A Flicker in the Dark: A Novel
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.
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Readers say *A Flicker in the Dark* is a twisty psychological thriller set in Louisiana, praised for its suspenseful plot, engaging writing, and a lik...
We're expected to believe that a teenage girl witnesses another teenage girl being murdered, and her response is essentially, “teehee, naughty!� Four people knew this man was a serial killer, and not one of them decided to go to the police? Not even a hint of internal conflict or survival instinct?
And the scenarios get more absurd. If you suspected your fiancé’s brother was a serial killer, would you invite him over to your house—to cook, no less? Wouldn’t you at least mention your suspicions to someone? Share that tiny detail?
Then there’s the police work—or complete lack thereof. Not one officer thought to look into the one teenager who personally knew all the victims? Especially when it was confirmed they willingly got into a car before their deaths?
To top it off, Daniel solves the whole thing in about two minutes, while everyone else remains utterly clueless. It was frustrating to watch every character ignore glaring red flags and make inexplicable choices for the sake of plot convenience.
In the end, the lack of logic and believability made it impossible for me to stay immersed. A thriller only works if the tension feels real—and this one just didn’t.
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