Finlay Donovan Knocks 'Em Dead Review

Author: Ellie Cosimano

Series: Finlay Donovan #2

Genre: Rom Com Suspense

Publisher: Minotaur Books

Release Date: Feb. 1, 2022

Order Link: Amazon

4 Hilarious Hearts

Many thanks to Minotaur Books for an arc of this book.

From Edgar-Award nominee Elle Cosimano, comes Finlay Donovan Knocks 'Em Dead―the hilarious and heart-pounding follow-up to Finlay Donovan is Killing It.

Review:

The hilarious escapades of Finlay Donovan is back in Finlay Donovan Knocks 'Em Dead.  Once again, Finlay finds herself struggling to pay the bills as she blows off deadlines and procrastinates on writing her next book even as she gets caught up in trying to reveal the identity of the person who wants her ex-husband dead.  He might have been a lousy, unfaithful husband, but he's a good father to her daughter, and Finlay can't stand by while a hit-man . . . or hit-woman takes him out.  At the same time, Finlay's trying to figure out what's bothering her nanny and best friend Vero even as she tries to stay below the radar of Detective Nick Anthony.  He may be sinfully sexy, but Finlay can't afford to stop and play cops and robbers with him while her family is in danger.  The story that ensues is highly entertaining and a laugh a minute.

Finlay Donovan Knocks 'Em Dead is so much fun to read and really quite heartwarming.  I loved the inclusion of characters from book one as the whole gang returns for Finlay's latest adventure.  A fast paced plot line drives the action through one catastrophe after another as Finlay tries to keep her head above water less she go the same way as her daughter's decidedly dead fish.  Cosimano has mastered the art of comedy with a heavy side of reality and a questionable heroine battling danger in the form of the Russian mob and an unknown hit-person.  Again as in book one, I'm reminded of the hilarious slapstick comedy of Lucy and Ethel that I love so much.  Finlay Donovan Knocks 'Em Dead has it all - action, haphazard sure to fail scenarios that will leave readers laughing and a touch . . . just a hint of romance.  Needless to say, I'm anxiously awaiting book three.  Highly recommended to fans who love to laugh at their heroine - the one who always manages to come out standing in the end.

Synopsis:

Finlay Donovan is―once again―struggling to finish her next novel and keep her head above water as a single mother of two. On the bright side, she has her live-in nanny and confidant Vero to rely on, and the only dead body she's dealt with lately is that of her daughter's pet goldfish.

On the not-so-bright side, someone out there wants her ex-husband, Steven, out of the picture. Permanently. Whatever else Steven may be, he's a good father, but saving him will send her down a rabbit hole of hit-women disguised as soccer moms, and a little bit more involvement with the Russian mob than she'd like.

Meanwhile, Vero's keeping secrets, and Detective Nick Anthony seems determined to get back into her life. He may be a hot cop, but Finlay's first priority is preventing her family from sleeping with the fishes... and if that means bending a few laws then so be it.

With her next book's deadline looming and an ex-husband to keep alive, Finlay is quickly coming to the end of her rope. She can only hope there isn't a noose at the end of it... 

Rules For Engaging An Earl Review

Author: Janna MacGregor

Series: The Widow Rules #2

Genre: Historical Romance

Publisher: St. Martin Paperbacks

Release Date: April 26, 2022

Order Link: Amazon

4 Fiery Hearts

Many thanks to St. Martins Press for an arc of this book

Get ready for lost wills, broody dukes, and scorching hot kissing all over London in Rules for Engaging the Earl by Janna MacGregor.

Review:

Society dictates that Constance Lysander find a husband so her unborn child will be legitimate.  Constance was left penniless by her late husband - a trigamist who married her and two of her now best friends and then disappeared with their dowries. Constance turns to the only honest man she knows - her childhood friend who marched off to war and hasn't returned to see her even though he's been home for some time.  Jonathan, Earl of Sykeston returned from war with some dark shadows threatening him.  His injuries, both physical and mental, have left him a cold, dark hermit - a man suffering from PTSD that avoids contact with others at all cost.  And yet he can't resist responding when the only woman he's ever loved summons him with a request for his hand in a marriage of convenience.  

