Review: Daisy Darker

Daisy Darker by Alice Feeney
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I received an ARC of this book.
I really enjoyed this creepy thriller. Set over a period of hours (with a lot of flashbacks thrown in) on a dark and stormy Halloween night in a dilapidated old Victorian house on an isolated beach, this story follows the members of the very dysfunctional Darker family as they are seemingly threatened by an unseen murderer intent on punishing them for deep and dark secrets from their pasts.
The book begins as Daisy, the youngest Darker sister, returns to her grandmother's home to celebrate the later's 80th birthday. The Darker matriarch, known as Nana, believes this birthday will be her last, and when her dead body is discovered at midnight the other members of the family, including her son, daughter-in-lay, 3 granddaughters, close neighbor and great-granddaughter all begin to fear that they are being picked off one-by-one, in And Then There Were None style.
Although the beginning of the story felt rather slow and dragged a bit, once the mystery began to take off I was completely drawn in. Daisy is a fascinating character and incredibly relatable. The family dynamic between all the characters was compelling and added to the mystery. I really had no idea who could be behind all of the murders. While I had my suspicions, I still couldn't quite put all the pieces together, and at the end when the big "twist" was revealed I have to admit that I was thoroughly surprised. The origins of the Darker family's huge secret all those years ago made me say, "Oh no!" out loud. While some of the "resolution" of the plot seemed a little too trite at the end, (view spoiler)[ mainly Nana's explanation of everything she had found out and how she managed to do everything, along with the final poisoning, (hide spoiler)] I still really enjoyed the book, and once I read the last sentence I immediately turned back to page one to find all the clues I had missed.
I would absolutely recommend this book to anyone who enjoys mysteries, suspense, and psychological thrillers. This book was not perfect, but it is definitely something I would read on a gloomy October day!

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