Reviews with content warning for Grief - A Flicker in the Dark

Reviews tagging 'Grief'

A Flicker in the Dark by Stacy Willingham

51 reviews

kunthearelinski's review

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adventurous dark mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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rebeccaelizabeth94's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

This was a pretty good mystery I thought I knew where it was going but each twist and turn surprised me. I could feel myself following the trail of clues that Chloe was following. I wish I could say I never believed Daniel was the killer. But I fell down that path too. I did however think that her mom was spelling dad not Daniel with the tiles. I wish we could have heard more from her mom and her silent story. The story line about Daniel’s sister was a little out there for my taste but I appreciated the attention to detail here. All in all it was a good story that kept me coming back for more.

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ravenpuff's review

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dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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yuyuv's review

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adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

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thereadedit's review

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dark mysterious tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

I'm having a hard time deciding where my feelings land on this one. Through most of the book I had trouble wanting to sit down and read it for extended periods of time. I would get 35-50 pages in and I could just walk away without it being an urge to get back to because I had to know what was happening.

And I absolutely hate that I couldn't sit for an extended period of time to get through it. But do not get me wrong. This was a great story. I really enjoyed the twists, turns and the shock of events within the book.

I also wish there would have been more from from Coopers side of things. If we could have seen how it affected him or Daniel for that matter it could have sewn more doubt regarding who did what. I needed more of an explanation for what happened in the end. There was none for some things and I hate that there wasn't. It would have rounded the story more for so many questions that are being asked.

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lilifane's review against another edition

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dark mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

Loved the premise and the ending. It was predictable but interesting enough that it could have been a new favorite. The ramifications it has on a family when the father is a murderer were very interesting, as well as the question if there is a copy-cat or the wrong person had been convicted in the first place.
But I was really annoyed by the unreliable, drunk and drugged, unhinged female protagonist. Especially, since it was unnecessary. I actually liked Chloe because she was so smart and resourceful. There were enough details in the plot itself that made her paranoia and her actions engaging and believable. The drinking and self-medicating just made everything more cliché than it had to be.

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constellation_library's review

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challenging dark mysterious sad tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Initially, I gave this book 3 stars. I liked it, but there were aspects of it that just didn’t make sense to me at first. Once I talked to my husband about it, I bumped that rating up to 4 stars. The main reason for my confusion was that I didn’t catch the overall motive of the killer during the present day. It seemed like the methodology used to pull our MC in again after so many years made little sense once the killer was revealed. Yet, once I sat down and considered everything, it made a lot of sense and was actually very well done. All the pieces fit together so well, and the motivations for everyone made sense (except for one key character, who I still don’t fully grasp the need for other than as a plot device to create drama).

What I liked:

The Pace – it was well written and engaging. The beginning was a bit slower, but since this book leaned more heavily on the “psychological” aspects of the psychological thriller, that was needed to adequately break down our MC’s mind and ability to differentiate reality from delusion. Our MC self-medicates with prescription drugs, usually followed by alcohol. This isn’t much of a spoiler since you see her doing this from the beginning of the story. This causes her to be an unreliable narrator, a trope I don’t LOVE, but one that makes sense for a psychological thriller. The speed ramps up as the pieces begin to fall into place for her, and I read the latter half of this in one sitting last night.

The Atmosphere – this story is set in Louisiana, and as with most stories set in Louisiana, I ate it up. Having visited New Orleans a few years ago, I can vividly remember the sites, the smells, and the oppressive heat. Those senses are utilized well in this story, and I was truly immersed in it all as if I were there.

The MC’s Mental Decline – while I didn’t particularly care for our MC or some of her choices throughout the story, she was believably traumatized, and it worked well for the plot to have her feel like she was losing her mind.

The Twist – it made a lot of sense to me. In my line of work, I’ve seen almost the exact same scenario play out before. There wasn’t anything unbelievable about it to me, and the way that everything finally fell into place at the end, you could see the breadcrumbs laid out along the way. I knew from the beginning who the most likely perpetrator was, so I wasn’t surprised when the reveal happened. But I’m not a person who reads a thriller and feels the need to be completely surprised. Even if we reach an end I saw coming, I can enjoy it if the story was well-crafted along the way.

What I disliked:

The MC’s Inability to Use Her Brain – given that our MC has been traumatized, and therefore is extremely paranoid and closed-off, she makes some very poor decisions over the course of the story, putting herself in stupid positions, lying for no reason, and withholding information that would have prevented a lot of what occurs in the story. I recognize that, were it not for these choices, we wouldn’t even HAVE a story, but I just could not help but feel so incredibly aggravated by her in general. Especially when it comes to a scene toward the end involving the MC’s mother, where she did not hang around long enough to get a real answer, and instead jumped to conclusions that lead to a host of other issues.

The Time Shifts – There are moments in the story where our MC has flashbacks of her past. I have no issue with this as a general rule, but it was at times hard to differentiate where the past ended and the present began. She blended them together, and it typically occurred during a conversation with the police in present day when she would, in the next paragraph, be recalling a conversation with police when she was a child. Then the next line would be dialogue happening in the present time that jarred her back into the moment. It was a stylistic choice to make you feel more in her head, but it was sort of confusing at times, and I had to go back and reread to make sure I was understanding what was happening.

A Certain Character – My biggest gripe, and the main reason I can’t give this book 5 stars, is because one of the characters central to the story, for good or ill, just does not make logical sense to me. The reason for their involvement is so superficial, so glossed over and unnecessary, that I don’t know why they were included other than to be a red herring. And if being a plot device is the only reason, then I feel like it could have been done a bit differently, or, at the very least, that character’s reasoning for participating in everything could have been a bit more fleshed out.

Overall, this book was very enjoyable and I would recommend it to other people who like a heavier dose of mind-fuck in their psychological thrillers. I’ve heard this author recently released another book where the MC has issues with sleep-walking (which is soooo creepy to me), so I may have to dive into that one next.

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