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A review by afterplague
Daisy Darker by Alice Feeney
dark
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.5
I don't understand this book. I don't understand it at all.
There is so much nothing that happens in this novel, and I truly do think that it was a little bit unfixable from the start.
Daisy Darker is about the Darker family. There are some kind of interesting pieces right at the start. The setting is really cool: a gothic style house that gets isolated by the tide every night. I like a good locked room mystery, and this room is about as locked as it can get. I also really enjoy anything that is going to give me Clue vibes, and the story seemed to be going that way with a semi-eccentric, easily identifiable cast (the failed actress, the brat, the reporter, etc.)
This is not a mystery novel, though. This is an exploration of a family, and specifically one family's neglect and emotional abuse of one of their daughters. I think that if you dropped the mystery part entirely, this would be a better book. Everything compelling that happens in this novel happens in flashbacks.
Time for spoilers!
This book pulls possibly my least favorite trope of all time. Daisy Darker is the youngest in her family. She was born with a "broken heart" that meant she wasn't allowed to play with her sisters and do the things they were allowed to do while growing up. Daisy has also died multiple times in her past, and if I wanted to get all art critic with it I could say that each death represents a different aspect of her life and self dying. Everyone in her family doesn't speak to Daisy because of an incident that happened many years ago.
Daisy Darker is also DEAD.
Yep. That's the big twist. Daisy's siblings, plus their close family friend, accidentally killed Daisy. They ran her over after a party, and they were all panicked because the driver was drunk and didn't have his license. He convinces them to throw Daisy's body over the cliff and pretend it was all an accident, but as they let go of her they realize she was alive, just stunned.
Honestly, this is not the worst story in the world, but the "she was a ghost the whole time" twist is SO STUPID. There's a reason people don't use this twist anymore. It just makes the audience roll their eyes. I think it mostly made sense within the context of the story, but I wasn't going to read it again to check. I'm pretty sure someone talks to her at one point? I don't know.
The main problem is that in the present day everyone is so stupid. Nana dies, seemingly bludgeoned over the head, and left on the wall is a poem about her family. The poem is also really annoying and is read to the audience a dozen times. Then, the father is killed an hour later. Instead of sticking together and watching for the killer, they keep splitting up and running off. When they ARE together, instead of watching for who might be the killer they get so distracted by home movies that the killer is able to kidnap/kill multiple people who are in the SAME ROOM.
No one seems to have any sense at all in this story and it made it an extremely painful read.
I don't want to spend a single second more thinking about Daisy Darker. I'm sure there's more I could say. There were parts that I enjoyed, but it's just overshadowed by how frustrated and how BORED I was.
I can't recommend this.
There is so much nothing that happens in this novel, and I truly do think that it was a little bit unfixable from the start.
Daisy Darker is about the Darker family. There are some kind of interesting pieces right at the start. The setting is really cool: a gothic style house that gets isolated by the tide every night. I like a good locked room mystery, and this room is about as locked as it can get. I also really enjoy anything that is going to give me Clue vibes, and the story seemed to be going that way with a semi-eccentric, easily identifiable cast (the failed actress, the brat, the reporter, etc.)
This is not a mystery novel, though. This is an exploration of a family, and specifically one family's neglect and emotional abuse of one of their daughters. I think that if you dropped the mystery part entirely, this would be a better book. Everything compelling that happens in this novel happens in flashbacks.
Time for spoilers!
This book pulls possibly my least favorite trope of all time. Daisy Darker is the youngest in her family. She was born with a "broken heart" that meant she wasn't allowed to play with her sisters and do the things they were allowed to do while growing up. Daisy has also died multiple times in her past, and if I wanted to get all art critic with it I could say that each death represents a different aspect of her life and self dying. Everyone in her family doesn't speak to Daisy because of an incident that happened many years ago.
Daisy Darker is also DEAD.
Yep. That's the big twist. Daisy's siblings, plus their close family friend, accidentally killed Daisy. They ran her over after a party, and they were all panicked because the driver was drunk and didn't have his license. He convinces them to throw Daisy's body over the cliff and pretend it was all an accident, but as they let go of her they realize she was alive, just stunned.
Honestly, this is not the worst story in the world, but the "she was a ghost the whole time" twist is SO STUPID. There's a reason people don't use this twist anymore. It just makes the audience roll their eyes. I think it mostly made sense within the context of the story, but I wasn't going to read it again to check. I'm pretty sure someone talks to her at one point? I don't know.
The main problem is that in the present day everyone is so stupid. Nana dies, seemingly bludgeoned over the head, and left on the wall is a poem about her family. The poem is also really annoying and is read to the audience a dozen times. Then, the father is killed an hour later. Instead of sticking together and watching for the killer, they keep splitting up and running off. When they ARE together, instead of watching for who might be the killer they get so distracted by home movies that the killer is able to kidnap/kill multiple people who are in the SAME ROOM.
No one seems to have any sense at all in this story and it made it an extremely painful read.
I don't want to spend a single second more thinking about Daisy Darker. I'm sure there's more I could say. There were parts that I enjoyed, but it's just overshadowed by how frustrated and how BORED I was.
I can't recommend this.