Rules For Engaging The Earl is the story of two former friends who secretly desire one another and yet both are hiding dark secrets with misguided thoughts of protecting the other.  They embark on a marriage of convenience while trying to deny the fiery attraction simmering between them.  I greatly enjoyed these characters with all their flaws and hangups as they tip-toed their way around each other.  MacGregor does a brilliant job manipulating them both through a plot line that sees them going toe to toe with each other even as they fall more deeply into love.  The support cast added so much depth and reinforcement to the story as readers get to see more of the characters from book 1 which I love.  The author takes this story to another level by tackling issues like PTSD, abandonment and societal prejudices prevalent of the time period.  Sexy, sizzling chemistry that threatens to explode keeps the heat turned up on this spicy historical romance.  Highly recommended to fans of romance, especially historical romance and the friends to lovers trope.

Synopsis:

Constance Lysander needs a husband. Or, so society says. She’s about to give birth to her late husband’s child—a man who left her with zero money, and two other wives she didn’t know about. Thankfully, she has her Aunt by her side, and the two other wives have become close friends. But still—with a baby on the way, her shipping business to run, and an enemy skulking about, she has no time to find the perfect match.

Enter Jonathan, Earl of Sykeston. Returned war hero and Constance’s childhood best friend, his reentry into society has been harsh. Maligned for an injury he received in the line of duty, Jonathan prefers to stay out of sight. It’s the only way to keep his heart from completely crumbling. But when a missive from Constance requests his presence—to their marriage ceremony—Jonathan is on board. His feelings for Constance run deep, and he’ll do anything to make her happy, though it means risking his already bruised heart.

With Constance, Jonathan, and the new baby all together, it’s clear the wounds—both on the surface and in their relationship—run deep. But when the nights come, their wounds begin to heal, and both come to realize that their marriage of convenience is so much more than just a bargain.

Carolina Moonset Review

Author: Matt Goldman

Genre: Suspense Thriller

Publisher: Forge Books

Release Date: May 31, 2022

Order Link: Amazon 

Rating: 4 Forgetful Hearts

Many thanks to Forge Books for an arc of this book.

Review published in Mystery & Suspense Magazine

Both suspenseful and deeply moving, Carolina Moonset is an engrossing novel about family, memories both golden and terrible, and secrets too dangerous to stay hidden forever, from New York Times bestselling and Emmy Award-winning author, Matt Goldman.

Review:

In Carolina Moonset, Matt Goldman probes beneath the seemingly smooth surface of small town life to explore inner family relationships as well as the complex, often volatile relationships between families - especially those of different social status. He takes readers on a journey inside the mind of a man with dementia with virtually no short-term memory, but perfect recall of past memories that threaten to destroy the lives of loved ones in the here and now.  Carolina Moonset is a twisted story of how past memories that refuse to stay buried change the present and future of one small town and its people.

Joey Green returns to his childhood home to help his mom care for his dad Marshall Green who is suffering from advanced dementia.  Joey's surprised how badly his father has deteriorated since he last saw him and is baffled by the weird one-sided conversations his dad is carrying on with deceased childhood friends.  When Joey convinces his mom to take a much needed few days away with friends, he's left to care for his father alone.  There are locks on the doors preventing his dad from getting out, and so Joey leaves him alone for a few hours while he pursues a budding relationship with the daughter of family friends next door.  When Joey returns home to find the back door unlocked and his father eating a fresh picked orange, he has an ominous feeling that something is seriously wrong.  He's proven right when news of the late night murder of a prominent businessman circulates through the town's people the next morning . . . a man his father repeatedly proclaimed to hate.  As the investigation progresses, the past and present clash as all roads lead back to Joey's father as the murderer.  Joey doesn't believe his father capable of murder, but if he didn't do it, who did?  The one character who knows the truth about the past is highly unreliable in spite of his ability to remember past events with precision, and his inability to recall the present means he can not truthfully say that he did not murder a man he considered his arch enemy.  As Joey works to clear his father's name, shocking past events threaten to rock his world and destroy his family.  Will the truth set them free?  Or shatter his family into a million pieces?

