When I picked up "A Flicker in the Dark," I wasn't sure what to expect. The story centers on Chloe Davis, a psychologist who has spent close to two decades trying to outrun her past.
When she was 12, her dad confessed to the murders of six teenage girls in her hometown. She finally seems to have her life on track. She's close with her older brother, has a great fiance and just started her own practice. She struggles with abusing over-the-counter prescription anxiety meds to take the edge off, but other than that, she's happy.
But then girls around her, girls she knows, start going missing and ending up dead, and the similarities are too close to her father's murders to discount. It must be a copycat, as her dad is still locked up, but who? Why?
I'm going to be honest, I didn't think the dad did it from the beginning/ I thought he was covering for the brother, which I don't feel like is a huge stretch. I'm not going to spoil it and tell you if I was right or not, but that's what I thought.
And even though I had my suspicions, I kept reading, because the book is that good. And I'm glad I did. Just when you think you have everything figured out, the book throws a curveball that keeps your head spinning.
The only thing I wish was different about this book is the lack of the father at the end. There were scenes of him before he got arrested, but not many of him after. I know it was hard for Chloe, but the author did such a good job of showing Chloe interact with her mother, and so many others, that I think not showing a post-arrest scene with her father was a missed opportunity.
All in all, I give "A Flicker in the Dark" by Stacy Willingham a 4.5 out of 5 because it kept me guessing, but gave enough clues that I didn't feel kept in the dark, and I'm withholding half a point because of that missing dad scene I mentioned. I would definitely recommend this book to anyone looking to read a good thriller.
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