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Daisy Darker
Goodreads Choice Award
Nominee for Best Mystery & Thriller (2022)The New York Times bestselling Queen of Twists returns…with a family reunion that leads to murder.
After 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.
With a wicked wink to Agatha Christie’s And Then There Were None, Daisy Darker’s unforgettable twists will leave readers reeling.
After 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.
With a wicked wink to Agatha Christie’s And Then There Were None, Daisy Darker’s unforgettable twists will leave readers reeling.
338 pages, Hardcover
First published August 30, 2022
About the author
Alice Feeney
14 books21.6k followersAlice Feeney is a New York Times million-copy bestselling author. Her books have been translated into over thirty languages, and have been optioned for major screen adaptations. Including Rock Paper Scissors, which is being made into a TV series by the producer of The Crown. Alice was a BBC journalist for fifteen years, and now lives in Devon with her family. Good Bad Girl is her sixth novel.
You can follow Alice on Instagram or Twitter: @alicewriterland
For the latest book and TV news, and to sign up for Alice's free newsletter, please visit her website: www.alicefeeney.com
You can follow Alice on Instagram or Twitter: @alicewriterland
For the latest book and TV news, and to sign up for Alice's free newsletter, please visit her website: www.alicefeeney.com
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 24,627 reviews
February 3, 2024
I don't get it. So many readers loved this, but Daisy Darker has got to be one of the most boring thrillers I've ever read.
Why is this so boring, you ask? I'll tell you why. (Note: this is a bit of a rant, so if you loved it, please don't read this.)
The story is told via two timelines. One is in the present, where the family is gathered on the island, cut off from the rest of the world. The other is in the past, where Daisy tells the story of her life growing up. The present timeline is at least tolerable because things are happening (albeit slowly and feebly), but it's such a small part of the whole book. Instead, the majority is taken up by flashbacks of the past, and let me tell you, that was excruciating.
You know how there is always that one person at parties who corners you and tells meandering and pointless stories of mundane things that happened to them? That's the entire past timeline. We get to read about Daisy going to the beach, getting into tiffs with her sisters while filming home videos of each other, being "broken" constantly, and various other what-does-this-have-anything-to-do-with-the-story moments.
Some authors can take the most pedestrian of events and turn them into a riveting narrative. But that didn't happen here. Instead, we have the most mundane of events being presented as it it were the most exciting of nuggets. Daisy is jealous of her sisters.... oooh. There is a boy they all want... oooh. Their parents are mostly absent... oooh. I like family dysfunction as much as the next reader, but I'm not into family melodrama/nondrama.
Since Daisy is born with a heart condition, she repeatedly refers to herself as "broken." This is stated over and over throughout the story, in the most pitiful and woe-is-me way. Since I read the physical copy, I can't do a search for how many times the word "broken" is used, but it wouldn't surprise me if the answer is hundreds of times. At least that's the way it feels.
The writing style doesn't help either. It's got Feeney's trademark fortune cookie sayings, sprinkled throughout every page, as if she's dispensing wisdom that can only be gleamed if you pay enough attention.
Ok, I'll give you that they sound good. But what do they mean? I sure don't know.
And when we get to the big twist, I'm left disappointed. Part of it feels like a cop-out and the rest neither made sense nor surprised me. It's clear this was meant to take inspiration from And Then There Were None, and the author worked hard to shoehorn that association in. But it just ended up feeling forced.
Every time I cracked open this book, my mind wandered. I thought of chores I had to do and groceries I had to buy. When I'd rather think about menial tasks than focus on a story, I know it has missed its mark.
No doubt the premise here was exciting and that's why I got suckered in. But the execution was so painfully dull that I'm just glad I made it through.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
✧ Connect with me ✧ Instagram ✧
Why is this so boring, you ask? I'll tell you why. (Note: this is a bit of a rant, so if you loved it, please don't read this.)
The story is told via two timelines. One is in the present, where the family is gathered on the island, cut off from the rest of the world. The other is in the past, where Daisy tells the story of her life growing up. The present timeline is at least tolerable because things are happening (albeit slowly and feebly), but it's such a small part of the whole book. Instead, the majority is taken up by flashbacks of the past, and let me tell you, that was excruciating.
You know how there is always that one person at parties who corners you and tells meandering and pointless stories of mundane things that happened to them? That's the entire past timeline. We get to read about Daisy going to the beach, getting into tiffs with her sisters while filming home videos of each other, being "broken" constantly, and various other what-does-this-have-anything-to-do-with-the-story moments.
Some authors can take the most pedestrian of events and turn them into a riveting narrative. But that didn't happen here. Instead, we have the most mundane of events being presented as it it were the most exciting of nuggets. Daisy is jealous of her sisters.... oooh. There is a boy they all want... oooh. Their parents are mostly absent... oooh. I like family dysfunction as much as the next reader, but I'm not into family melodrama/nondrama.
Since Daisy is born with a heart condition, she repeatedly refers to herself as "broken." This is stated over and over throughout the story, in the most pitiful and woe-is-me way. Since I read the physical copy, I can't do a search for how many times the word "broken" is used, but it wouldn't surprise me if the answer is hundreds of times. At least that's the way it feels.
The writing style doesn't help either. It's got Feeney's trademark fortune cookie sayings, sprinkled throughout every page, as if she's dispensing wisdom that can only be gleamed if you pay enough attention.
The dead often seem to know more about living than those still alive.
The trouble with little white lies is that they sometimes grow up to become big dark ones.
Sometimes when people try too hard to be more than they are, they end up being less than they were.
Ok, I'll give you that they sound good. But what do they mean? I sure don't know.
And when we get to the big twist, I'm left disappointed. Part of it feels like a cop-out and the rest neither made sense nor surprised me. It's clear this was meant to take inspiration from And Then There Were None, and the author worked hard to shoehorn that association in. But it just ended up feeling forced.
Every time I cracked open this book, my mind wandered. I thought of chores I had to do and groceries I had to buy. When I'd rather think about menial tasks than focus on a story, I know it has missed its mark.
No doubt the premise here was exciting and that's why I got suckered in. But the execution was so painfully dull that I'm just glad I made it through.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
✧ Connect with me ✧ Instagram ✧
June 7, 2023
**SPOILERS at the very end, but you'll see a big warning first**
2.5 stars : Many readers are eager to read this book and (almost) everyone describes it as exceptionnal, but I was far from impressed.
After reading 4 of Feeney's books, I have to face the facts: TO ME, she masters the twists, but not the character development. Daisy Darker makes no exception even if I love reading about dysfunctional families. But sadly, the author also failed to surprise me with this one...
The plot didn't grab my attention until the 50% mark, but it was too little too late. I can't give a high rating to a book I didn't have fun reading. And I was so bummed to guess the 3 FINAL TWISTS! The explanations for the murders were so far-fetched, I really had to suspend my disbelief.
What I enjoyed was:
- The setting on the mysterious island, with the tides keeping people to go on it at certain times.
- Seaglass house! I would love to visit this Victorian house with its turrets and turquoise tiled roof, its 80 clocks on the walls, its lounge with unique wallpaper, its rooms with so many doors...
- I preferred reading Daisy's childhood memories than the chapters in the present, which I found to be full of repetitions and following the same pattern.
Feeney explained that Daisy Darker is her favorite of all the books she wrote... I'm sorry to say that's the one I enjoyed the least, but I can see why it will attract many readers.
Many thanks to Netgalley and Pan Macmillan for the ARC!
SPOILERS AHEAD!
Final twist 1: I read And Then There Were None... I remember the ending... To compare Daisy Darker to this classic is a spoiler in the blurb! So, yes, I was expecting the culprit to be a fake victim (and my money was on Nana since the beginning).
Final twist 2: For many reasons, I guessed Trixie was involved... I thought it was obvious.
Final twist 3: While I read, I thought something was off with the way Daisy narrated the story. I didn't feel like I knew her very well. Here is exactly what I thought to myself at a certain point: Daisy narrates the story so weirdly. It feels like she is only an observer... She's not taking part in the action and no one seems to talk to her. Oh, I guess she is dead.
And, seriously, Nana wanting to kill all of her family out of revenge?! No, it didn't work for me, even if what everyone did was absolutely horrific.
2.5 stars : Many readers are eager to read this book and (almost) everyone describes it as exceptionnal, but I was far from impressed.
After reading 4 of Feeney's books, I have to face the facts: TO ME, she masters the twists, but not the character development. Daisy Darker makes no exception even if I love reading about dysfunctional families. But sadly, the author also failed to surprise me with this one...
The plot didn't grab my attention until the 50% mark, but it was too little too late. I can't give a high rating to a book I didn't have fun reading. And I was so bummed to guess the 3 FINAL TWISTS! The explanations for the murders were so far-fetched, I really had to suspend my disbelief.
What I enjoyed was:
- The setting on the mysterious island, with the tides keeping people to go on it at certain times.
- Seaglass house! I would love to visit this Victorian house with its turrets and turquoise tiled roof, its 80 clocks on the walls, its lounge with unique wallpaper, its rooms with so many doors...
- I preferred reading Daisy's childhood memories than the chapters in the present, which I found to be full of repetitions and following the same pattern.
Feeney explained that Daisy Darker is her favorite of all the books she wrote... I'm sorry to say that's the one I enjoyed the least, but I can see why it will attract many readers.
Many thanks to Netgalley and Pan Macmillan for the ARC!
SPOILERS AHEAD!