Carolina Moonset is an intriguing, twisted story that unfolds at a steady pace charging readers with finding the connection between past and present murders and how they tie to the Green family.  Goldman has rendered a potent story about the power of family, love and secrets.  The poignant late life journey of a man with a mentally debilitating disease is brilliantly depicted, along with the consequences of his past actions to both him and his family.   I found the plot line to be intriguing as I worked to solve the mystery of both past and present murders.  With the introduction of several red herrings, the list of suspects expanded.  I was lucky to figure things out fairly early in the second half, but it didn't diminish my enjoyment of this book in any way.  I highly recommend Carolina Moonset to fans of family dramas, mystery and suspense.  Carve out some time to dive into this mystery and see where it leads you.

Synopsis:

Joey Green has returned to Beaufort, South Carolina, with its palmettos and shrimp boats, to look after his ailing father, who is succumbing to dementia, while his overstressed mother takes a break. Marshall Green’s short-term memory has all but evaporated, but, as if in compensation, his oldest memories are more vivid than ever. His mind keeps slipping backwards in time, retreating into long-ago yesterdays of growing up in Beaufort as a boy.

At first this seems like a blessing of sorts, with the past providing a refuge from a shrinking future, but Joey grows increasingly anxious as his father’s hallucinatory arguments with figures from his youth begin to hint at deadly secrets, scandals, and suspicions long buried and forgotten. Resurfacing from decades past are mysteries that still have the power to shatter lives—and change everything Joey thought he knew.

Especially when a new murder brings the police to his door... 

Unmasked: My Life Solving America's Cold Cases Review

Author: Paul Holes with Robyn Gabby Fischer

Genre: Memoir True Crime

Publisher: Celadon Books

Release Date: April 26, 2022

Order Link: Amazon 

5 Broken Hearts

Many thanks to Celadon Books for an arc of this book.

Review published in Mystery & Suspense Magazine

#CeladonReads #UnmaskedBook

From the detective who found The Golden State Killer, a memoir of investigating America’s toughest cold cases and the rewards--and toll--of a life solving crime.

Review:

If I ever harbored any delusions that monsters aren't real, reading Unmasked shattered them, opening my eyes to the fact that monsters are out there - watching, stalking their next victim, preparing to strike quick as a cobra before fleeing, leaving behind a trail of tears and fear.  What do monsters look like?  Like you and me and the guy in your neighborhood grocery store, a coach playing ball with kids, a co-worker sharing a cup of coffee, a member of your church.  Monsters wear many ordinary disguises while destroying lives, leaving victims and families scarred for life.  

Unmasked: My Life Solving America's Cold Cases is the career memoir of a man, a master criminologist, who's made it his life's mission to solve cold cases by unmasking the monsters that have eluded authorities for years.  And he does so by following the scientific evidence piece by piece.  It's the career story of Paul Holes - his early years working in a lab when he first discovered a cabinet of cold case files, including the Golden State Killer's file, and realized what he wanted to do - what he had to do - with his life, continuing through the middle years as he moved up the professional ranks honing his skills as a forensic scientist and pursuing cold cases, to the later years as he came to understand that his compulsive obsession for hunting monsters and solving cold cases was what he was born to do . . . no matter the cost to his personal life and well-being.  Holes, an admitted introvert, opens the door to his inner soul, and allows readers the opportunity to ride along as he relives some of his highest profile cases.  He speaks candidly of his panic attacks and nightmares of mutilated bodies, his deteriorating personal life, his ever burning need to solve cold cases and bring closure to victims and families.  

Unmasked opens with Holes packing up his office, preparing for the end of his storied professional career. His thoughts turn to the one monster that has eluded him for over twenty years, the one who first lit a burning desire in his gut for working cold cases - the arrogant, notorious EAR Killer aka the Original Night Stalker aka the Golden Gate Killer.  How can he retire without apprehending the most terrifying, illusive serial killer of the twenty-first century?  In order for readers to understand his obsession with this particular criminal, Holes' memoir follows a chronological path through his storied career as a natural born criminal profiler solving both the famous and little known cold cases.  From start to finish, he grips readers' hands and transports them behind the scenes of real investigations, demonstrating firsthand the manner in which forensic science is used to unmask criminals which I find fascinating.  Throughout his career, he repeatedly returns to the GSK case applying the newest technology to the evidence, hoping for a breakthrough.  This reader became so engrossed while reading Unmasked that I forgot that it's a memoir . . . that it's a true story.  I was sucked into the story as surely as if I was reading a favorite suspense thriller.  I repeatedly told myself, "This is real. This is r.e.a.l."  I was consumed by the cases and while my heart hurt for the personal toll it took on Holes, I kept thanking God for men like him who aren't afraid to follow the science and track down the monsters.

