A Flicker in the Dark Author Stacy Willingham
Audiobook Review
Narrator Karissa Vacker
5 out of 5 stars!
Chloe Davis has successfully moved on from her horrible childhood and the memories. Becoming a psychologist with her own practice, owning a house, and about to marry the man she believes to be the one! The wedding date is fast approaching and she's trying to get the motivation to finalize things. Though the more things tack onto her to-do-list the more she just wants to go down to the courthouse!
When the news of a missing local teenage girl greets Chloe, she's thrown back to that fateful summer. The summer that redefined her life, her family's life, and so much more. The similarities of now versus then are hard to deny, or maybe her mind is just playing tricks on her. Trauma and all that. Only things get more eerie as the cases of missing girls evolve and multiply. Can she unmask a killer again? Will this unravel everything she worked so hard for or just label her as insane?
This audiobook was so fun, and I loved how I figured out whodunit, but the author begins to nudge you like "mmm are you sure?". Doubting your theory and leading you in a different direction. The twists were fantastic and some of them I was like "yup, yup, YUP!". The psychology in this book was phenomenal and I was so intrigued by all of it!
When your father is arrested as a serial killer it tends to change you. Chloe watched as the man who protected her, mentored her, made her laugh, and so much more confessed to being a killer. A killer of not one but six teenage girls! Twelve-year-old Chloe's entire psyche crashing and burning. Years later she tries to understand what normal is and how to be happy. Her and her brother still trying to cope and be good adults.
It was intense listening to the story and everything the siblings had to endure. We've all seen the news stories and coverage about serial killers having families and friends. But we don't fully understand what being one of those family members or friends means. People bombarding you with questions and "did you see any signs", wanting to dissect you like a foreign entity under a microscope. The grief and anger of others and how they bullied Chloe and her family. Being in a smalltown didn't help matters at all. Getting single POV with Chloe and the inside look of how cruel and manipulative people could be even though she was a victim in all this.
This book is a well written suspenseful thriller that has you holding your breath! There's language, violence, psychically abusive domestic violence (not MC's), bloodshed, and deaths. Trauma, PTSD, anxiety, major trust issues, fear, fight or flight, and so much more. May be triggering for some but attempted suicide by a side character, parental abandonment, having to place a parent in a nursing home and the guilt that surrounds that. Resorting to nonprescribed anxiety/depression medication to help calm the mind and relax, addiction from that and abuse of power.
There is some romance and scenes of passion. MF action but not fully detailed out, it fades to black after a certain point.
We do get a conclusion for this book, and I very much enjoyed it. Thrillers don't have a HEA per se, and I love that about the genre! Getting to have what ifs and allowing your imagination to flow. I cannot wait to listen to more reads from this author. Loved the narrator and how she brought all of the characters to life! Her voice for Cooper and how she deepened her voice was great!
Enjoy the book with dual timelines and uncanny parallels however you may read it! Don't forget to give the author some stars!
Amazon.com: A Flicker in the Dark: A Novel eBook : Willingham, Stacy: Books
A Flicker in the Dark by Stacy Willingham, Paperback | Barnes & Noble®
A Flicker in the Dark Audiobook by Stacy Willingham | Rakuten Kobo United States
Stacy Willingham (@stacyvwillingham) • Instagram photos and videos
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