MARCH 2022 - AudioFile
An ominous musical intro sets the mood as narrator Karissa Vacker introduces Chloe Davis, a psychologist who is the daughter of a convicted serial killer. Chloe’s entire life has been colored by her father’s crimes. The hushed voice Vacker uses for Chloe is an effective reminder of the character’s ongoing struggles with the past. As the twentieth anniversary of her father’s crimes approaches, several teenage girls disappear, leaving Chloe to face tough questions. Vacker switches easily between the higher female voices and the lower male voices, creating recognizable and believable characters. The gruff smoker’s timbre of Chloe’s brother and the slower speech of the Southern policemen provide contrast to Chloe’s voice. Listeners will enjoy a gripping and twisty story. E.J.F. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award © AudioFile 2022, Portland, Maine
Publishers Weekly
10/18/2021
At 12, Chloe Davis—the protagonist of Willingham’s devastating debut—watched in horror as her father pleaded guilty to murdering six teenage girls from Breaux Bridge, La., and agreed to serve six consecutive life sentences in order to avoid the death penalty. Shortly thereafter, her mother attempted suicide, and her gregarious older brother retreated inside himself. Now, Chloe is a 32-year-old self-medicating Baton Rouge psychologist, whose family history is unknown to nearly everyone but Daniel Briggs, the pharmaceutical salesperson to whom she’s now engaged following a whirlwind romance. Chloe is already apprehensive regarding the impending 20th anniversary of her father’s crime spree, so when a 15-year-old girl disappears from Chloe’s neighborhood, she tries not to panic. A few days later, however, another 15-year-old girl vanishes after leaving Chloe’s office, forcing Chloe to question whether a copycat killer has found her, or her paranoid imagination is seeing patterns where none exist. Willingham skillfully intercuts Chloe’s anxious first-person narration in the present with flashbacks to her childhood, ratcheting up the tension. Atmospheric prose and abundant red herrings amplify the tale’s intensity. Willingham is a writer to watch. Agent: Dan Conaway, Writers House. (Jan.)
From the Publisher
Praise for A Flicker in the Dark
Goodreads – One of the Readers’ Most Anticipated Mysteries of 2022
Nerd Daily – One of the Most Anticipated 2022 Book Releases
Crime by the Book – One of the Most Anticipated Crime Books of Early 2022
SIBA – One of the ‘Read This Next!’ Picks of the Month
Deep South Magazine – Fall/Winter Reading Lists
"Exceptionally smart, entertaining.... [Willingham's] denouement is both surprising and plausible." —The Washington Post
"Beautifully written... a must read." —Paste
“Equal parts domestic suspense and hard-edged police procedural. . . Willingham pulls together a tight, involving plot with a solid psychological look at the effects of a horrid crime on the Davises, the victims’ families and the small community. . . The gripping A Flicker in the Dark sets a terrific course for the new year, shining a bright light on a new author to savor in Willingham.” —Oline Cogdill, South Florida Sun Sentinel
“Charleston author Stacy Willingham’s debut novel A Flicker in the Dark is collecting accolades for its lyrical prose and propulsive, deeply creepy story.” —Augusta Chronicle
“A book you won’t want to put down.” —Red Carpet Crash
“A Flicker in the Dark will have you sleeping with the lights on by the time you reach the end. . . Suspense climbs as the pages turn, you won’t be able to put this one down once you pick it up.” —Daily Hive
“A great addition to any mystery/psychological thriller collection, with an unforgettable character haunted by her past in an authentic Louisiana setting, which ups the creep factor.” —Library Journal
“Willingham skillfully intercuts Chloe’s anxious first-person narration in the present with flashbacks to her childhood, ratcheting up the tension. Atmospheric prose and abundant red herrings amplify the tale’s intensity. Willingham is a writer to watch.” —Publishers Weekly
“Willingham offers taut storytelling and a heroine with compelling vulnerability. This is a strong debut recommended for domestic-suspense readers lining up next-reads.” —Booklist
“I have not felt this excited about a thriller in years. I could not put this book down. It's fabulous.” —Chelsea Cain
"Don't trust anyone in this wickedly good debut by Stacy Willingham. A twisty and propulsive thriller." —Peter Swanson
“A Flicker in the Dark is equal parts lush Southern Gothic, penetrating character study, family tragedy wrenching enough to bruise, taut psychological suspense, and—best of all—a mystery as profoundly satisfying as any I've read in years. Evocative and exhilarating.” —A.J. Finn
"A psychological thriller in the truest sense an engaging, propulsive read, loaded with surprising twists, that genuinely thrills as it gets deep under the skin of its fascinating heroine, Chloe Davis. I tore through this book." —Alison Gaylin