Unmasked is a stunning, brutally honest memoir about a complex, highly gifted forensic scientist who sacrificed his own personal life, even his marriage and fatherhood, in his relentless pursuit of monsters.  I highly recommend Unmasked to fans of Memoirs, True Crime, and Suspense Thrillers.  This book entertains like fiction because it's brilliantly delivered in an all engrossing format and pace that makes it impossible to put down and because it's still so hard to comprehend the depravity of some sick humans.  While I know he would not agree or want to hear it, Paul Holes is my Super Hero.  I highly recommend his memoir to everyone.

Synopsis:

I order another bourbon, neat. This is the drink that will flip the switch. I don’t even know how I got here, to this place, to this point. Something is happening to me lately. I’m drinking too much. My sheets are soaking wet when I wake up from nightmares of decaying corpses. I order another drink and swig it, trying to forget about the latest case I can’t shake.

Crime-solving for me is more complex than the challenge of the hunt, or the process of piecing together a scientific puzzle. The thought of good people suffering drives me, for better or worse, to the point of obsession.

People always ask how I am able to detach from the horrors of my work. Part of it is an innate capacity to compartmentalize; the rest is experience and exposure, and I’ve had plenty of both. But I had always taken pride in the fact that I can keep my feelings locked up to get the job done. It’s only been recently that it feels like all that suppressed darkness is beginning to seep out.

When I look back at my long career, there is a lot I am proud of. I have caught some of the most notorious killers of the twenty-first century and brought justice and closure for their victims and families. I want to tell you about a lifetime solving these cold cases, from Laci Peterson to Jaycee Dugard to the Pittsburg homicides to, yes, my twenty-year-long hunt for the Golden State Killer.

But a deeper question eats at me as I ask myself, at what cost? I have sacrificed relationships, joy—even fatherhood—because the pursuit of evil always came first. Did I make the right choice? It’s something I grapple with every day. Yet as I stand in the spot where a young girl took her last breath, as I look into the eyes of her family, I know that, for me, there has never been a choice. “I don’t know if I can solve your case,” I whisper. “But I promise I will do my best.”

It is a promise I know I can keep.

“Paul Holes takes you on a fascinating and sometimes disturbing journey inside the mind of someone who hunts monsters for a living—and in order to live. And his insights on Michelle McNamara—whose loss I still feel every day—are incredible.”
—Patton Oswalt

"Paul Holes is a natural criminal profiler with a talent for describing how the process works. In his book, Unmasked, he marches the reader into the real world of criminal behavior and blends his forensic expertise with his unfiltered personal life experiences as he tackles both cold cases and modern crimes. This is a book you will not be able to put down.”
—Dr. Ann Wolbert Burgess, author of A Killer by Design and co-author of Sexual Homicide 

Cold the Night, Fast the Wolves Review

Author: Meg Long

Genre: YA Fantasy/Sci-Fi/Thriller

Publisher: Wednesday Books

Release Date: Jan. 11, 2022

Order Link: Amazon

 

Rating: 4 Frozen Hearts

*Special thanks to Wednesday Books for an arc of this book.

**Review published in Mystery & Suspense Magazine

A captivating debut about survival, found family, and the bond between a girl and a wolf that delivers a fresh twist on classic survival stories and frontier myths.

