A Flicker in the Dark by Stacy Willingham

Happy book birthday to Stacy Willingham! Her debut, A Flicker in the Dark, is out today and you should all scurry out and buy a copy! Fair warning, you will be up late with this one :)

Chloe Davis is the daughter of a serial killer. And it's hung over her like a shadow her entire life. 

To everyone on the outside, Chloe would appear to have it all together these days. A successful psychiatrist, engaged to be married, a gorgeous home...but underneath that facade, she's barely holding it together. And when a teen patient goes missing, everything starts to fall apart. 

This was an absolutely page-turning thriller. I know that gets thrown around a lot, but I don't say it lightly here. 

First, there's the premise. It's not unusual to wonder what happens to the people who fall into the orbit of criminals—whether by coincidence or blood. 

Chloe was just a child when her father was arrested for murder. She lived in a small town where everyone knew her family. It's not the kind of thing you can easily get away from. 

But she built a life beyond that anyway. She moved to Baton Rouge and she focuses on helping troubled teens. She's done everything right. 

But yet, her father's crimes haunt her. 

And that becomes more and more clear when her patient disappears. Everyone around her is afraid that Chloe is headed down a dark path, especially when she starts to draw connections between what's happening today and the murders of her childhood. 

Is she imagining it?

Second, the setting! I'm from Louisiana and while I'm always drawn to books set there, a lot of them don't necessarily ring true. That was not an issue with Willingham's debut! Not at all!

Finally, there's the plot. I love trying to figure out how a thriller or mystery will end and A Flicker in the Dark left me guessing the whole way through. Every time I thought I had it figured out, Willingham threw another twist at me!

A Flicker in the Dark is a fabulous debut perfect for fans of Jennifer Hillier and Catherine Ryan Howard. I thoroughly enjoyed reading it and I cannot wait to see what Stacy Willingham will do next!

Just a little bonus, but it was recently announced that Emma Stone's production company will be adapting the book for HBO Max! 

Order a copy from your favorite india via Bookshop!