"Haunting, lyrical and utterly compelling! These are just a few of the words of praise one could use to describe A Flicker in the Dark. Author Willingham takes us on an unstoppable journey through the psychology of evil, and of courage (in many senses), all told in a pitch-perfect literary style. Once you start reading, you will not put it down." —Jeffery Deaver
Library Journal - Audio
03/01/2022
When Chloe Davis was 12, six teenage girls in her small Louisiana hometown went missing. Her father confessed to their murders and went to prison after Chloe herself brought evidence to the police. Now she's a psychologist living in Baton Rouge, working with teen girls, and preparing for her wedding. When an apparent copycat killer seems to be focusing on Chloe—in one case, leaving the body of one of her patients somewhere Chloe could see from her office—she has to reconsider everything she thought she knew about her father's crimes. Willingham has written a solid debut thriller with effective pacing and well-timed twists and reveals. Karissa Vacker does a good job voicing the book's unreliable narrator; Chloe's anxiety and frequent self-medication make her doubt her own judgment, and Vacker conveys both her reactions and her questioning of them. Though listeners who consume a lot of thrillers and psychological suspense may predict the plot twists ahead of time, they'll still enjoy the story. VERDICT Recommended for public libraries with well-circulating thriller collections.—Stephanie Klose
Library Journal
12/01/2021
DEBUT Willingham's novel explores the post-traumatic stress disorder experienced by those left in the wake of a serial killer. Chloe is a 32-year-old medical psychologist living in Baton Rouge, LA, who appears to have it together. However, she self-medicates to deal with the anxiety she feels because of trauma experienced when she was 12 years old. That was when Chloe's father was convicted of murdering six girls in the small town of Breaux Bridge, and she and her family were left to pick up the pieces. Now, as the 20th anniversary of the killings approaches, a girl goes missing very close to Chloe's home and office. Chloe comes to suspect that the disappearance is connected to her father. VERDICT A great addition to any mystery/psychological thriller collection, with an unforgettable character haunted by her past in an authentic Louisiana setting, which ups the creep factor.—Lacey Webster, Acadia Parish Library, Crowley, LA
MARCH 2022 - AudioFile
An ominous musical intro sets the mood as narrator Karissa Vacker introduces Chloe Davis, a psychologist who is the daughter of a convicted serial killer. Chloe’s entire life has been colored by her father’s crimes. The hushed voice Vacker uses for Chloe is an effective reminder of the character’s ongoing struggles with the past. As the twentieth anniversary of her father’s crimes approaches, several teenage girls disappear, leaving Chloe to face tough questions. Vacker switches easily between the higher female voices and the lower male voices, creating recognizable and believable characters. The gruff smoker’s timbre of Chloe’s brother and the slower speech of the Southern policemen provide contrast to Chloe’s voice. Listeners will enjoy a gripping and twisty story. E.J.F. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award © AudioFile 2022, Portland, Maine
Kirkus Reviews
2021-09-15
Twenty years after Chloe Davis’ father was convicted of killing half a dozen young women, someone seems to be celebrating the anniversary by extending the list.
No one in little Breaux Bridge, Louisiana, was left untouched by Richard Davis’ confession, least of all his family members. His wife, Mona, tried to kill herself and has been incapacitated ever since. His son, Cooper, became so suspicious that even now it’s hard for him to accept pharmaceutical salesman Daniel Briggs, whose sister, Sophie, also vanished 20 years ago, as Chloe’s fiance. And Chloe’s own nightmares, which lead her to rebuff New York Times reporter Aaron Jansen, who wants to interview her for an anniversary story, are redoubled when her newest psychiatric patient, Lacey Deckler, follows the path of high school student Aubrey Gravino by disappearing and then turning up dead. The good news is that Dick Davis, whom Chloe has had no contact with ever since he was imprisoned after his confession, obviously didn’t commit these new crimes. The bad news is that someone else did, someone who knows a great deal about the earlier cases, someone who could be very close to Chloe indeed. First-timer Willingham laces her first-person narrative with a stifling sense of victimhood that extends even to the survivors and a series of climactic revelations, at least some of which are guaranteed to surprise the most hard-bitten readers.
The story is sadly familiar, the treatment claustrophobically intense.