Reviews with content warning for Mental illness - A Flicker in the Dark

It took me a full work day to finish this audiobook, which is a good thing because that means I deeply enjoyed it and found myself immersed into the story. However, the characters made me MAD! Which most times in mystery/suspense books that happens but the reason this book ups it a little is because Chloe is a dumb b*tch. Girl, you are still recovering from years of trauma from your father's arrest and you don't even think to change your name and move further from Louisiana. You move only an hour away and think NO ONE knows who you are. Darling, the case happened in 1999, the beginning times of the internet, and 20 years later, is the height of the internet, yes everyone friggin knows! To honestly believe her fiance did not know was laughable. He definitely knew, but he didn't know how to say it like her other flings and boyfriends. You would think if she's going to keep going through this to just be open and honest to weave people out of her life, but again, no she doesn't. Instead, she gets vulnerable with the wrong people (which isn't always her fault) and is honest at the times she should've been honest before.

Now, I love a good unreliable narrator trope (though imo, anything written in first person is an unreliable narrator, but we will digress). As readers, we are going through the days with her and learn she has mass paranoia and PTSD that makes it difficult for her to trust people. But how you don't trust people but get engaged to a man a year later? Or

Spoiler

fuck the fake reporter only knowing him for like three weeks

? It didn't make sense to me at times and I tried to reason it with her drug abuse and her past trauma, but I can tell the author was not going that route, so her inability to put distance between people has nothing to do with her trauma, though she says it is. She said something about laying down with people to feel another heartbeat against hers, but she gets too close to the wrong guys (except Daniel, though he had his own issues. Like you knew who her dad was and her situation AND still threw her surprise party and sexually choked her during sex. Like dude did not communicate or read the room). I kept wondering what makes a person qualified to be in her circle, in her heart and I didn't get any answers.

MAJOR SPOILER AHEAD

I really wanted it to be Cooper and Daniel as the masterminds of this, but when it turned midpoint, I was hoping it was all three in some crazy way. I loved the twist but I was still disappointed. I don't know why; I just was. Cooper, like many serial killers, don't need a reason for being a murderer and I'm glad the author stuck with that, though the whole "it's the darkness. the devil himself" blew me because not one second did the author introduce them as god worshipping people. It was very believable and the entire book you get clues who's the real guy though, again, Chloe Davis is a dumb b*tch. A lot of ways she reminds me of Pip from AGGGTM by never looking at every angle. She jumped right in and thought it was her fiance and some point I agreed until certain things still bothered me. She kept chasing after him and never took her own advice. The advice that the arms that she kept running to should have been the arms she should've ran away from, and those arms were her brother's.

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opplecopter's review against another edition

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dark mysterious sad 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

3.5

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nxpe's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.5

The first half was a little difficult to get through to be perfectly honest. The way it's written causes you to feel the same confusion as the character, which is great! But I wasn't in the mood to have my brain messed with like that.

The actual twist I did (kind of) guess, but it was still a good twist nonetheless. And it was still interesting seeing how it was played out. I wasn't overly happy with the ending, but I do think the story ended how it needed too. So, that's okay.

Compared to other thriller's I've read, this one feels a lot heavier. Like, a lot of the others have plot twists so insane that it feels very fictional. But this book truly felt like something that could be a true crime story. And that's great, but it's very heavy, and leaves you with a sense of dread after reading it.

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kherndon927's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.0

At first, I thought this was a retelling of BTK. Then he was mentioned in the book. After finishing it, I'm not sure how.to feel about the book.

Chloe is a clearly traumatized adult with an addiction to Xanax. At 12 years old, she turned in the evidence that would convict her father of kidnapping and murdering 6 teenage girls. When it seems a copy cat killer has emerged, she finds herself seeing guilt in the people all around her.

It's hard to believe that Chloe made it through to get her Ph.D without one of her professors realizing she was PTSD. especially after her ex boyfriend gets a restraining order against her. How was counseling not mandated?

The men surrounding Chloe are sus. Daniel with his mysterious missing sister and refusal to speak to his parents, Cooper just showing up at random times and never checking on Chloe, aaron the reporter just showing up in baton Rouge like it's nbd.and so many more.

The reveal wasn't totally unforeseeable and lacked a real oh crap. It all felt flat and it was too much all at once. 3/5

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xmeganlowe's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense fast-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

4.25

Such a good thriller!! The writing was sophisticated and you really got to know the thoughts of Chloe. I really thought I had it all figured out but was shocked by the final revelation of who the killer actually was. That being said, once the true killer was revealed, it did seem very anti-climatic in the way it wrapped up. But I do appreciate that all angles were tackled and resolved in the end.

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tbwhite23's review against another edition

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adventurous dark tense medium-paced

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

3.0

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