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Mystery Thriller Suspense

By Self Publishing Titans
A Flicker in the Dark: A Novel

A Flicker in the Dark: A Novel

by Stacy Willingham

4.3 (51409 ratings)
Mystery Thriller Suspense

Published

January 11, 2022

Pages

363 pages

Language

English

Publisher

Minotaur Books

Available Formats & Prices

View on Amazon

Hardcover

$12.65

Paperback

$11.40

Audiobook

$0.00

Audio CD

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About This Book

A New York Times Bestseller “A smart, edge-of-your-seat story with plot twists you’ll never see coming. Stacy Willingham’s debut will keep you turning pages long past your bedtime.” —Karin Slaughter When Chloe Davis was twelve, six teenage girls went missing in her small Louisiana town. By the end of the summer, her own father had confessed to the crimes and was put away for life, leaving Chloe and the rest of her family to grapple with the truth and try to move forward while dealing with the aftermath.

Now twenty years later, Chloe is a psychologist in Baton Rouge and getting ready for her wedding. While she finally has a fragile grasp on the happiness she’s worked so hard to achieve, she sometimes feels as out of control of her own life as the troubled teens who are her patients. So when a local teenage girl goes missing, and then another, that terrifying summer comes crashing back.

Is she paranoid, seeing parallels from her past that aren't actually there, or for the second time in her life, is Chloe about to unmask a killer? 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.

Introduction

In the heart of a small Louisiana town, Chloe Davis grapples with a haunting past and an increasingly treacherous present. As a psychologist, she dedicates her life to deciphering the tangled webs of others' minds, but when an eerily familiar sequence of events resurfaces, she must confront the shadows that threaten her own sanity. Twists of fate mirror her childhood nightmares, forcing Chloe to delve into the dark recesses of memory, trust, and betrayal.

Key Takeaways

Past traumas can cast long shadows over the present. Trust is a fragile construct built on shifting sands. Facing one's deepest fears can illuminate paths to redemption.

Detailed Description

In a town marked by whispered horrors and forgotten terrors Chloe Davis faces a disturbing echo from her past when teenage girls start disappearing once more. As the daughter of a serial killer she's drawn back into a nightmarish world she hoped to leave behind. Encounters with familiar dangers throw Chloe into a maze of suspicion and fear.

She is torn between her instincts and the creeping doubt sown by resurfacing secrets. Each discovery pulls her deeper into a labyrinth of deception and dread challenging her grip on reality. An unrelenting tension permeates every revelation pushing Chloe towards a precarious crossroads between truth and survival.

With fate hanging in the balance Chloe races against time navigating a perilous path where every flicker of light exposes another shadow.

Standout Features

Chloe Davis is a deeply compelling protagonist expertly crafted to evoke empathy and intrigue drawing readers into her inner world of conflict and resilience The narrative weaves a masterful landscape of suspense brilliantly juxtaposing the protagonist's internal battles with external threats This duality creates a palpable tension that grips readers The book's setting provides a rich atmospheric backdrop effectively enhancing the menacing undertones and elevating the psychological depth making every revelation resonate powerfully within the reader's psyche.

Book Details

ISBN-10:

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Specifications

Pages:363 pages
Language:English
Published:January 11, 2022
Publisher:Minotaur Books
Authors:Stacy Willingham

Rating

4.3

Based on 51409 ratings

Customer Reviews

Couldn’t put it down

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kirsten thompson
August 1, 2024

I’m not a big reader but this book was so good. This book was well written, kept my attention and interest. There were so many times I was wrong when I thought I knew who the murder was and was shocked to find out who it was. I would definitely only recommend this book!

Great book!

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Heather L. Weber
September 9, 2024

A little predictable, but a good twist at the end. Overall I really enjoyed this book! I highly recommend you read.

Decent book, extremely obvious plot

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Ankush
June 29, 2023

The audiobook narrator was great, although she had her work cut out having to voice multiple male characters and ended up sounding the same. No harm done; very nice job regardless of the lack of variation. The book itself was decent, but nothing to write home about. It was recommended to me right on the heels of Alice Feeney's "Rock Paper Scissors", so I had high expectations going in. Instead, I deduce that the recommendation system isn't that great. Writing style = good, pacing = great, although there were a few changes in perspective that killed the tension that had been masterfully built up. The book starts a little weak but grows into the story fairly quickly and the writing definitely improves as we get deeper into it. So while a congratulations is due to Stacy W. for a decent first novel, the plot works not because the narrator is Xanax-ed up and unreliable, no no - but because she is plainly and utterly stupid. The plot is extremely obvious and while I don't want to get into it too much here due to spoilers, anyone with half a logical brain will immediately understand who the serial killer is, why some main characters behave as they do (some red herrings are extremely forced and really just serve to make Chloe look extremely paranoid, which - let's face it - she should know how to deal with if she is a practicing psychotherapist). If Chloe was painted out at the start to be a moron, I would have totally bought the story; fine, she doesn't understand what happened and is happening because she doesn't know how to think... but she has a high IQ job? No way. **Spoilers** For instance, D-A- = Daniel and not Dad, really? When her mother has never met Daniel? Why would anyone in any circumstances with a functioning brain think that? The journalist storyline didn't really "fit" well either, very forced; twist for twist's sake. **End Spoilers** So while I would suggest you pick it up if you're getting on a long flight and there's nothing else in the bookstore or you've read everything else, I can't really suggest investing a lot of time in this book and I certainly can't believe why this has 20K 4.5+ star reviews. I'm being harsh and giving 3 stars to pull that average down: 3.7-3.9 stars is where I would place this.

