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I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily. All opinions are honest and my own.
Daisy Darker by Alice Feeney Genres: Adult, Fiction, Mystery, Thriller/Suspense
ISBN: 978-1250843937After years of avoiding each other, Daisy Darker’s entire family is assembling for Nana’s 80th birthday party in Nana’s crumbling gothic house on a tiny tidal island. Finally back together one last time, when the tide comes in, they will be cut off from the rest of the world for eight hours.
The family arrives, each of them harboring secrets. Then at the stroke of midnight, as a storm rages, Nana is found dead. And an hour later, the next family member follows…
Trapped on an island where someone is killing them one by one, the Darkers must reckon with their present mystery as well as their past secrets, before the tide comes in and all is revealed.
ASIN: B09NJ8QK38
Published by Flatiron Books on August 30, 2022
Pages: 352
Format: ARC, Hardcover
Source: Book of the Month
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Alice Feeney is a well-known author; this is the first book I’ve read from her. After reading Daisy Darker, I’ll for sure pick up this author’s other books.
I got Daisy Darker from Book of the Month, and I chose this particular book because the blurb reminded me so much of the classic movie, Clue.
However, Daisy Daker is much darker and creepy than the comical movie Clue. But that didn’t make this book any less enjoyable for me.
Daisy Darker and the rest of her family are invited to Nana’s house for her 80th birthday. Seaglass is a lovely castle in the middle of the water, so once the tide’s in, there’s no leaving until it goes back out. It’s the perfect setting for murder, right?
This family is unbelievable – they’re all horrible to one another, and going through the flashbacks, you realize they were always terrible people. It’s quite sad. But then, someone in the house starts plucking them off one by one.
I had quite a few guesses throughout the book about whodunit, but I was wrong on every account. This author is amazing at twists.
I thought the story itself was written well, too. The family is stuck in the house together, reliving memories through old home movies they found in the house. So, we get a good amount of backstory from what the family was like growing up, only to go back into the present and discover someone else has been murdered. It was done so that you feel sucked into the home movies and forget about the present – much like the characters seemed to do.
I won’t say much more because, honestly, anything more I could say about the actual murders would be spoilery. I will say that I could have gotten to know the characters more. I didn’t feel any sympathy for those who got killed – although that’s probably the point. Still, I wouldn’t have minded a little more character development.
Regardless, Daisy Darker is a wonderful read. I read this book in one day and thoroughly enjoyed it.
Rating: 5/5 Coffee Cups
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Rachel Poli is an indie author, podcaster, and content writer working on her debut cozy mystery novel.
Although she favors mystery, Rachel is a multi-genre author with too many ideas and characters in her head, often experimenting with short stories and flash fiction.
When she’s not writing, she’s reading, organizing something, or playing video games. She currently resides in New England with her zoo.
