Reviews tagging 'Adult/minor relationship'

A Flicker in the Dark: A Novel by Stacy Willingham, Stacy Willingham

7 reviews

jennaviolet's review against another edition

dark slow-paced

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

0.5

Please don’t read this. There’s a lot of telling and no showing, no getting to the point. You can’t have all of the twists happen it makes no sense. It feels like this author read Sharp Objects, Where the Crawdads Sing, and other similar but better books and just took each plot point she liked and mixed them together. There is such a thing as too much detail. And none of these character relationships or explanations for even minor occurrences make sense or seem researched to even be plausible. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Gun violence, Suicide attempt, Murder, and Alcohol

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Infidelity, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Self harm, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Kidnapping, Grief, Stalking, Suicide attempt, Murder, and Gaslighting

Minor: Violence

clarklyn's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

3.75

I happened to read All the Dangerous Things before A Flicker in the Dark and, after finishing this one, I actually prefer her second novel over her debut. 

The MC, Chloe, drove me nuts. The continuous dumb mistakes, self pity, stupid decisions, and the habit of letting men walk all over her. It was hard to be on her side because she frustrated me so much.

Also…WHY the random hookup with Aaron/Tyler? It felt so out of left field and unnecessary

The overuse of similes and metaphors/ general overwriting combined with a few little plot holes that bothered me makes it lose some points for me. 

I will say, though, I still enjoyed the journey to the plot twist (even though I ended up kind of guessing what was going on.) Anytime a book makes me feel vivid emotions, frustration, anticipation, anger, etc, I know it has completely sucked me in- and Flicker In the Dark did that!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Drug abuse, and Drug use

Moderate: Child death, Death, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Kidnapping, Suicide attempt, and Murder

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Gun violence, Infidelity, Blood, and Stalking

tatjanasbooks's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional reflective tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Child death, Death, Drug abuse, and Drug use

Moderate: Child abuse, Chronic illness, Domestic abuse, Grief, and Murder

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Gun violence, Infidelity, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Blood, Stalking, Suicide attempt, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

radhi_inthelibrary's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious tense fast-paced

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

5.0

THIS BOOK. WOW. I was pulling my hairs out, grinding my teeth, rushing through the pages and having to back track because I couldn't remember what I was reading and the details were a blur. This was that kind of book. And it's been a long, long time since I had read anything that made me cling to the edge of my seat, had me taking breaks from reading and running around the house to process what I had just read. AHHHH I cannot, it was THAT good!!!

Ok, that was mostly my emotions haha, but seriously it was soooo good in sooo many different ways. I mean the plot twists kept twisting left and right! One moment I had made conclusions and in the next moment I had to erase all the ideas formulating in my head, because there were other things at hand, evidence that pointed in all sorts of directions. And omggg the way I was mentally screaming at the fmc (arghhh I want to cryyy)!!! I thought her soooo dumb and stupid for some of the decisions she made, but somehow all of that stupidity worked out and I was so glad for her initial dumb decisions XD. At other times, she made smart moves that definitely did not work for her and made me understand why she continued to resort to those dumb ones lol. As for the ending, I did not see it coming at. all. whatsoever. You know, throughout the book I thought i was the smart one, because I thought I had figured mystery books out...LMAO I was soooo wrong - I definitely DO NOT have them figured out >_< .

Anyway, go read this. Like right now. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Drug abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, Sexual violence, Torture, Kidnapping, Grief, Stalking, Suicide attempt, and Murder

rachelmerrie's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

This held my attention the entire time. I loved the mindset it put me in as far as thinking about the relatives of serial killers and the trauma that comes from it. So many twists at the end. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Child death, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Medical content, Kidnapping, Stalking, Murder, Gaslighting, and Abandonment

lemurdance's review against another edition

dark emotional 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

5.0

Halfway through this book, I mentally took away a star or two for what seemed to confirm the obvious story resolution.

By the end, I gave all the stars back for the unexpected twists.

Chloe is living with the trauma of her childhood, and often her own brain gaslights her into suspicions of those closest to her. As she navigates what seems to be a serial killer copycat of her own imprisoned father, her trust falters for almost everyone around her.

Overall, this is a quick and engaging read and a definite recommendation for anyone with a love of thrillers. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship

melissac0320's review against another edition

dark mysterious fast-paced

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Sexual assault, and Murder