Final twist 1: I read And Then There Were None... I remember the ending... To compare Daisy Darker to this classic is a spoiler in the blurb! So, yes, I was expecting the culprit to be a fake victim (and my money was on Nana since the beginning).
Final twist 2: For many reasons, I guessed Trixie was involved... I thought it was obvious.
Final twist 3: While I read, I thought something was off with the way Daisy narrated the story. I didn't feel like I knew her very well. Here is exactly what I thought to myself at a certain point: Daisy narrates the story so weirdly. It feels like she is only an observer... She's not taking part in the action and no one seems to talk to her. Oh, I guess she is dead.
And, seriously, Nana wanting to kill all of her family out of revenge?! No, it didn't work for me, even if what everyone did was absolutely horrific.
September 4, 2022
i rarely write reviews but i just needed to say that alice feeney can do no wrong & i love being manipulated by her. i think im her biggest stan
August 30, 2022
***HAPPY PUBLICATION DAY***
THANK YOU ALICE FEENEY FOR GETTING ME OUT OF MY BOOK SLUMP!!! Ms. Feeney proves, with her lyrical prose and well described characters, that you don’t need overly descriptive gore and violence to deliver a great thriller!!!
If you have ever thought that you had a difficult childhood, ENTER THE WORLD OF DAISY DARKER!! Daisy was diagnosed with a heart condition at the age of five and had “died and been resuscitated” seven times before the age of 13.
Daisy was never allowed to attend school, make friends or do any of the normal things that kids do. Daisy spent the school year alone with her books which transported her and inspired her.
Daisy’s sisters, Rose and Lily were sent to boarding school.
The summers, however, were spent at her Nana’s gothic mansion, Seaglass, on a small island that was only accessible at low tide. She and Nana had a special and loving relationship. Summers were the highlight of Daisy’s life.
Brief plot summary:
The novel is told in the past and present, narrated by Daisy.
The Darker family has assembled at Seaglass for Nana’s 80th birthday. Frank and Nancy have been divorced for years but return for what they are sure will be a reading of Nana’s will.
Nana is extremely eccentric, having a wall of 80 clocks, a punch clock with a card for everyone who comes and leaves and always dresses in pink and purple, her favorite colors.
Just as the clock strikes midnight a scream is heard and everyone converges in the kitchen, only to find Nana dead on the floor. There is an uncanny poem written on the chalkboard in what looks to be Nana’s writing. The poem has some frightening and foreboding verses for the family to decipher.
To share any more of the plot would spoil this wonderful mystery but I would like to leave you with a taste of Ms. Feeney’s beautiful prose : “ We spend our youth building sandcastles of ambition, then watch as life blows sands of doubt over our carefully crafted turrets of wishes and dreams, until we can no longer see them at all.”
I enjoyed every intricately plotted minute of this novel and while wanting to race ahead to the finish, forced myself to take more time with it just to prolong the pleasure of reading the author’s wonderful prose.
FINALLY A THRILLER I CAN HIGHLY RECOMMEND!!
I received an ARC of this novel from the publisher through Edelweiss. It was my pleasure to read and review this latest offering from the very talented Alice Feeney.
THANK YOU ALICE FEENEY FOR GETTING ME OUT OF MY BOOK SLUMP!!! Ms. Feeney proves, with her lyrical prose and well described characters, that you don’t need overly descriptive gore and violence to deliver a great thriller!!!
If you have ever thought that you had a difficult childhood, ENTER THE WORLD OF DAISY DARKER!! Daisy was diagnosed with a heart condition at the age of five and had “died and been resuscitated” seven times before the age of 13.
Daisy was never allowed to attend school, make friends or do any of the normal things that kids do. Daisy spent the school year alone with her books which transported her and inspired her.
Daisy’s sisters, Rose and Lily were sent to boarding school.
The summers, however, were spent at her Nana’s gothic mansion, Seaglass, on a small island that was only accessible at low tide. She and Nana had a special and loving relationship. Summers were the highlight of Daisy’s life.
Brief plot summary:
The novel is told in the past and present, narrated by Daisy.
The Darker family has assembled at Seaglass for Nana’s 80th birthday. Frank and Nancy have been divorced for years but return for what they are sure will be a reading of Nana’s will.
Nana is extremely eccentric, having a wall of 80 clocks, a punch clock with a card for everyone who comes and leaves and always dresses in pink and purple, her favorite colors.
Just as the clock strikes midnight a scream is heard and everyone converges in the kitchen, only to find Nana dead on the floor. There is an uncanny poem written on the chalkboard in what looks to be Nana’s writing. The poem has some frightening and foreboding verses for the family to decipher.
To share any more of the plot would spoil this wonderful mystery but I would like to leave you with a taste of Ms. Feeney’s beautiful prose : “ We spend our youth building sandcastles of ambition, then watch as life blows sands of doubt over our carefully crafted turrets of wishes and dreams, until we can no longer see them at all.”
I enjoyed every intricately plotted minute of this novel and while wanting to race ahead to the finish, forced myself to take more time with it just to prolong the pleasure of reading the author’s wonderful prose.
FINALLY A THRILLER I CAN HIGHLY RECOMMEND!!
I received an ARC of this novel from the publisher through Edelweiss. It was my pleasure to read and review this latest offering from the very talented Alice Feeney.
July 22, 2024
It’s a brilliant tribute to Christie’s And Then There Were None, combined with the classic 1985 mystery movie Clue (with the six guests invited to a mansion theme)!
A dark, claustrophobic thriller set in a dilapidated gothic house on a tidal island. A family gathers to celebrate the 80th birthday of their grandmother, who was born on Halloween.
Alice Feeney has done it again! The dark queen of twists wrote my favorite thriller of the year! I wish I had foreseen the big surprise earlier so I could have enjoyed the story even more, but the way the mystery unfolded was still effective and jaw-dropping! It made me scream a lot (I started this book around 9 p.m. and finished around 4 a.m., screaming louder because my legs turned to jelly from sitting in the same position, and I tumbled down from my seat as soon as I tried to move).
Let’s check out the story and characters!
The Darker family, named after the color of their souls: no need to sugarcoat things, they are despicable!
• Frank: A composer devoted to music more than his family, a selfish man whose career always comes first, abandoning his wife, forgetting children’s birthdays, and messing around.
• Nancy: A self-absorbed, bad actress mother, trapping her husband into marriage, drinking herself into oblivion, and favoring her villainous child because of her good looks!
• Rose: 34, the eldest and smartest daughter, caring more for animals than human beings, socially reserved, and blunt.
• Lily: (she should be called Lilith, in my opinion, with 666 written on her skull) is a cold-hearted, cutthroat, nasty person, a stay-at-home mom who does nothing and treats her lovely kid badly!
• Nana: The sharp-witted, unconventional grandmother, illustrator, and writer of children’s books, about to turn 80!
• Trixie: 15 years old, sweet, kind, and smart, Lily’s child who deserves a better family and a more caring mother. Only her aunt Daisy and Nana truly connect with her.
• Daisy: The youngest daughter named after flowers like her sisters. She is Nana’s favorite granddaughter and the narrator of the story, feeling the cold breath of death against her neck because of her poor⬤
August 27, 2022
AND THEN THERE WAS ONE
Beatrice (Nana) Darker is the successful author and illustrator of the bestselling children’s book, “Daisy Darker’s Little Secret. Eccentric at best, she dresses only in pink and purple, has a wall of 80 clocks she has collected-one for every year of her life-and has her guests punch in on a time clock.
Perhaps she is obsessed with time because a Palm Reader at Land’s End, predicted that she wouldn’t live past 80, and her Halloween birthday is fast approaching.
She has asked everyone whom she considers family to join her at Seaglass, for this momentous occasion. The Victorian house with its gothic turrets and turquoise tiled roof is situated on the Cornish coast, in a spot that cuts it off from the rest of the world for eight hours, whenever the tide comes in.
Although they haven’t been together for over a decade, they all know what this birthday signifies-and nobody dares to say no to the invitation.
Once everyone has arrived, Nana announces that she has gathered them all together for the reading of her Will.
The clocks are all chiming at midnight but as the final clock strikes twelve-there is a terrible scream…
The guests find a rhyme written in chalk on the kitchen walls in Nana’s scrawly writing:
“Daisy Darker’s family wasted far too many years lying, they spent their final hours together learning lessons before DYING…”
Scrabble tiles spell out various instructions leading them to these lessons…
The story is narrated by granddaughter, Daisy Darker, Nana’s favorite, a baby born with a heart condition which caused her to die eight times before the age of thirteen.-something she said she would be concerned about-if she were a cat. 😼
It unfolds hour by hour, in the wee hours of Halloween morning, with chapters from Daisy’s childhood interspersed throughout to enlighten you on both her childhood memories, and the SECRETS that the Darker family has been hiding.
Between chapters are illustrations of the ominous waves of the tide, rushing in and rushing out.
With a nod (and a wink) this story pays homage to Agatha Christie’s famous closed room mystery, “And, then there was none” which used the the nursery rhyme “Ten Little Indians” to count down the deaths of the guests in her Classic story.
Of course, Alice Feeney has her own very distinctive style-using lots of clever metaphors such as “Secrets are like unpaid debts; they pile up and too much interest is best avoided.” to weave her suspenseful tales.
Be SURE that you read the note from the Author’s agent in the beginning of the book both BEFORE you start and AFTER you finish. You won’t understand it till then, and it just might make you revisit the early chapters of the story to see what you MISSED!!
