A Flicker In The Dark by Stacy Willingham

Author: Stacy Willingham 

Title: A Flicker In The Dark 

Publisher: Harper Collins 

Published: 2022

Pages: 384

Genre: Mystery Thriller 

 

     Chloe Davis' father is a serial killer. He was convicted and jailed when she was twelve but the bodies of the girls were never found, seemingly lost in the surrounding Louisiana swamps. The case became notorious and Chloe's family was destroyed. His crimes stalk her like a shadow. Now Chloe has rebuilt her life. She's a respected psychologist in Baton Rouge and has a loving fiance. But she just can't shake a tick-tick-tick of paranoia that, at any moment, it might all come crashing down. As does something darker. It is the anniversary of her father's crimes, and Chloe is about to see her worst fears come true - a girl she knows goes missing. The nightmare has started again...

     It would seem that I keep being drawn to the nondetective verity of the thriller genre this past month. Dipping in and out of subgenres for me at least keeps things fresh and stops me from hitting reading walls.  And whilst there seems to be no rhyme or reason as to when I switch or how long I will stay it has now become habit and thus must continue onwards. Which in part explains how I came to be reading A Flicker In The Dark. A couple of weeks back I managed to make a pilgrimage to one of my favorite bookstores. There after much rooting around I walked out with five new books from this very genre. This one particularly took my fancy as it is not often that you come across a hero who is also the child of a serial killer. All though logically in the real world this must have happened quite a few times. I was also curious to see if Willingham was going to take a more realistic approach to her narrative or go for something a little more Hollywood. 

     Chloe Davis is like a broken vase that has been forced to glue itself back together. We can see the great strength it has taken her to put her life back together after the events of her childhood.  But nevertheless, it is clear to those around her that the cracks still remain.  And given enough stress they may just break back open again. To me, she seems like a well-constructed survivor of trauma. Her actions seem completely plausible within this framework even if to us with a rational mind they can come across as troubling on occasion. What this means is that we are never pulled out of her world but at times we are duped by her paranoia. It allows the author to touch on almost Hitchcockian elements when it comes to her characters. She can lead us this way and that, as each of her supporting cast seems to be well fleshed out. And with so many possibilities bouncing about it means for those who like to try and beat the author to the punch it works perfectly. 

     It is easy to get swept up in this tale of a woman fearing that her childhood has come back to haunt her. In part, this is because the author has created a world that feels familiar to us, so it is not such a stretch to see these people creeping around our own homes or towns. Although if you are questioning if those in your life might be serial killers that might be a whole other thing. Anyway, this was a book that seemed to have been perfectly paced and I was happy to pick it up each time. Her characters play off each other well and you can't help but become invested in the outcome of their predicaments. This book was so expertly crafted that with each twist and turn, I was waiting to see if my suspension were correct. And I have to say that by the time the end came rolling around, I was left feeling very satisfied by the ending. It more than lived up to what I had hoped for. 

     A Flicker In The Dark was one of those books that I was surprised to find out was her debut novel. She delivered a very polished narrative that delivers on all it had promised from the blurb. In a market that seems to have its fair share of domestic thrillers this one really stood out for me