Book Review: A Flicker in the Dark

A FLICKER IN THE DARK | Stacy Willingham
01.11.2022 | Minotaur Books
Rating: 5/5 stars

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. Twenty years have passed, Chloe is a psychologist in a private practice in Baton Rouge and getting ready for her wedding. She thinks she has finally found a future to embrace when her world is turned upside down. 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?

A FLICKER IN THE DARK is a debut thriller from Stacy Willingham that feels like anything but a debut. This book is an absolute masterpiece in plot, pacing, and character study. From the first few chapters I found an easy bond with our main character, Chloe. She’s got a complicated past and is trying to live with a trauma that she can’t seem to put to rest. When teenage girls start going missing, the similarities are far too strong to her father’s crimes of the past for Chloe to ignore and soon she is immersed in the hunt for the truth. What a ride that hunt is! I suspected almost everyone at some point and while I was able to make a few predictions that turned out correct, the last quarter of the book was simply shocking reveal after shocking reveal. A FLICKER IN THE DARK is the binge-worthy thriller we’re all looking for in our lives!

This book is available to buy from: Amazon | Book Depository

A huge thank you to Minotaur Books for my gifted copy!

Disclosure: What Jess Reads is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com. This in no way influences my opinion of the above book.