Also be warned that at the 38% mark there is a brief, but disturbing passage that includes the death of horses-though I wonder if Alice Feeney is actually trying to bring attention to the mistreatment of animals by including these passages in her work, as she goes on to say how high the suicide rate is among Veterinarians, because they see so much of it.
She has also included in the book’s dedication, one to Diggi, her pet dog and NO HARM comes to Poppins, the elderly old sheepdog, in this story.
I was thinking FOUR ⭐️ for much of the book, but after I finished and saw how it all came together, I had to bump it up to FIVE STARS!
NOW AVAILABLE in the U.K. (August 30th in the U.S.)
Thank You to Pan MacMillan for my gifted copy. It is my pleasure to offer a candid review!
Beatrice (Nana) Darker is the successful author and illustrator of the bestselling children’s book, “Daisy Darker’s Little Secret. Eccentric at best, she dresses only in pink and purple, has a wall of 80 clocks she has collected-one for every year of her life-and has her guests punch in on a time clock.
Perhaps she is obsessed with time because a Palm Reader at Land’s End, predicted that she wouldn’t live past 80, and her Halloween birthday is fast approaching.
She has asked everyone whom she considers family to join her at Seaglass, for this momentous occasion. The Victorian house with its gothic turrets and turquoise tiled roof is situated on the Cornish coast, in a spot that cuts it off from the rest of the world for eight hours, whenever the tide comes in.
Although they haven’t been together for over a decade, they all know what this birthday signifies-and nobody dares to say no to the invitation.
Once everyone has arrived, Nana announces that she has gathered them all together for the reading of her Will.
The clocks are all chiming at midnight but as the final clock strikes twelve-there is a terrible scream…
The guests find a rhyme written in chalk on the kitchen walls in Nana’s scrawly writing:
“Daisy Darker’s family wasted far too many years lying, they spent their final hours together learning lessons before DYING…”
Scrabble tiles spell out various instructions leading them to these lessons…
The story is narrated by granddaughter, Daisy Darker, Nana’s favorite, a baby born with a heart condition which caused her to die eight times before the age of thirteen.-something she said she would be concerned about-if she were a cat. 😼
It unfolds hour by hour, in the wee hours of Halloween morning, with chapters from Daisy’s childhood interspersed throughout to enlighten you on both her childhood memories, and the SECRETS that the Darker family has been hiding.
Between chapters are illustrations of the ominous waves of the tide, rushing in and rushing out.
With a nod (and a wink) this story pays homage to Agatha Christie’s famous closed room mystery, “And, then there was none” which used the the nursery rhyme “Ten Little Indians” to count down the deaths of the guests in her Classic story.
Of course, Alice Feeney has her own very distinctive style-using lots of clever metaphors such as “Secrets are like unpaid debts; they pile up and too much interest is best avoided.” to weave her suspenseful tales.
Be SURE that you read the note from the Author’s agent in the beginning of the book both BEFORE you start and AFTER you finish. You won’t understand it till then, and it just might make you revisit the early chapters of the story to see what you MISSED!!
Also be warned that at the 38% mark there is a brief, but disturbing passage that includes the death of horses-though I wonder if Alice Feeney is actually trying to bring attention to the mistreatment of animals by including these passages in her work, as she goes on to say how high the suicide rate is among Veterinarians, because they see so much of it.
She has also included in the book’s dedication, one to Diggi, her pet dog and NO HARM comes to Poppins, the elderly old sheepdog, in this story.
I was thinking FOUR ⭐️ for much of the book, but after I finished and saw how it all came together, I had to bump it up to FIVE STARS!
NOW AVAILABLE in the U.K. (August 30th in the U.S.)
Thank You to Pan MacMillan for my gifted copy. It is my pleasure to offer a candid review!
July 5, 2024
When Nana is turning 80-years old on Halloween and invites you to visit her at her tired, gothic-feeling home on a tiny, tidal island, you go. Even if you can't stand the rest of your family, you go.
And that's indeed what happens for Daisy Darker's family, assembled via Nana's wishes for the first time in years.
Nana's been a little fixated on her 80th-birthday, ever since that palm reader told her it would be her last.
In fact, it may be because of this that she has chosen this birthday to gather her entire family, including her son, Frank, ex-daughter in law, Nancy, three granddaughters, Rose, Lily and Daisy, one great-granddaughter, Trixie and a man named Connor, who has been a sort of unofficial member of the Darker family for years, to air some things.
This also may be the reason why she decides to read her Will to them all that night.
All are not necessarily pleased by Nana's proclamations, but what can they do. What's done is done, isn't it?
As the clock strikes midnight, Nana's crumpled body is then discovered on the floor of the kitchen. She's dead, but was it an accidental fall, or did something more sinister happen?
After Nana's death, everyone is panicked. It's creepy being trapped on a remote island with a dead body, but there's literally no way off and a storm has halted communication with the mainland.
The fun doesn't stop there though, think And Then There Were None. No one is safe...
Daisy, the youngest of the granddaughters, has always been Nana's favorite, even though she's been mistreated by the rest of her family for years.
Well, that's not necessarily true, Trixie, Lily's often-neglected daughter, is always kind to her Aunt Daisy, so at least Daisy has two allies within the family; not a total loss.
This story is actually narrated entirely by Daisy, so getting insights into the family from her perspective is quite interesting indeed. She doesn't hold back any punches when describing her relatives, that's for sure.
In addition to the present drama, we also get a past perspective, taking us through Daisy's childhood and most memorable times at the Darker seaside manor.
Connor, the man mentioned above, is a large part of these childhood memories, as that's when he first came on the scene and essentially became a member of the family.
I had a fantastic time with this book. The audiobook absolutely enraptured me.
There was so much about this that I loved, from the classic-feeling mystery vibe, to the over-the-top family drama, bad-acting characters and claustrophobic setting.
This is my favorite book of 2022 so far and something superbly jaw-dropping would have to come along to change that, I think. This is next level.
I loved how this story was told. The set-up at the house with Nana was terrific, the use of the creepy poems to enhance the mystery, as well as the alternating timelines helped to build-out this story beautifully.
If I were to wish upon a star, I would wish that I had written this book. Alas, I am pretty sure that doesn't work and Alice Feeney beat me to it. Perfection.
Thank you so much to the publisher, Macmillan Audio, for providing me with a copy to read and review. This blew me away. What a delight!
And that's indeed what happens for Daisy Darker's family, assembled via Nana's wishes for the first time in years.
Nana's been a little fixated on her 80th-birthday, ever since that palm reader told her it would be her last.
In fact, it may be because of this that she has chosen this birthday to gather her entire family, including her son, Frank, ex-daughter in law, Nancy, three granddaughters, Rose, Lily and Daisy, one great-granddaughter, Trixie and a man named Connor, who has been a sort of unofficial member of the Darker family for years, to air some things.
This also may be the reason why she decides to read her Will to them all that night.
All are not necessarily pleased by Nana's proclamations, but what can they do. What's done is done, isn't it?
As the clock strikes midnight, Nana's crumpled body is then discovered on the floor of the kitchen. She's dead, but was it an accidental fall, or did something more sinister happen?
After Nana's death, everyone is panicked. It's creepy being trapped on a remote island with a dead body, but there's literally no way off and a storm has halted communication with the mainland.
The fun doesn't stop there though, think And Then There Were None. No one is safe...
Daisy, the youngest of the granddaughters, has always been Nana's favorite, even though she's been mistreated by the rest of her family for years.
Well, that's not necessarily true, Trixie, Lily's often-neglected daughter, is always kind to her Aunt Daisy, so at least Daisy has two allies within the family; not a total loss.
This story is actually narrated entirely by Daisy, so getting insights into the family from her perspective is quite interesting indeed. She doesn't hold back any punches when describing her relatives, that's for sure.
In addition to the present drama, we also get a past perspective, taking us through Daisy's childhood and most memorable times at the Darker seaside manor.
Connor, the man mentioned above, is a large part of these childhood memories, as that's when he first came on the scene and essentially became a member of the family.
I had a fantastic time with this book. The audiobook absolutely enraptured me.
There was so much about this that I loved, from the classic-feeling mystery vibe, to the over-the-top family drama, bad-acting characters and claustrophobic setting.
This is my favorite book of 2022 so far and something superbly jaw-dropping would have to come along to change that, I think. This is next level.
I loved how this story was told. The set-up at the house with Nana was terrific, the use of the creepy poems to enhance the mystery, as well as the alternating timelines helped to build-out this story beautifully.
If I were to wish upon a star, I would wish that I had written this book. Alas, I am pretty sure that doesn't work and Alice Feeney beat me to it. Perfection.
Thank you so much to the publisher, Macmillan Audio, for providing me with a copy to read and review. This blew me away. What a delight!
November 13, 2022
honestly, if i were a character in this story, i would have killed off everyone too…
the darker family is the the biggest bunch of self-centred, out-of-touch with reality, petty cry babies i have ever read about. im glad theyre all dead because i did not enjoy reading about any of them. the repetitive, uninspired and predictable nature of the writing also didnt help matters.
the only good thing about this was the dog.
luckily this was a quick read and im glad its over. AF is capable of much better, as her other books prove.
↠ 2 stars
the darker family is the the biggest bunch of self-centred, out-of-touch with reality, petty cry babies i have ever read about. im glad theyre all dead because i did not enjoy reading about any of them. the repetitive, uninspired and predictable nature of the writing also didnt help matters.
the only good thing about this was the dog.
luckily this was a quick read and im glad its over. AF is capable of much better, as her other books prove.
