A Flicker in the Dark by Stacy Willingham

A Flicker in the Dark
By Stacy Willingham
Narrated by Karissa Vacker
Published January 11, 2022 by Minotaur Books

From debut author Stacy Willingham comes a masterfully done, lyrical thriller, certain to be the launch of an amazing career. A Flicker in the Dark is eerily compelling to the very last page.

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?

Add to Goodreads | Amazon

Review
4 Stars

 Chloe's dad is a serial killer. She spent her youth wrapped up in his story, in his crimes, and while it's made her unable to trust, she's finally figured out her own life, her own story. She's a psychologist, a fiancé, a friend, and a good sister. Sure, sometimes she doesn't feel like she's really happy, but who would be with a background like her? Then a reporter calls, dredging up the past, shaking up her fragile security, and then a girl goes missing. Chloe sees too many similarities, she knows how this works and she won't let the pattern repeat itself.

I'm a thriller girl and I love when a book lets readers go along for the ride in figuring out who a serial killer is. A Flicker in the Dark takes it a step further, giving us the serial killer up front and showing us the impact that made on his daughter's life. Sure, she's a psychologist helping youth now, but the past has shaped her and when the present starts to feel similar, well we all know what trauma can do to someone. With a lot of attention to the psychological state of Chloe, Stacy Willingham takes readers on a who-dun-it copy cat murder investigation in Baton Rouge. I was gripped by this story, I loved the premise, and the writing is far better than I usually see in a debut novel. This one is just very good; while the pacing is slow, the story stays interesting, it's a bit hard to guess what's really going on, and when the pacing does pick up, it's full speed ahead with reveals and twists.

Here's where I struggled with this book; Chloe is a psychologist with plenty of experience, and personal knowledge of teenage angst and family turmoil, so why is she so good at lying both to herself and to others? Her reliance on medication, her drinking, and her ill-placed trust all while touting her intuitive nature just didn't sit well with me. I knew she was an unreliable narrator, I love unreliable narrators, but Chloe presents herself as reliable and what makes her unreliable doesn't feel right. (I need an alternative word for reliable.) It feels forced, like it was the obvious choice, like it wasn't written into Chloe's history and personality. I still enjoyed it, of course it makes all the events that occur plausible, I just didn't like it.

This was, hands down, one of the Top Ten best audiobooks I have ever listened to. I normally love dual narration, I typically choose my audiobooks based on having alternating perspectives, but A Flicker in the Dark just sounded so good and, well, Karissa Vacker is an excellent narrator. She brought the eerie feelings of being watched to life, made Baton Rouge feel somber with the concern of missing girls, and her pacing and breathe made our unreliable narrator feel just the right amount of unhinged. I really enjoyed A Flicker in the Dark, but I loved it because of the audiobook narration. Fellow psychological thriller fans will love this in print or audio. It is an absolutely standout debut novel and I cannot wait to see what stories Stacy Willingham will tell us in the future.