Review:

Seventeen-year-old Sena is a seasoned loner, living on the outer edges of society in a small town on the frozen planet of Tundra.  She survives by picking the pockets of rich tourists and while she's good at it, she's not sharp enough to escape being caught by Kalba - a cruel capitalist with a stable of fighting wolves and several sled race teams.  Sena is highly sought after by race teams because she possesses the knowledge to survive the strenuous races - skills learned from her mothers (one a racer and one a scavver) who disappeared in the last annual sled race to the exo-carbon mines.  Ex-carbon, the most valuable resource on the planet, is coveted and controlled by capitalists whose methods of mining are destroying the ice planet.  Through a lot of misfortune and a string of bad decisions, Sena finds herself working for Kalba, trying to heal one of his injured fighting wolves within one month or else.  One catastrophe leads to another, and an injured Sena must flee barely escaping with her life and a killer she-wolf.  A team of scientists takes her and the she-wolf called Iska in and nurses them back to health in exchange for Sena teaching team members the survival skills needed to win the deadly sled race.  Sena refuses to run the race that killed her mothers, but in the end her choices are limited.  The story that ensues is one of the fight for survival against all odds.  One of a young girl and the killer wolf she rescued bonding and finding a way to persevere through a blood-thirsty journey where danger lurks around every bend.  It's a story of the search for truth and justice and the acceptance of family forged by necessity not by blood. 

Cold the Night, Fast the Wolves is an outstanding debut novel with amazing, skillful world building - from the frozen planet to the genetically altered wolves to the predators both animal and human to the different societies and races - it's a visual wonderland.  While I'm not a huge fan of sci-fi, this book captured and totally immersed me in a young girl's race for survival in a harsh world where she doesn't fit in.  I was completely captivated by Sena - her tenacity and determination to overcome all odds and discover exactly what happened to her mothers who were the best sledders on the planet meaning they didn't die from making a fatal mistake.  Sena knows in her gut there's more to what happened than that, and she's determined to find answers even if she dies trying.  

While this story starts out a bit slow, I found every single page of it fascinating.  Long does an impressive job of world building - one scene, one character, one larger than life danger at a time which proves to be highly beneficial as the story progresses and the pace picks up.  Without the meticulous setup, I would have soon lost my way in this complicated world of futuristic beings.  Instead, I was totally immersed in a story that bombarded all my senses as I held my breath several times sure that all was lost.  Author Meg Long proved to me that a futuristic sci-fi story can also be a great suspense thriller.  There's no way to follow Sena on her journey from beginning to end and not get deeply immersed in the mystery of what happened to her mothers - did they succumb to fate . . . or murder?  Or are they still alive?

Cold the Night, Fast the Wolves is an amazing debut novel that has me looking forward to more great things from Meg Long.  It's intense, captivating, detailed and ultra-visual, worthy of reading in one sitting.  I would love to see this book turned into a movie and can only imagine how the big screen would explode with color and creatures and characters and epic life and death battles.  Fans of fantasy and sci-fi will devour this book; however, I also highly recommend it to fans of suspense thrillers.  Cold the Night, Fast the Wolves is a delicious combo of genres that will rattle all your senses. 

Synopsis:

After angering a local gangster, seventeen-year-old Sena Korhosen must flee with her prize fighting wolf, Iska, in tow. A team of scientists offer to pay her way off her frozen planet on one condition: she gets them to the finish line of the planet’s infamous sled race. Though Sena always swore she’d never race after it claimed both her mothers’ lives, it’s now her only option.

But the tundra is a treacherous place, and as the race unfolds and their lives are threatened at every turn, Sena starts to question her own abilities. She must discover whether she's strong enough to survive the wild – whether she and Iska together are strong enough to get them all out alive.

A Thousand Steps Review

Author: T. Jefferson Parker

Genre: YA Historical Thriller

Publisher: Forge Books

Release Date: Jan. 11, 2022

Order Link: Amazon

Rating: 4 Strawberry Fields Forever Hearts

*Special thanks to Forge Books for an arc of this book.

**Review first published in Mystery & Suspense Magazine

A Thousand Steps is a gripping thriller, an incisive coming-of-age story, and a vivid portrait of turbulent time and place by three-time Edgar Award winner and New York Times bestselling author T. Jefferson Parker.