↠ 2 stars
September 10, 2023
It’s time for Daisy Darker’s family to gather for Nana’s 80th birthday party on a remote island. At midnight, Nana is dead. Then, another family member follows. What secrets is this family keeping? And who is the killer?
The wait is over! Daisy Darker was one of my most anticipated reads for the last half of 2022!
For this book, I practiced immersion reading, following along in a copy of the text while listening to the audiobook. For mysteries, I am a really big fan of audiobooks. When I read a book, my eyes are darting all over the page so to be truly surprised, I like listening to the audiobook. The narrator on this had a very charming British accent.
As for the storyline, Daisy Darker has a lot going on. Usually, murder mysteries only have one murder, but this has more than one. There are also some secrets or unknowns that we are trying to figure out. Feeney’s characters are complex; they aren’t all good or all bad. And there was some humor sprinkled in.
Daisy Dark is above average, not quite at the level of Gone Girl. It wasn’t a chore to read, but it also did not keep me up until 3 am because I couldn’t put it down.
There is a twist that I didn’t see coming at the end. However, I thought that the book was a touch too long. I also think some of the formatting should have been tidied up a bit. For example, Daisy seemed to be rambling at times, and I really like mysteries to have some short paragraphs and sentences to really keep the pages turning, a physical experience.
Rock, Paper, Scissors has been on my TBR for ages. For those of you who have read both books, what did you think? Which one was better?
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The wait is over! Daisy Darker was one of my most anticipated reads for the last half of 2022!
For this book, I practiced immersion reading, following along in a copy of the text while listening to the audiobook. For mysteries, I am a really big fan of audiobooks. When I read a book, my eyes are darting all over the page so to be truly surprised, I like listening to the audiobook. The narrator on this had a very charming British accent.
As for the storyline, Daisy Darker has a lot going on. Usually, murder mysteries only have one murder, but this has more than one. There are also some secrets or unknowns that we are trying to figure out. Feeney’s characters are complex; they aren’t all good or all bad. And there was some humor sprinkled in.
Daisy Dark is above average, not quite at the level of Gone Girl. It wasn’t a chore to read, but it also did not keep me up until 3 am because I couldn’t put it down.
There is a twist that I didn’t see coming at the end. However, I thought that the book was a touch too long. I also think some of the formatting should have been tidied up a bit. For example, Daisy seemed to be rambling at times, and I really like mysteries to have some short paragraphs and sentences to really keep the pages turning, a physical experience.
Rock, Paper, Scissors has been on my TBR for ages. For those of you who have read both books, what did you think? Which one was better?
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August 20, 2023
Daisy Darker by Alice Feeney
Narrated by Stephanie Racine
The Darker family has a rocky and dark past. They haven't liked each other for a long time, if ever, and would probably prefer to never see each other again. But it's Nana's 80th birthday and she's the one with the money to inherit so they are all motivated to stay on her good side. Each of the younger Darker's needs money and Nana's will is in the forefront of their minds. She may not be dead YET but she can only last so long. Once the family is together, bad things start happening. Worse things than the fact that everyone is a liar, hates everyone else, and that everyone has secrets and is selfish in their own way. To think they are all stuck with each other for eight long hours, while one by one they are murdered with the accompaniment of 80 clanging clocks. Enjoy the party!
If you don't like trigger warnings being included in reviews, then don't read the spoiler.
Pub Aug 30, 2022 by Macmillan Audio
Narrated by Stephanie Racine
The Darker family has a rocky and dark past. They haven't liked each other for a long time, if ever, and would probably prefer to never see each other again. But it's Nana's 80th birthday and she's the one with the money to inherit so they are all motivated to stay on her good side. Each of the younger Darker's needs money and Nana's will is in the forefront of their minds. She may not be dead YET but she can only last so long. Once the family is together, bad things start happening. Worse things than the fact that everyone is a liar, hates everyone else, and that everyone has secrets and is selfish in their own way. To think they are all stuck with each other for eight long hours, while one by one they are murdered with the accompaniment of 80 clanging clocks. Enjoy the party!
If you don't like trigger warnings being included in reviews, then don't read the spoiler.
Pub Aug 30, 2022 by Macmillan Audio
September 6, 2022
"I was born with a broken heart."
3.5 stars
Daisy Darker is a locked room murder mystery in the vein of And Then There Were None about a family birthday celebration turned murder fest. One by one, a family member is killed, culminating in a shocking revelation about the killer.
Narrated by Daisy, this book alternates between the past in the 1980s and the present on the eve of Halloween. Additionally, memories are shared via old VHS home movies.
I don’t want to say much about the plot, as it is best to go in blind. Filled with twists and turns, I was a busy reader trying to solve the puzzle about what was happening to the Darker family. There is a major twist that got me good!
The family is stranded in a coastal mansion on the Cornish coast--the setting is dark, moody, and sinister, adding a layer of creepiness to the events.
The characters were cartoonish and cliched, but, of course, my favorite character was Poppins the dog, who rivals Bob in Rock Paper Scissors. Feeney has a knack for creating joyful and intelligent dog characters who are much better than their human counterparts.
The ending is OTT, and in a way, it didn’t work for me, as I had to suspend my disbelief regarding both the motives and gameplay of the killer.
Daisy Darker is an entertaining, page-turning read. It is clever, fun, and twisty, and the setting makes for the perfect fall/Halloween read.
3.5 stars
Daisy Darker is a locked room murder mystery in the vein of And Then There Were None about a family birthday celebration turned murder fest. One by one, a family member is killed, culminating in a shocking revelation about the killer.
Narrated by Daisy, this book alternates between the past in the 1980s and the present on the eve of Halloween. Additionally, memories are shared via old VHS home movies.
I don’t want to say much about the plot, as it is best to go in blind. Filled with twists and turns, I was a busy reader trying to solve the puzzle about what was happening to the Darker family. There is a major twist that got me good!
The family is stranded in a coastal mansion on the Cornish coast--the setting is dark, moody, and sinister, adding a layer of creepiness to the events.
The characters were cartoonish and cliched, but, of course, my favorite character was Poppins the dog, who rivals Bob in Rock Paper Scissors. Feeney has a knack for creating joyful and intelligent dog characters who are much better than their human counterparts.
The ending is OTT, and in a way, it didn’t work for me, as I had to suspend my disbelief regarding both the motives and gameplay of the killer.
Daisy Darker is an entertaining, page-turning read. It is clever, fun, and twisty, and the setting makes for the perfect fall/Halloween read.
December 7, 2022
The Darker family came to shore
To live, to die
to settle a score
A family of seven
(and Conor makes eight)
once more ALL at Seaglass?
It had to be fate.
Nana's 80th birthday,
and her will would be read
who would have known
she'd so soon be dead?
Held captive by high tide
Secrets swirling around
as the hours tick by
more bodies are found
Whose secrets are deadly?
Whose loyalty runs deep?
Or as Daisy Darker warns,
Are some secrets worth killing to keep?
The first word that popped into my head after finishing this book?
MASTERPIECE.
In all honesty, Feeney is just a MASTER of the craft on SO many levels, that I am always dumbstruck when I finish one of her books. I don't know what it is, or how she does it. But with each book I read, Alice Feeney manages to pull me out of my world ENTIRELY and I am all too willing to get lost in hers!
Her plotting? Always on point. You want twists? Oh, you'll get them...and then some. 😉
Characters? Always flawed, real, multi-faceted, fascinating people. They aren't always likable, but whether you like them or not, they captivate from first page to last. (Not sure if some traces of Daisy's character might have been inspired by Alice herself...from a sly mention of her love for Alice in Wonderland to one point in the book where Daisy says she was told "You'll never be a writer," which is something Feeney has mentioned was said to her in the past...who would have the GALL to say that to her, I don't know. But I digress.)
Quotes and thoughts to ponder? You'll get a PLETHORA. This is somewhat of a Feeney trademark for me, and I can't think of another author in the genre who gets me to think and reflect as much as she does while I'm ostensibly reading a thriller book. She is so thoughtful, so observant, and just BRILLIANT. Her words have such a magnetic quality: every analogy is spot-on and is nothing short of hypnotizing. Brutally honest at times, but it's those kind of stark observations and willingness to look at the good, bad, and ugly of human nature that takes her books up yet ANOTHER notch.
After catching a glimpse of an early NetGalley review for this title, I was worried that a reviewer who decided to give somewhat of the 'gist' of the big twist in their review had ruined this for me. Having a feeling of what was going on didn't make this as intense as some of the other Feeney books I've read for sure, but I was so swept up in the atmospheric world of Seaglass that I was more than willing to wait it out.
BUT THEN at 80%...things went from very good to SIMPLY PHENOMENAL!
This ending was not only shocking, but I would argue is Feeney's most emotionally charged to date...so much so, that something happened that very rarely happens to me while reading a thriller.
...I almost started crying.
Maybe it was all of the pent up emotion of dragging out a book I've been waiting so long to read and then having such a satisfying and riveting ending, maybe it was simply the plot itself, my connection to these characters in such a short period of time, or some combination of all of these elements. All I know is, I can't even remember the last time THIS sort of book made me feel THAT sort of way!
After initially planning to try to read this in one sitting (because I knew I'd want to) I actually took the opposite tack and tried to make this last as long as possible...and yet it was STILL over far too soon. Like with all of Feeney's books, I wish I could unread them JUST to have that experience once more. I had been looking forward to this one from the moment it was announced and now that it's over, it truly feels like I've lost a friend and I'm sad to put it back on my shelf.
