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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Published Jan 11, 2022

Average rating: 7.39

178 RATINGS

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Raleigh Women 30+

This is a book club for women in their 30's and up. We read a variety of fiction and non-fiction.

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✨ Summarized by Bookclubs AI

Readers say *A Flicker in the Dark* is a twisty psychological thriller set in Louisiana, praised for its suspenseful plot and engaging writing style. ...

Cresta McGowan
Dec 25, 2025
4/10 stars
Bad. #cooperisthebadguy #knewinchp1
Aundrea todd
Jan 07, 2026
10/10 stars
Wow!!!!
1st time reading this Author.
SHE IS GOOD!!
Just when you think you have it figured out, turn the page!
Bosky
Dec 30, 2025
6/10 stars
So this was predictable story, but was well written for the most part. The author is highly repetitive - that could have been improved upon. Chloe is f'd up. She is a therapist who forges downer prescriptions (Ativan, pain killers, Xanax) some using her fiancé's name and takes the potpourri of pills with wine... lots of wine. She is f'd up because her Dad was charged with killing girls in her small town- girls she was friends with. Her mother tries to commit suicide but unsuccessful and now mute in a assisted care facility. And now her dads 20yr sentence anniversary is coming up- but strangely 1 then 2 additional girls are murdered in present day. But who is killing these girls? Well, turns out that her older brother was the murderer all along, and her Dad took the blame for him. There were some plot holes. OK thriller/murder-y book but not the best.
daph_78
Nov 14, 2025
8/10 stars
Great book but the storyline and even the twist are very similar to "The Locked Door" by Freida MacFadden.
MandiCole11
Oct 29, 2025
6/10 stars
3.75

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