With her debut novel, A Flicker in the Dark, Stacy Willingham has established herself as an up-and-coming thriller author. After completing her Bachelor's degree in Magazine Journalism, she worked as a brand strategist. Writing has been her passion since she was four years old. Thrillers and suspense have been her favorite genres, with Stephen King heavily influencing her writing style.
A recent interview with the author revealed that her fascination with serial killers and crime stories would be explored in her next book.
Quick Synopsis
A Flicker in the Dark follows the story of Chloe Davis, a psychologist whose father confesses to killing six teenage girls when she was 12 years old. Twenty years later, Chloe's life begins to fall apart when local teens start going missing, and she suspects someone around her is involved.
Review
In terms of genre, A Flicker in the Dark is classified as a classic serial killer book. There are twists, turns, and perplexities in this creepy and spine-tingling book. A dark history flows through the story's heart, and a tormented protagonist heads the traumatic events of this tale, making Stacy Willingham's first novel an intriguing read.
In her psychology practice, Chloe Davis works with young people and teenagers who are struggling with trauma, struggles, and darkness of adversity when they are too young to process it. Since Chloe's childhood was marked by darkness, she is familiar with this kind of darkness. During the summer of her twelfth birthday, Chloe's father was arrested and has been behind bars ever since. When Chloe's own father had been arrested as a serial killer, there had been no one to help her process what had happened.
However, now after when a teenage girl goes missing almost exactly twenty years later (Chloe is painfully aware of the approaching anniversary), she worries that the timing and similarities can't be coincidences. Page after page, Willingham's writing keeps the reader's tension high and never allows them to fully relax. Through Willingham's precise hand, we feel empathy toward Chloe, are suspicious of her, and even want to scream at her. Still, she becomes very real because she is a fascinating, multi-dimensional character.
Throughout the book, the reader gets to know many unique and fascinating characters but never feels lost or confused in the world Chloe inhabits. Our only confusion comes from trying to untangle the secrets of the past with these characters, of course.
Also, Willingham seamlessly moves the reader between different timelines, revealing more about Chloe's terrible summer after her father's arrest, as well as how her unresolved trauma threatens to derail her college education, as well as her future career, as well as the new disappearance of teens in today's society.
Throughout the story, the reader is provided with background information about various characters, motivations, and motives; however, this does not threaten to take over or overshadow the current events.
The story has plenty of complex characters, an exciting narrative, plot turns, unreliable protagonists, and a fast pace that will keep your heart pounding. There is something eerie about the shady swamp setting in this novel, which sends chills up and down the reader's spine. In the end, A Flicker in the Dark develops a shocking conclusion that is more than satisfactory!
If we made you curious please check out the book by clicking on the picture below.
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