This book may have been inspired by And Then There Were None...but in MY world, There Is Only One Thriller Queen: the incomparable, original, and ENDLESSLY talented Alice Feeney! 👑
5 GLOWING stars! ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Now a Finalist for Best Thriller in the Goodreads Choice Awards!
To live, to die
to settle a score
A family of seven
(and Conor makes eight)
once more ALL at Seaglass?
It had to be fate.
Nana's 80th birthday,
and her will would be read
who would have known
she'd so soon be dead?
Held captive by high tide
Secrets swirling around
as the hours tick by
more bodies are found
Whose secrets are deadly?
Whose loyalty runs deep?
Or as Daisy Darker warns,
Are some secrets worth killing to keep?
The first word that popped into my head after finishing this book?
MASTERPIECE.
In all honesty, Feeney is just a MASTER of the craft on SO many levels, that I am always dumbstruck when I finish one of her books. I don't know what it is, or how she does it. But with each book I read, Alice Feeney manages to pull me out of my world ENTIRELY and I am all too willing to get lost in hers!
Her plotting? Always on point. You want twists? Oh, you'll get them...and then some. 😉
Characters? Always flawed, real, multi-faceted, fascinating people. They aren't always likable, but whether you like them or not, they captivate from first page to last. (Not sure if some traces of Daisy's character might have been inspired by Alice herself...from a sly mention of her love for Alice in Wonderland to one point in the book where Daisy says she was told "You'll never be a writer," which is something Feeney has mentioned was said to her in the past...who would have the GALL to say that to her, I don't know. But I digress.)
Quotes and thoughts to ponder? You'll get a PLETHORA. This is somewhat of a Feeney trademark for me, and I can't think of another author in the genre who gets me to think and reflect as much as she does while I'm ostensibly reading a thriller book. She is so thoughtful, so observant, and just BRILLIANT. Her words have such a magnetic quality: every analogy is spot-on and is nothing short of hypnotizing. Brutally honest at times, but it's those kind of stark observations and willingness to look at the good, bad, and ugly of human nature that takes her books up yet ANOTHER notch.
After catching a glimpse of an early NetGalley review for this title, I was worried that a reviewer who decided to give somewhat of the 'gist' of the big twist in their review had ruined this for me. Having a feeling of what was going on didn't make this as intense as some of the other Feeney books I've read for sure, but I was so swept up in the atmospheric world of Seaglass that I was more than willing to wait it out.
BUT THEN at 80%...things went from very good to SIMPLY PHENOMENAL!
This ending was not only shocking, but I would argue is Feeney's most emotionally charged to date...so much so, that something happened that very rarely happens to me while reading a thriller.
...I almost started crying.
Maybe it was all of the pent up emotion of dragging out a book I've been waiting so long to read and then having such a satisfying and riveting ending, maybe it was simply the plot itself, my connection to these characters in such a short period of time, or some combination of all of these elements. All I know is, I can't even remember the last time THIS sort of book made me feel THAT sort of way!
After initially planning to try to read this in one sitting (because I knew I'd want to) I actually took the opposite tack and tried to make this last as long as possible...and yet it was STILL over far too soon. Like with all of Feeney's books, I wish I could unread them JUST to have that experience once more. I had been looking forward to this one from the moment it was announced and now that it's over, it truly feels like I've lost a friend and I'm sad to put it back on my shelf.
This book may have been inspired by And Then There Were None...but in MY world, There Is Only One Thriller Queen: the incomparable, original, and ENDLESSLY talented Alice Feeney! 👑
5 GLOWING stars! ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Now a Finalist for Best Thriller in the Goodreads Choice Awards!
November 18, 2022
Daisy Darker and her whole family assemble to celebrate Nana's 80th birthday at her mansion, "Seaglass," on a tiny island.
Everyone in the family has a mysterious character and ulterior motives. They will be disconnected from the outside world for eight hours during the tide.
The party at midnight in the storm in their mysterious island mansion turns into a disaster when someone starts killing family members one by one. Who is behind these murders, and what is their motive? The author is trying to answer it through this book.
What I learned from this book
1) How to write one-liners effectively in a novel?
In my opinion, the best part of this book will be the one-liners (which we never usually expect in thrillers) told by the characters in multiple parts of this book. I think there are more than fifty one-liners in this book. I found each one informative, and these pearls of wisdom are placed in correct intervals and correct areas in the most effective way by the author. I will share a few of them here.
2) Why should we be careful while naming our children?
Can a name affect a person's future? My answer is no and yes. It all depends on the character of the individual. If the person has great character and got the correct parenting right from childhood, the name will be just another word for them. But if the child is growing up with insecurities without proper parenting, their names can cause problems in their life. The author is trying to discuss this less discussed yet important topic.
3) A philosophical approach to Life and Death
The author shares an interesting way of looking at life and death in this book.
My favourite three lines from this book
What could have been better?
The problem with this book is predictability. The author, during the narration in the initial part of the book, the book cover and even the blurb reveals a lot about the book's story that can act as spoilers. Anybody with common sense can easily predict the whole story of the book, including the twists, and make the reading experience soporific.
Rating
3/5 I tried my best to avoid the spoilers that the author accidentally revealed in various parts of this book. If you want a better reading experience, I request you not to think much about the plot before starting and go blind into this book without reading the blurb. If you do this, I think it will give you a better reading experience, especially if you like to read thrillers discussing people on a remote island.
Everyone in the family has a mysterious character and ulterior motives. They will be disconnected from the outside world for eight hours during the tide.
The party at midnight in the storm in their mysterious island mansion turns into a disaster when someone starts killing family members one by one. Who is behind these murders, and what is their motive? The author is trying to answer it through this book.
What I learned from this book
1) How to write one-liners effectively in a novel?
In my opinion, the best part of this book will be the one-liners (which we never usually expect in thrillers) told by the characters in multiple parts of this book. I think there are more than fifty one-liners in this book. I found each one informative, and these pearls of wisdom are placed in correct intervals and correct areas in the most effective way by the author. I will share a few of them here.
"Families are like fingerprints; no two are the same, and they tend to leave their mark."
"If you can't find your way back to Happy, Navigate to the place you know as Less Sad."
"Sometimes the things that make one person sad are the same things that can make another person happy."
"The secret to having it all is knowing that you already do."
2) Why should we be careful while naming our children?
Can a name affect a person's future? My answer is no and yes. It all depends on the character of the individual. If the person has great character and got the correct parenting right from childhood, the name will be just another word for them. But if the child is growing up with insecurities without proper parenting, their names can cause problems in their life. The author is trying to discuss this less discussed yet important topic.
“It’s funny how people grow into the names they are given. As though a few letters arranged in a certain order can predict a person's future happiness or sorrow. Knowing a person's name isn't the same as knowing a person, but names are the first impression we all judge and are judged by. Daisy Darker was the name life gave me and I suppose I did grow into it."
3) A philosophical approach to Life and Death
The author shares an interesting way of looking at life and death in this book.
"I think knowing you might die sooner rather than later does make a person live life differently. Death is a life-changing deadline, and I'm forever in debt to everyone who helped me outstay my welcome. I do my best to pay it forward. I try to be kind to others, as well as to myself, and rarely sweat the small stuff these days. I might not have much in terms of material possessions, but that sort of thing never really mattered to me."
My favourite three lines from this book
"If you want to be bad and get away with it, you need to be better at pretending to be good. Like the innocent flower they all wish you were”
“Pity fades with age, hate is lost and found, but guilt can last a lifetime.”
“The future is a promise we can still choose whether to keep. The past is a promise we've already broken. I meant those words, and I believe that the present is my only chance to protect this family's future.
What could have been better?
The problem with this book is predictability. The author, during the narration in the initial part of the book, the book cover and even the blurb reveals a lot about the book's story that can act as spoilers. Anybody with common sense can easily predict the whole story of the book, including the twists, and make the reading experience soporific.
Rating
3/5 I tried my best to avoid the spoilers that the author accidentally revealed in various parts of this book. If you want a better reading experience, I request you not to think much about the plot before starting and go blind into this book without reading the blurb. If you do this, I think it will give you a better reading experience, especially if you like to read thrillers discussing people on a remote island.
June 17, 2022
“There was something magical about an island—the mere word suggested fantasy. You lost touch with the world—an island was a world of its own. A world, perhaps, from which you might never return.”
― Agatha Christie, And Then There Were None
What a wonderful way to be introduced to Alice Feeney! I have not had the pleasure of reading one of her books before and she completely wowed me!!!!
Daisy Darker's family has been invited to Nana's crumbling gothic house on a tidal island. What an absolutely perfect and chilling setting! Nana, who is an eccentric author and illustrator, has called her family together. When the tide comes in, they will be stuck together for eight hours. In attendance are Nana, Daisy and her sisters who have been named after flowers, their Mother Nancy (don't call her mom), their music-is-the-most-important-thing Father, family friend Connor and her Niece. Nana is turning 80 and the family who has not seen each other in years have all shown up. They are expecting to hear a reading of Nan's will. What there are not expecting is what follows.
When the clock strikes midnight, Nana is found dead! Who would want to harm her? Then an hour later, another family member is found dead. Trapped, isolated and not know who they can trust, the Darker family must take along hard look at themselves, their pasts, and their secrets.
Talk about intriguing. I was enamored by the plot and the rhyming sections about Daisy and her family. Speaking of Daisy, she is the narrator of this story. She is also Nana's favorite. What a story this is! Plus, that twist!!!!!! You will have to read to find out what that is. I was thoroughly enjoying the book the whole way through and then Feeney blew my mind!