Review:

Laguna Beach, California, 1968 - Hippies, Psychedelic Music and Drugs, Peace Signs, Free-Love, Vietnam War, Politics, Anti-War Protesters vs. Police - the dawning of the perfect storm.  Author T. Jefferson Parker experienced life in the area and has now written A Thousand Steps, a book of fiction, incorporating the historical events of the era into a story about sixteen-year-old Matt Anthony's life and search for his missing sister during a time when the police considered most missing teenagers to be hippie runaways.  The author's expertise with narrative translates into an entertaining coming-of-age thriller that explodes on the pages with all the psychedelic color and sounds of the times while highlighting an often overlooked darker, ominous side where people like Timothy O'Leary preached free love and mind-altering drugs to thousands of young people tripping high on LSD, and con-men, predators and drug dealers helped themselves to the easy pickings.  The entire situation set up the perfect storm for young girls to be spirited away from their families only to disappear without a trace.

A Thousand Steps is a portrait of the times in 1968 - especially in California upon which thousands of young people from across the country converged believing it to be the land of dreams and opportunities.  Through his masterful descriptive prose, Parker has nailed the tone, mood, highs and lows, and good and bad of the era.  He's tapped into the darker side of the hippie movement through the voice of young Matt on his journey of teenage dawning - a sixteen-year-old male whose body is awakening to the wonders of the opposite sex, feeling the stirrings of first love with all the longings associated with his first girlfriend.  A young male toting a lot of responsibility for a teenage boy being challenged to provide for his dysfunctional family (absent dad, stoner mom, brother serving in 'Nam, sister Jazz).  When Jazz fails to come home after several nights, Matt knows in his gut something bad has happened, and it's on him to find her.  When yet another missing girl is found brutally murdered at the bottom of the Thousand Steps, Matt's world implodes with visions of his sister's battered body haunting his dreams.  After being brushed off by police saying she probably ran away, Matt begins his own search and investigation, often skirting around the edges of perverted gangs and groupies - using his artistic talents and sketch pad to move unnoticed among suspicious groups and possible suspects.  He intends to find his sister - dead or alive.

In A Thousand Steps, Matt is on a coming of age journey - navigating a thousand steps down his own road to adulthood.  Whether the author means for Matt's journey to mirror the famous Thousand Steps down to the beach or not, the parallel is notable.  Matt's thrown into the perfect storm and like readers is charged with discovering the fate of the missing Jazz (and potentially hundreds of other missing teenagers) while maneuvering through the mirrors and smoke and psychedelic explosions all around town.  The author does an excellent job weaving the many threads together while keeping the focus of the book on Matt and his experiences growing up in a time of great social and cultural conflict.  For me, the mystery is somewhat secondary, serving as a catalyst for the historical background and coming of age story although I did enjoy the suspense of figuring out what happened to Jazz.  Support characters are well developed and help flesh the story out which concludes with what I suspect many will consider a satisfactory ending.  

All in all, A Thousand Steps is a good fictional depiction of a time of extreme unrest in our country when many young people moved west with unrealistic visions of what the promise land was like.  I love that Parker used young Matt as a protagonist, showcasing his growth throughout the story which is impressive while also highlighting a darker side of the time period.  Before I go, I have to mention the beautiful cover that shimmers with all the psychedelic colors recalled by this story and era.  I highly recommend A Thousand Steps to anyone who grew up in the time period - what a walk down memory lane.  I also recommend it to fans who love historical fiction with a heavy side of mystery and suspense.

Synopsis:

Laguna Beach, California, 1968. The Age of Aquarius is in full swing. Timothy Leary is a rock star. LSD is God. Folks from all over are flocking to Laguna, seeking peace, love, and enlightenment. 
 
Matt Antony is just trying get by.

Matt is sixteen, broke, and never sure where his next meal is coming from. Mom's a stoner, his deadbeat dad is a no-show, his brother's fighting in Nam . . . and his big sister Jazz has just gone missing. The cops figure she's just another runaway hippie chick, enjoying a summer of love, but Matt doesn't believe it. Not after another missing girl turns up dead on the beach.

All Matt really wants to do is get his driver's license and ask out the girl he's been crushing on since fourth grade, yet it's up to him to find his sister. But in a town where the cops don't trust the hippies and the hippies don't trust the cops, uncovering what's really happened to Jazz is going to force him to grow up fast.

