash Goylit

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.

Keely Calagos

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.

Moxie Minion

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.

l ˚｡⋆୨୧˚

** 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 :,)

Bookworm

Kenzi Linton

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.

Shidehdeishidi

Lara Engle

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.

Alexis Donahue

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.

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.

Charlsy Sekyere

⭐️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. 

Gisela Ayala 

Adeline

Vilandra

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.

Jenna Pascale 

Gillian Rose

**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!

Alexa M

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. 

Katie B.

alyssa b

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

Ellen Chisa &
Daisy Darker by Alice Feeney

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Ellen Chisa &Daisy Darker by Alice Feeney

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Daisy Darker by Alice Feeney