I listened to the audiobook and thought the narrator did a wonderful job. Cleverly crafted, well thought out, and perfectly paced, Daisy Darker is an intelligent thriller which never disappointed.
I highly recommend this brilliant nod to Agatha Christie’s And Then There Were None.
Thank you to Macmillan Audio and NetGalley who provided me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All the thoughts and opinions are my own.
Read more of my reviews at www.openbookposts.com
― Agatha Christie, And Then There Were None
What a wonderful way to be introduced to Alice Feeney! I have not had the pleasure of reading one of her books before and she completely wowed me!!!!
Daisy Darker's family has been invited to Nana's crumbling gothic house on a tidal island. What an absolutely perfect and chilling setting! Nana, who is an eccentric author and illustrator, has called her family together. When the tide comes in, they will be stuck together for eight hours. In attendance are Nana, Daisy and her sisters who have been named after flowers, their Mother Nancy (don't call her mom), their music-is-the-most-important-thing Father, family friend Connor and her Niece. Nana is turning 80 and the family who has not seen each other in years have all shown up. They are expecting to hear a reading of Nan's will. What there are not expecting is what follows.
When the clock strikes midnight, Nana is found dead! Who would want to harm her? Then an hour later, another family member is found dead. Trapped, isolated and not know who they can trust, the Darker family must take along hard look at themselves, their pasts, and their secrets.
Talk about intriguing. I was enamored by the plot and the rhyming sections about Daisy and her family. Speaking of Daisy, she is the narrator of this story. She is also Nana's favorite. What a story this is! Plus, that twist!!!!!! You will have to read to find out what that is. I was thoroughly enjoying the book the whole way through and then Feeney blew my mind!
I listened to the audiobook and thought the narrator did a wonderful job. Cleverly crafted, well thought out, and perfectly paced, Daisy Darker is an intelligent thriller which never disappointed.
I highly recommend this brilliant nod to Agatha Christie’s And Then There Were None.
Thank you to Macmillan Audio and NetGalley who provided me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All the thoughts and opinions are my own.
Read more of my reviews at www.openbookposts.com
September 13, 2022
I am a huge Feeney fan and have loved everything of hers that I have read so far....until now.
First of all, I hated all of the characters which is normally not a problem for me if their interesting and intriguing but this cast was neither of those things.
Everyone in this book is shivering, trembling, or tutting & tsking. Enough so, that I not only picked up on it but also became annoyed by it.
I'm not a fan of locked room mysteries but because this was Feeney I wanted to keep an open-mind. That'll teach me. So boring, so repetitive.
The poems were painful to read. If I didn't love my Kindle I would have chucked it at the wall.
The way people spoke in this drove me bananas. Especially Nana. It's as if Feeney wanted her portrayed as the wisest woman to have ever walked the Earth.
And don't even get me started on the twist and the ending. To call me disappointed would be an understatement. I wish Feeney stuck to what she does best, psychological thrillers, instead of this attempt at ripping off Agatha Christie.
Many of my friends loved this and I am so happy for all of those that were blown away. I suggest that potential readers check out all of the reviews, good and bad, to determine whether this is worthy of your time.
I will still check out Feeney's future work because I've loved some of her other books but this is by far my least favorite. 1 star!
Thanks to Overdrive for the loan!
First of all, I hated all of the characters which is normally not a problem for me if their interesting and intriguing but this cast was neither of those things.
Everyone in this book is shivering, trembling, or tutting & tsking. Enough so, that I not only picked up on it but also became annoyed by it.
I'm not a fan of locked room mysteries but because this was Feeney I wanted to keep an open-mind. That'll teach me. So boring, so repetitive.
The poems were painful to read. If I didn't love my Kindle I would have chucked it at the wall.
The way people spoke in this drove me bananas. Especially Nana. It's as if Feeney wanted her portrayed as the wisest woman to have ever walked the Earth.
And don't even get me started on the twist and the ending. To call me disappointed would be an understatement. I wish Feeney stuck to what she does best, psychological thrillers, instead of this attempt at ripping off Agatha Christie.
Many of my friends loved this and I am so happy for all of those that were blown away. I suggest that potential readers check out all of the reviews, good and bad, to determine whether this is worthy of your time.
I will still check out Feeney's future work because I've loved some of her other books but this is by far my least favorite. 1 star!
Thanks to Overdrive for the loan!
November 15, 2022
I think the fuck not.
March 3, 2022
“In family life, love is the oil that eases friction, the cement that binds closer together, and the music that brings harmony.”
― Friedrich Nietzsche
If only the Darker family had heeded those words, they might not have found themselves on a private, isolated island, at Halloween with a killer amongst them, and when the tide comes in, they will be isolated from the mainland for 8 hours - plenty of time for things to go badly wrong!
Beatrice (Nana) Darker, is a successful author and illustrator of the children’s book “Daisy Darker’s Little Secret “. She has arranged a rare gathering of her family in her spooky Victorian home, on her private island off the Cornish Coast, in order to celebrate her 80th birthday. A woman obsessed with clocks (she has 80 of them) one for each year of her life. Nana Darker expects this clock to be her last after a palm reader in Lands End predicted her death after she reached the age of 80.
As the evening proceeds, Nana Darker gathers the family together, and announces the reading of her last will and testament. When the 80 clocks chime the midnight hour, there is a terrifying scream, after which the Darker family’s lives get even ‘darker’, leading to a very surprising and unexpected ending!
*Thank you to Netgalley and Pan Macmillan, for an ARC in exchange for an honest unbiased review*
― Friedrich Nietzsche
If only the Darker family had heeded those words, they might not have found themselves on a private, isolated island, at Halloween with a killer amongst them, and when the tide comes in, they will be isolated from the mainland for 8 hours - plenty of time for things to go badly wrong!
Beatrice (Nana) Darker, is a successful author and illustrator of the children’s book “Daisy Darker’s Little Secret “. She has arranged a rare gathering of her family in her spooky Victorian home, on her private island off the Cornish Coast, in order to celebrate her 80th birthday. A woman obsessed with clocks (she has 80 of them) one for each year of her life. Nana Darker expects this clock to be her last after a palm reader in Lands End predicted her death after she reached the age of 80.
As the evening proceeds, Nana Darker gathers the family together, and announces the reading of her last will and testament. When the 80 clocks chime the midnight hour, there is a terrifying scream, after which the Darker family’s lives get even ‘darker’, leading to a very surprising and unexpected ending!
*Thank you to Netgalley and Pan Macmillan, for an ARC in exchange for an honest unbiased review*
August 22, 2022
4.5 stars
Cleverly written mystery thriller in the vein of And Then There Were None.
Many years ago, a palm reader predicted that Nana, Beatrice Darker, wouldn't live beyond the age of 80, and so she has invited the entire family to her island estate of Seaglass to celebrate the momentous birthday. Her son Frank, his ex-wife Nancy, their three daughters: Rose, Lily, and Daisy, and Lily's daughter Trixie, along with old family friend Conor are in attendance. But every member of the Darker family is hiding secrets, some more sinister than others.
Told from the point of view of Daisy, there is family drama galore and many surprises. One thing I figured out in advance and the other major surprise I should have figured out but I was just going along for the ride, so I was thrilled when all was revealed. As the hours pass with the family stranded with no means to communicate with the outside world, and then the bodies start accumulating--and then disappearing--it's difficult to know who is lying and who is telling the truth, and that's one of the most exciting parts of this mysterious tale.
I listened to this as an audiobook, and Stephanie Racine (who has narrated, at least in part, all of Feeney's other novels) does a spectacular job of giving Daisy her voice and mannerisms that both endear her to the reader and yet make the reader a bit suspicious of her as well.
I feel like Feeney's novels are getting better and better with each one and can't wait to see what she comes up with next.
I voluntarily reviewed a complimentary copy of this book, all opinions are my own.
Cleverly written mystery thriller in the vein of And Then There Were None.
Many years ago, a palm reader predicted that Nana, Beatrice Darker, wouldn't live beyond the age of 80, and so she has invited the entire family to her island estate of Seaglass to celebrate the momentous birthday. Her son Frank, his ex-wife Nancy, their three daughters: Rose, Lily, and Daisy, and Lily's daughter Trixie, along with old family friend Conor are in attendance. But every member of the Darker family is hiding secrets, some more sinister than others.
Told from the point of view of Daisy, there is family drama galore and many surprises. One thing I figured out in advance and the other major surprise I should have figured out but I was just going along for the ride, so I was thrilled when all was revealed. As the hours pass with the family stranded with no means to communicate with the outside world, and then the bodies start accumulating--and then disappearing--it's difficult to know who is lying and who is telling the truth, and that's one of the most exciting parts of this mysterious tale.
I listened to this as an audiobook, and Stephanie Racine (who has narrated, at least in part, all of Feeney's other novels) does a spectacular job of giving Daisy her voice and mannerisms that both endear her to the reader and yet make the reader a bit suspicious of her as well.
I feel like Feeney's novels are getting better and better with each one and can't wait to see what she comes up with next.
I voluntarily reviewed a complimentary copy of this book, all opinions are my own.
March 10, 2022
3.5 STARS
It will soon be Nana's 80th birthday and the countdown has started. Not only until the birthday party, but until the next murder.
Quite a few And Then There Were None vibes were present in this author's latest tale. A locked-room setting in a decaying house on a secluded tidal island. They are trapped until the tide goes down. The house was filled with clock covered walls, mismatched retro furniture, enormous windows and shelves that sagged from the weight of so so many books. I could easily picture it. The setting is on point and my favorite aspect of the story.