If it's not already too late.

A Flicker In The Dark Review

Author: Stacy Willingham

Genre: Suspense Thriller

Publisher: Minotaur Books

Release Date: Jan. 11, 2022

Order Link: Amazon 

My Rating: 4 Flickering Hearts

Special thanks to Minotaur Books for an arc of this book.

From debut author Stacy Willingham comes a masterfully done, lyrical thriller, certain to be the launch of an amazing career. A Flicker in the Dark is eerily compelling to the very last page. In a debut novel that has already been optioned for a limited series by actress Emma Stone and sold to a dozen countries around the world, Stacy Willingham has created an unforgettable character in a spellbinding thriller that will appeal equally to fans of Gillian Flynn and Karin Slaughter. 

Review:

Flicker in the Dark is an intense psychological thriller that turns readers every which way but loose.  It's been awhile since I've been this impressed and entertained by a debut novel.  Willingham has penned a psychological thriller that pushes readers off the deep end, leaving them floundering alongside the characters just out of reach of safety and searching for answers without a clue who to trust and who to avoid like the plague.  An unreliable narrator, psychotic serial killer and a cast of well-manipulated red herrings make it nearly impossible to figure this one out before the reveal at the end.  Strap yourself in for a fast-paced, twisted ride!  

As children, Chloe and Cooper Davis suffered the disastrous fallout of their father's arrest and conviction for the brutal murders of several young local girls.  Being the closest to her father, young Chloe was devastated to be the one who found and turned over the evidence that resulted in her father's conviction.  Alone and guilt ridden, she spiraled into a dark depression where she learned young that solace could be found in alcohol and drugs.  Local gossip, accusations, doubt and guilt hounded Chloe throughout her teenage years, shaping her into a weary, fragile adult struggling with a ton of baggage. 

Twenty years later, thirty-two year old Chloe Davis emits the illusion of finally standing on solid ground, and she is to a point - with heavy daily doses of alcohol and prescription drugs.  Ironically, she's working as a psychologist to young troubled girls while moving ahead with wedding plans to her fiance Daniel in spite of her brother's strong objections.   Chloe feels like she's finally leaving the past behind . . . until a young girl goes missing and then another - both killed with the same MO as her father's victims.  Driven by guilt and the need to finally come to terms with the truth of her past, Chloe begins her own investigation.  Unfortunately, she's not mentally prepared for the revelations and dark secrets that surface when her past and present collide.  As the story and case progress, Chloe worries she's losing touch with reality but the one thing she's sure of is to suspect everyone, trust no one.

A Flicker In The Dark's lyrical prose is beautifully written and smooth as silk with what feels like an experienced author's hand.  Delivered through the voice of an extremely unreliable narrator who's possibly experiencing psychotic episodes of paranoia, the author manipulates characters and readers through twists and turns while dangling numerous well-developed red herrings in front of them.  Transitions from past to present flow seamlessly lulling readers into a false sense of security while filling in much needed back story.  Willingham's expert use of descriptive settings lends an ominous tone to the dark plot, driving the story at warp speed until the big reveal at the end.  I honestly don't remember the last time I was so impressed with a new author's debut novel and mad writing skills.  Willingham is surely an author to watch, and I look forward to reading her sophomore novel when it comes.  Fans of mystery, suspense and psychological thrillers are going to be challenged by the mystery in this book.  Highly impressive for a debut. 

Synopsis:

When Chloe Davis was twelve, six teenage girls went missing in her small Louisiana town. By the end of the summer, Chloe’s father had been arrested as a serial killer and promptly put in prison. Chloe and the rest of her family were left to grapple with the truth and try to move forward while dealing with the aftermath.

Now 20 years later, Chloe is a psychologist in private practice in Baton Rouge and getting ready for her wedding. She finally has a fragile grasp on the happiness she’s worked so hard to get. Sometimes, though, she feels as out of control of her own life as the troubled teens who are her patients. And then a local teenage girl goes missing, and then another, and that terrifying summer comes crashing back. Is she paranoid, and seeing parallels that aren't really there, or for the second time in her life, is she about to unmask a killer?