Great book!

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Shelley Iverson
August 16, 2024

Bought this as a gift for my daughter, who loves mysteries, thrillers and horror novels. She said she enjoyed the book and it held her interest to the end.

great psychological suspense novel with an explosion of twists

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Darren M. Reed
July 9, 2022

This was an excellent psychological suspense book that lived up the genre! A lot of plot twists with excellent writing leading the reader to make incorrect assumptions…. The protagonist Chloe clearly has issues stemming from her PTSD. She uses drugs prescription drugs (prescribed from herself) to self medicate her pain. She rationalizes her use like an addict does (I should know I am in long-term recovery). Early in the book you get the feeling that she had some type of obsession with the first girl that went missing from her childhood; Lena. Since this is a psychological thriller my first though of course is that perhaps Chloe has more to do with it than we are led to believe? Especially since she admits wondering if she always knows the difference between reality and her mind… Chloe is the daughter of a convicted serial killer. Her father is serving life in prison for the murder of six girls that were never found. As the book unfolds we learn that Chloe’s fiancé Daniel is has secrets. His whereabouts are not clear or much about his background. When girls start to go missing in the present time he is also awfully familiar with the new case even when he was out of state. Is he involved? Then there is Lena’s father… He seems like the obvious suspect… The book is very enjoyable. My only complaint is how the author depicts Chloe’s prescription drug abuse. She (perhaps unknowingly) normalizes the use of benzos‘s. I wouldn’t say she’s glamorizing drug use but she’s falsifying the safety of it. As a person with love experience with drug and alcohol misuse and a substance use disorder professional I can say that people that abuse drug and alcohol (and make no mistake her use is definitely abuse) for the period of time that she has been -since her college days; escalate into full-blown addiction long before now. The author makes it appear that she can just pop a happy pill whenever she needs and she floats away blissfully without addiction.. Again, I know this was written this way to add to the suspense to add confusion, question reality but as a SUD professional I never like people to think this is normal… Ok enough of my soapbox.. I definitely would recommend this book to anyone look for a good Psychological Suspense read… Read on for some minor spoilers… I feel the very first misdirection the author wants us to go on is questioning Daniel. Chloe‘s brother Cooper has always had her back really doesn’t like him and we keep getting replays of the conversation see it had about Daniel‘s character. After girls start to go missing Chloe receives a call from a reporter from the New York Times wanting to meet and discuss her father and the correlation to the new cases. He believes there is a copycat killer which starts Chloe‘s investigative mind. Then and at the same time the author clearly wants us to think Lena’s dad is the killer Because of his past, his involvement with the family that came out after Chloe’s father was arrested. And later after she confronts him in the present time comments you makes makes him sound like a cold blooded murder. Too me it seems TO OBVIOUS… Read on for more spoilers After Chloe‘s altercation with Lena‘s father she’s sure he is the copycat killer and goes to the police. They seem agitated that she didn’t come forward sooner but say they will follow up. As time goes by they do come back to her and explain that the father turned it around and made her sound crazy. They also bring up her past in college that had a similar situation that actually does make Chloe look like the crazy one. The police basically tell her to mind her own business and stay out of the keys. Then in a sudden jerk you are routed in a different direction… Chloe finds one of the missing girls pieces of jewelry in Daniel’s box in their closet just like she did when she was a child of her own father. Now, she’s certain her fiancé Daniel is the killer. She goes to her journalist friend and shares this revelation and they began to investigate this by visiting Daniels hometown and his mother. This leads to evidence to bolster her believe that Daniel is the killer. However, in a good psychological suspense novel things are never what they seem even when the book is near the end.. the last 20% of the book is explosive with so many revelations that ties everything together…

GREAT book

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Susan K
September 17, 2024

This book is so well written, and the story is so well told. I have been reading murder mysteries for decades, and very few endings have surprised me. This one surprised me. Try it, you won’t be disappointed.