The Darker family gathers to celebrate, but their reunion turns into a twisted game of murder tricks, solving chalk written rhymes and someones sleight of hand. Who will be the next victim and whose name will be crossed out next? Curiousity, rather than suspense is what kept me turning pages.
Most of the twists were easily predictable and underwhelming.There was one good eye popper though. I also didn't care for the big reveal - too much telling and providing explanations, but I guess that is one way to explain things and bring closure.
Not my favorite Feeney book (though it is hers)! I'm not sure what I was expecting, but something more original than this one. Just IMHO.
Thanks to NG and the publisher for my arc! OUT August 30, 2022
It will soon be Nana's 80th birthday and the countdown has started. Not only until the birthday party, but until the next murder.
Quite a few And Then There Were None vibes were present in this author's latest tale. A locked-room setting in a decaying house on a secluded tidal island. They are trapped until the tide goes down. The house was filled with clock covered walls, mismatched retro furniture, enormous windows and shelves that sagged from the weight of so so many books. I could easily picture it. The setting is on point and my favorite aspect of the story.
The Darker family gathers to celebrate, but their reunion turns into a twisted game of murder tricks, solving chalk written rhymes and someones sleight of hand. Who will be the next victim and whose name will be crossed out next? Curiousity, rather than suspense is what kept me turning pages.
Most of the twists were easily predictable and underwhelming.There was one good eye popper though. I also didn't care for the big reveal - too much telling and providing explanations, but I guess that is one way to explain things and bring closure.
Not my favorite Feeney book (though it is hers)! I'm not sure what I was expecting, but something more original than this one. Just IMHO.
Thanks to NG and the publisher for my arc! OUT August 30, 2022
January 23, 2022
Alice Feeney, you are a genius! The writing is impeccable! Although in the beginning I was worried with the slow-build and hoping it would pick up, not to worry... it will!!! The background of the story is essential in most thrillers to unfold how we get to that final point, so this takes us back to the 80's of three children named after flowers. Rose, Lily and Daisy Darker's personalities are revealed, as well as their upbringing. They were raised by a beautiful, but failed actress mother, Nancy and their symphony orchestra father, Frank. These less than perfect parents, now divorced, are guilty of neglecting their children of love and more about achieving their own goals.
The narrator, Daisy, was born with a heart condition that totals several times she died, but successfully resuscitated. She reveals the secrets and gives insight to each character as suspicions rise over the course of the book. The beauty, strength and audacity of her beautiful sisters will have you feeling sorrow for her and her weaknesses.
Their grandmother, Nana, is the most eccentric character living on an island in a Gothic mansion that can only be accessible when the tide is out. She makes the family members clock-in as an employee would, when they enter her home so she can have a record of the last time they came....LOL! She is an author of a book, Daisy Darker and Her Secrets. What an incredible setting to write in!! She is a hoot and cares for none of the flawed family members, .....rather vocal about it, except for Daisy and Lily's teenage daughter, Trixie.
The atmosphere creates a dynamic view of the characters and their connection to this island. They connect every year celebrating their Nana's birthday on Halloween...how befitting for this lady. When the high tide comes in, they are trapped on the island for 8 hours. This locked room mystery begins when the clock strikes midnight, Nana is found dead. Then one by one the killing continues. Each time a VHS tape is found with each one significantly titled : Watch Me, Hear Me, Notice Me, See Me. They consist of videos from their childhood and each one contains a clue. The book references its course to the Agatha Christie book And Then There Were None..... Each time a stanza is added to the chalkboard Nana has on her kitchen wall:
"Daisy Darker's family were as dark as dark as can be.
When one of them died, all of them died, and pretended not to see."
This dysfunctional family can't seem to forgive or forget the past and therefore their anger is exposed in bits and pieces. Each story or video tape reveals fun times on the surface, but each Darker family member knows the real story beyond the screen. That twist at the end is worth it all! Stay with it until that final curtain is down, as well as when the low tide returns.
"Some people drink to drown their sorrows; others drink so they can swim in them."
Thank you NetGalley and Flatiron Books for this incredible copy in exchange for my honest review.
The narrator, Daisy, was born with a heart condition that totals several times she died, but successfully resuscitated. She reveals the secrets and gives insight to each character as suspicions rise over the course of the book. The beauty, strength and audacity of her beautiful sisters will have you feeling sorrow for her and her weaknesses.
Their grandmother, Nana, is the most eccentric character living on an island in a Gothic mansion that can only be accessible when the tide is out. She makes the family members clock-in as an employee would, when they enter her home so she can have a record of the last time they came....LOL! She is an author of a book, Daisy Darker and Her Secrets. What an incredible setting to write in!! She is a hoot and cares for none of the flawed family members, .....rather vocal about it, except for Daisy and Lily's teenage daughter, Trixie.
The atmosphere creates a dynamic view of the characters and their connection to this island. They connect every year celebrating their Nana's birthday on Halloween...how befitting for this lady. When the high tide comes in, they are trapped on the island for 8 hours. This locked room mystery begins when the clock strikes midnight, Nana is found dead. Then one by one the killing continues. Each time a VHS tape is found with each one significantly titled : Watch Me, Hear Me, Notice Me, See Me. They consist of videos from their childhood and each one contains a clue. The book references its course to the Agatha Christie book And Then There Were None..... Each time a stanza is added to the chalkboard Nana has on her kitchen wall:
"Daisy Darker's family were as dark as dark as can be.
When one of them died, all of them died, and pretended not to see."
This dysfunctional family can't seem to forgive or forget the past and therefore their anger is exposed in bits and pieces. Each story or video tape reveals fun times on the surface, but each Darker family member knows the real story beyond the screen. That twist at the end is worth it all! Stay with it until that final curtain is down, as well as when the low tide returns.
"Some people drink to drown their sorrows; others drink so they can swim in them."
Thank you NetGalley and Flatiron Books for this incredible copy in exchange for my honest review.
September 8, 2022
This felt like a bad stage play where I just wanted to leave. There was no suspense despise all the murder, maybe I just got sick of it all since the characters were so terrible . And the ending..? I’m just shaking my head in disbelief.
September 11, 2022
Daisy Darker was born with a heart condition, has had to be resuscitated many times in the past and has been told that she won’t have a long life. Her family isn’t quite supportive of her and the only person she feels truly cares about her is her Nana.
Daisy’s Nana, Beatrice Darker, illustrious children’s book author and illustrator, is turning eighty and the whole family is gathering at her mansion, “Seaglass", on the Cornish coast, to celebrate. If a palm reader’s prediction is anything to go by, this birthday will probably be Nana’s last. But Nana is prepared and makes it a point to discuss her will with her family – her orchestra musician son and his ex-wife Nancy, their children Rose, Lily, Daisy and Lily’s daughter, Trixie, and family friend, Conor. Needless to say, most of her family members aren’t too happy with the way Nana has decided to distribute her considerable wealth and assets.
Later that night, Nana is found dead in her kitchen with a strange poem, consisting lines describing each of the people present in Seaglass (not in a particularly positive light) on a chalkboard. As the narrative progresses, and the family waits for low tide (the island is inaccessible otherwise), Nana’s is not the only death Daisy has to deal with. One by one, other family members turn up dead, the corresponding lines from the chalkboard poem are crossed out and VHS tapes from the sisters’ childhood days keep turning up. Who could be responsible and to what end? Whoever is responsible for all that is happening has to be someone among them. The rest of them need to figure out who it is and stay alive till they can get off the island. The story is told from Daisy’s PoV and moves back and forth between past and present.
Barring “I Know Who You Are”, I’ve enjoyed all of Alice Feeney’s novels. Needless to say, I'd been looking forward to reading "Daisy Darker" ever since I heard about it. Maybe my expectations were too high? I kind of figured out the identity of the mastermind quite early on and the final reveal while interesting, didn’t impress me much. The motive for the murders felt contrived and required that you suspend disbelief. The lack of originality in the plot (the strong nod to an Agatha Christie favorite was great but made the story more than a little predictable, i.e. not too many surprises along the way) and the final twist (I mean, you kind of see it coming and try to convince yourself that Feeney wouldn’t go there, but she did!) left me a tad disappointed.
I did like the atmospheric setting, the fluid narrative, and the cast of interesting characters (since they were being killed off, there wasn’t much scope for character development beyond what is shared through Daisy’s memories). The author does a great job of depicting a dysfunctional family with its share of lies, secrets, and deceit. I thoroughly enjoyed the ominous poems interspersed throughout the novel. In short, while I did not dislike Daisy Darker by Alice Feeney, I didn’t love it. I am aware that mine is an outlier opinion and many have loved this book more than I have. Alice Feeney remains one of my favorite writers in this genre and I look forward to reading more from her in the future.
Daisy’s Nana, Beatrice Darker, illustrious children’s book author and illustrator, is turning eighty and the whole family is gathering at her mansion, “Seaglass", on the Cornish coast, to celebrate. If a palm reader’s prediction is anything to go by, this birthday will probably be Nana’s last. But Nana is prepared and makes it a point to discuss her will with her family – her orchestra musician son and his ex-wife Nancy, their children Rose, Lily, Daisy and Lily’s daughter, Trixie, and family friend, Conor. Needless to say, most of her family members aren’t too happy with the way Nana has decided to distribute her considerable wealth and assets.
