Review: Daisy Darker (by Alice Feeney)

My Rating:  4 stars

Let me start off by saying that this review will be super short and super vague, as it's very hard to talk much about this book without giving something away.  To get the full experience of this one, it's necessary to go into it knowing as little as possible (and yes, that includes NOT reading the blurb if you can help it). Pretty much the only thing you need to know is that this is a murder mystery that revolves around the Darker family, who come together to celebrate the 80th birthday of family matriarch Beatrice (known as Nana throughout the story) at Sea Glass, her decades-old crumbling estate that is only accessible when the tide is low.  What happens from there, you will need to read the book to find out.



Having read all of Alice Feeney's books, there's no doubt in my mind that she has absolutely mastered the art of the plot twist.  Her newest work, aptly titled Daisy Darker, is yet another dark, twisty thriller that takes readers down the path of the unexpected, leaving us guessing every step of the way.  Similar to last year's hit Rock Paper Scissors, Feeney creates an atmospheric setting through the gothic-style,isolated "estate-on-an-island", though this time around, the house is as much a "main character" in the story as the Darker family that occupies it.  I'm not sure if it's just me, but each book Feeney writes seems to get creepier and creepier, though that's not necessarily a bad thing, it's just something to be aware of for those who might be sensitive to such things.  

While I'm not a fan of dysfunctional family stories where every single character is deplorable in some way (to the point that I honestly couldn't bring myself to like anyone, even for a little bit), that didn't prevent me from being so absorbed in the story that I basically finished this in one sitting.  With that said, even though I did "enjoy" this one overall, I wouldn't consider it a "favorite" (that would actually go to Feeney's first and fourth novels, for me at least).  Even though not all of her books work for me (there's one in particular that left such a bad taste in my mouth that it almost turned me off to Feeney's works at one point), I still look forward to reading them  (mostly for the story, not the characters), but especially to see what twists she will have up her sleeve next!

Received ARC from Flatiron Books via NetGalley.