Crime, Mysteries & Thrillers discussion

Hello Fellow Crime, Mystery & Thriller readers,


Welcome to our discussion about A Flicker in the Dark by Stacy Willingham, your discussion leader is Hailey.
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Summary

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?

Staring this good read now.

This is a real page-turner. I have a few reservations about some of the content, but I'm keeping my fingers crossed for a strong denouement.
Chloe appears to be recklessly hurling accusations at anyone who stands still for too long, and the depiction of mental health and medication is somewhat perplexing; it's unclear whether the author Stacy Willingham supports or opposes it.

I finished yesterday , not a strong finish in my opinion. It left me with more questions.

This is the first book that I've read by this author. A Flicker in the Dark is a psychological thriller. The MC suffers from a childhood trauma which has caused her to abuse tranquilizers and alcohol but also steered her onto a professional path as a psychologist. She is haunted by her past and has difficulty trusting people. The bravery she exhibits as she tries to move forward and have a future - that is almost normal - is heroic.

Chloe Davis is damaged, but making the best of her life in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, with a job and a house and a fiance. She is working as a psychologist and working with troubled teens.

When she was 12 six teen aged girls went missing in her small town and her father was convicted and put in jail. Her mother fell apart, attempted suicide and is now in assisted living nearby. Her older brother Cooper understands her but is not in contact very much. This early trauma has greatly upset her life.

Her fiance Daniel is a pharmaceutical representative and very comforting to her. What he does not know is she has issued prescriptions under his name and takes them herself, along with alcohol, on occasions.

When one of her patients is kidnapped immediately after her session with Chloe, she becomes obsessed with the police investigation and suspects everyone of the crime. She uncovers information which she provides to the police, up to the point where they essentially stop listening to her.

When she finally does figure out who is responsible, she is to be the next victim.

This is an amazing debut novel, with some wonderful twists. Unfortunately, I figured out who did it early on. That rarely happens.

All the hype about A Flicker in the Dark? It's true. I started this yesterday morning and read the first half in one sitting.

Now, I am normally a very hospitable person, but when we got unexpected visitors yesterday afternoon, I just wanted them to go away. They didn't. They stayed and stayed, even for dinner - we ordered in - and remarked more than once that I was very quiet (my mind was still on this book). I am grateful that they didn't stay overnight, although the offer was made, and I was pleased to see them but, really, all I wanted to do was read this book. Which is precisely what I did the moment they left.

Honestly, had I been able, I would have read this in one sitting. A Flicker in the Dark is compelling and engrossing reading. While I didn't like Chloe Davis, I could empathise with her and understand why she was the way she was even if, with being a clinical psychologist, she should know better. I was constantly trying to second guess her - were her thought processes logical, affected by her fears, or by her prescription drugs?

I loved the setting, the contrast between Chloe's early life in Breaux Bridge (the Crawfish capital of the World) and her current life in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. But as they say, wherever you go, you take yourself with you, and Chloe certainly has. She carries an enormous amount of guilt - guilt over Lena's death, guilt over her father's arrest, guilt over her neglect of her mother amongst other things. Only the love of fiance Daniel and her brother Cooper sustain her. But Daniel and Cooper don't get on, circling each other like avaricious animals, each certain that only he can protect Chloe from herself and that the other is bad for Chloe's mental health. The pressure on Chloe to choose one over the other is increasing.

So, tense relationships, missing girls, and suddenly the past is becoming the present for Chloe. Journalists are hounding her as the twentieth anniversary of her father's arrest is looming and she is feeling an increasing need to turn to the numerous bottles of pills secreted in her bottom drawer in order to cope. Are her ideas about the identity of the copycat killer (which change regularly) based on fact or are they the result of the opiates with which she regularly self-medicates?

A Flicker in the Dark kept me more than interested right the way through. The plot is tightly woven with tension, intensity and suspense. Chloe's anxiety oozes off the page as does an inherent undercurrent of evil. The characters are so well portrayed, you can hear them breathing.

An engaging and exciting read with never a dull moment.

Rating: 4.5 / 5 ⭐️s

Review: I listened to the audiobook. It had a perfect storyline! I don't typically enjoy an unreliable narrator but this one was done well. It was nicely paced and the characters were mostly likeable. The middle was a little slow but overall, the story was intriguing. The ending was a surprise and perfectly wrapped up the storyline. I enjoyed all of the mini twists and turns. A fantastic debut novel! I also read it might be turned into a limited series which I will absolutely tune into!

Hello Everyone,

I’ve recently finished reading A Flicker in the Dark by Stacy Willingham, and I’m excited to share my thoughts! You can find my full review linked here: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...