Review By: Tami Rigling
Published: 2022
Genre(s): Thriller, Mystery, Psychological Suspense
Audience: Grades 12 and Adult
Content Warnings: Murder and violence, kidnapping and missing persons, PTSD and anxiety, drug and alcohol addiction, suicide, strong language
Goodreads Link: A Flicker in the Dark
Publisher’s Summary:
When Chloe Davis was twelve, six teenage girls went missing in her small Louisiana town. By the end of the summer, Chloe’s father had been arrested as a serial killer and promptly put in prison. Chloe and the rest of her family were left to grapple with the truth and try to move forward while dealing with the aftermath.
Now 20 years later, Chloe is a psychologist in private practice in Baton Rouge and getting ready for her wedding. She finally has a fragile grasp on the happiness she’s worked so hard to get. Sometimes, though, she feels as out of control of her own life as the troubled teens who are her patients. And then a local teenage girl goes missing, and then another, and that terrifying summer comes crashing back. Is she paranoid, and seeing parallels that aren’t really there, or for the second time in her life, is she about to unmask a killer? In a debut novel that has already been optioned for a limited series by actress Emma Stone and sold to a dozen countries around the world, Stacy Willingham has created an unforgettable character in a spellbinding thriller that will appeal equally to fans of Gillian Flynn and Karin Slaughter.
Review:
Stacy Willingham’s thriller, A Flicker in the Dark, sends the reader into the unsettling life of Chloe Davis, a successful psychologist whose past is tied to a dark secret: her father is a convicted serial killer. Twenty years later, a new string of disappearances rocks her Louisiana hometown, mirroring her father’s crimes and forcing Chloe to confront the terrifying possibility that the killer is closer than she thinks. The narrative does a commendable job of building a chilling, atmospheric tension, particularly in exploring the psychological toll of trauma and inherited darkness.
The book delves deep into major themes like psychological trauma, the nature of memory and its unreliability, and the weight of a dark past. While the suspense is palpable, the ending, as many readers note, is pretty easy to predict, which slightly diminishes the overall surprise factor.
This is a gripping thriller that I would recommend primarily to adult fans of psychological suspense and domestic thrillers. It is not recommended for young adults due to its mature subject matter, including depictions of violence and psychological distress.
A Flicker in the Dark does not contain any pictures or illustrations. Its cover, a somewhat abstract image featuring a blurred light or dark silhouette, is sophisticated and designed to appeal to an adult mystery audience; it would not likely entice children to pick it up.
As for curricular connections, the book could be used in a college-level Psychology course to discuss the impact of trauma (specifically post-traumatic stress and the lasting effects of familial crime), or in a Creative Writing class to analyze the structure and pacing of a psychological thriller. A fun activity might be to create a murder board or timeline to track the suspects and clues as Chloe does throughout the story, or to discuss the ethical boundaries of a psychologist grappling with personal involvement in a crime. The diversity of the title itself lies in its evocative, metaphoric nature, suggesting a small, fragile light (hope or truth) struggling against overwhelming darkness.