Later that night, Nana is found dead in her kitchen with a strange poem, consisting lines describing each of the people present in Seaglass (not in a particularly positive light) on a chalkboard. As the narrative progresses, and the family waits for low tide (the island is inaccessible otherwise), Nana’s is not the only death Daisy has to deal with. One by one, other family members turn up dead, the corresponding lines from the chalkboard poem are crossed out and VHS tapes from the sisters’ childhood days keep turning up. Who could be responsible and to what end? Whoever is responsible for all that is happening has to be someone among them. The rest of them need to figure out who it is and stay alive till they can get off the island. The story is told from Daisy’s PoV and moves back and forth between past and present.
Barring “I Know Who You Are”, I’ve enjoyed all of Alice Feeney’s novels. Needless to say, I'd been looking forward to reading "Daisy Darker" ever since I heard about it. Maybe my expectations were too high? I kind of figured out the identity of the mastermind quite early on and the final reveal while interesting, didn’t impress me much. The motive for the murders felt contrived and required that you suspend disbelief. The lack of originality in the plot (the strong nod to an Agatha Christie favorite was great but made the story more than a little predictable, i.e. not too many surprises along the way) and the final twist (I mean, you kind of see it coming and try to convince yourself that Feeney wouldn’t go there, but she did!) left me a tad disappointed.
I did like the atmospheric setting, the fluid narrative, and the cast of interesting characters (since they were being killed off, there wasn’t much scope for character development beyond what is shared through Daisy’s memories). The author does a great job of depicting a dysfunctional family with its share of lies, secrets, and deceit. I thoroughly enjoyed the ominous poems interspersed throughout the novel. In short, while I did not dislike Daisy Darker by Alice Feeney, I didn’t love it. I am aware that mine is an outlier opinion and many have loved this book more than I have. Alice Feeney remains one of my favorite writers in this genre and I look forward to reading more from her in the future.
June 26, 2022
4.5*
Oy! What a family!🤦♀️
It is Nana’s 80th birthday…which happens to fall on Halloween. 🎃👻 She’s gathered her family together to celebrate at her home on a tiny, remote island. And the turn-out is the entire Darker family. Four generations, together for the first time in years.
But as midnight arrives one member is found dead. And she won’t be the last! Can the remaining family members expose the killer among them before it’s their turn to die?!
Eerie and atmospheric! I listened to the audio as the narrator lulled me in with her melodic voice. Giving me the willies, and feeling chills as each hour went by as yet another family member loses their life.
You may think you have this one figured out! But rest assured… you’re wrong! 🤣
Once again Alice Feeney has delivered a deliciously dark and sinister read! Don’t miss out. And I highly recommend the audio version.
A buddy read with Susanne that we both enjoyed!
Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio 🎧
Oy! What a family!🤦♀️
It is Nana’s 80th birthday…which happens to fall on Halloween. 🎃👻 She’s gathered her family together to celebrate at her home on a tiny, remote island. And the turn-out is the entire Darker family. Four generations, together for the first time in years.
But as midnight arrives one member is found dead. And she won’t be the last! Can the remaining family members expose the killer among them before it’s their turn to die?!
Eerie and atmospheric! I listened to the audio as the narrator lulled me in with her melodic voice. Giving me the willies, and feeling chills as each hour went by as yet another family member loses their life.
You may think you have this one figured out! But rest assured… you’re wrong! 🤣
Once again Alice Feeney has delivered a deliciously dark and sinister read! Don’t miss out. And I highly recommend the audio version.
A buddy read with Susanne that we both enjoyed!
Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio 🎧
September 2, 2022
Unpopular opinion. Daisy Darker was my first read by Alice Feeney, and I’m sorry to say I really didn’t care for it. I found it slow and boring, and I guessed all the twists, well except for the so-called big reveal which didn’t work for me at all.
September 8, 2022
It’s Halloween night, Nana’s 80th birthday, and she summons her children and grandchildren to her house, a crumbling Victorian on a tiny remote Cornish island. Based on a fortune teller's prediction some years ago, it may be her last birthday.
To say Nana is eccentric would be an understatement. And the rest of the family? Let‘s just say they put the fun in dysFUNctional, if you love dysfunctional families as much as I do. Their dialogue is often hilarious and they do not hesitate to go after each other with their claws out.
Nana reads them her will at dinner. Predictably, not everyone is happy, and the evening ends on a sour note. When the clocks (all 80 of them) strike midnight, everyone is awakened by a scream and someone is found dead. There is a poem written on the chalkboard in the kitchen that predicts each guest’s demise and explains why they deserve to die.
Each hour on the hour, someone else is found dead. There are other strange elements at play but I won’t ruin the fun. With a nod to Agatha Christie’s AND THEN THERE WERE NONE, this was a fresh new take on a locked door mystery, one that is oozing with atmosphere and menace.
This was truly unputdownable. It’s often difficult to pinpoint why I fall in love with some books and not others, but this one had everything…Daisy, the narrator, who literally has a “broken heart”, the family secrets, the writing, the creepy old house, eccentric characters, the menace of the tide coming in to trap the occupants in the house for hours, the deaths every hour, the alternating timeline between the past and present….and all on Halloween night.
And that ending! The potential suspects are naturally limited and it was fun for Marialyce, my reading buddy, and I to speculate. But there were still a couple of surprises that blew us away. In the hands of a lesser author, I might have rolled my eyes but I found it clever and brilliant! The bread crumbs were there, but I missed them.
Stephanie Racine narrated the audiobook and her narration was phenomenal. I had both the print and audio versions, and I found I preferred the audio. I highly recommend listening to this one as she delivered a top-notch performance which made the book even more eerie.
To say Nana is eccentric would be an understatement. And the rest of the family? Let‘s just say they put the fun in dysFUNctional, if you love dysfunctional families as much as I do. Their dialogue is often hilarious and they do not hesitate to go after each other with their claws out.
Nana reads them her will at dinner. Predictably, not everyone is happy, and the evening ends on a sour note. When the clocks (all 80 of them) strike midnight, everyone is awakened by a scream and someone is found dead. There is a poem written on the chalkboard in the kitchen that predicts each guest’s demise and explains why they deserve to die.
Each hour on the hour, someone else is found dead. There are other strange elements at play but I won’t ruin the fun. With a nod to Agatha Christie’s AND THEN THERE WERE NONE, this was a fresh new take on a locked door mystery, one that is oozing with atmosphere and menace.
This was truly unputdownable. It’s often difficult to pinpoint why I fall in love with some books and not others, but this one had everything…Daisy, the narrator, who literally has a “broken heart”, the family secrets, the writing, the creepy old house, eccentric characters, the menace of the tide coming in to trap the occupants in the house for hours, the deaths every hour, the alternating timeline between the past and present….and all on Halloween night.
And that ending! The potential suspects are naturally limited and it was fun for Marialyce, my reading buddy, and I to speculate. But there were still a couple of surprises that blew us away. In the hands of a lesser author, I might have rolled my eyes but I found it clever and brilliant! The bread crumbs were there, but I missed them.
Stephanie Racine narrated the audiobook and her narration was phenomenal. I had both the print and audio versions, and I found I preferred the audio. I highly recommend listening to this one as she delivered a top-notch performance which made the book even more eerie.
February 4, 2023
For a murder-mystery this was alright, but I guessed the big twist at about a third of the way through, so after that I was just waiting for the reveal, which seemed to take a long time to get to.
The 80's references were a highlight for me though, bringing back memories of everyone at primary school raving about Labyrinth, Top Gun and Ghostbusters, etc. And nobody lived through an 80's British childhood without remembering poor old BBC weatherman Michael Fish in 1987, infamously getting the hurricane warning wrong and forever looking like a total pillock. He gets a mention too, haha!
The 80's references were a highlight for me though, bringing back memories of everyone at primary school raving about Labyrinth, Top Gun and Ghostbusters, etc. And nobody lived through an 80's British childhood without remembering poor old BBC weatherman Michael Fish in 1987, infamously getting the hurricane warning wrong and forever looking like a total pillock. He gets a mention too, haha!
August 30, 2022
HAPPY PUBLICATION DAY!
You are cordially invited to the Darker family reunion!
What: Nana’s 80th birthday
Where: Sea Glass Estate on Black Sand Bay
When: October 30, 2004
How: Come at low tide
Why: to celebrate Nana
RSVP: by August 30th!
A palm reader once told Nana that she wouldn’t live past 80 years old. Convinced this is her last birthday, she invites her estranged family members to Sea Glass to celebrate.
The Darker family are a miserable, selfish bunch, who only care about themselves and how much money they have.
Everyone has a their own reason for attending the party.
You will meet Frank and Nancy.
Their daughters Rose, Lilly and Daisy.
Lilly’s daughter, Trixie.
Connor, the neighbor.
And Poppins the dog.
Grab your card and punch in for a birthday celebration!
When one family member is found murdered every hour, the rest must solve the puzzle before they wind up dead.
In a family filled with devastating secrets, no one will go unpunished.
Daisy Darker can best be described as And Then There Were None meets We Were Liars.
It is a fantastic gothic tale and murder mystery filled with domestic drama and suspense. With 1980s nostalgia and an unsavory cast of characters that you will love to hate, this is an unputdownable thriller that will have you guessing until the end. Pay close attention to the clues, or you might be next!
Stephanie Racine’s stellar five star narration of the audiobook is not to be missed.
Alice Feeney has done it again! You do not want to be tardy to this party.
4.5/5 rounded up
Expected publication date: 8/30/22
Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for the ARC of Daisy Darker in exchange for an honest review.
You are cordially invited to the Darker family reunion!
What: Nana’s 80th birthday
Where: Sea Glass Estate on Black Sand Bay
When: October 30, 2004
How: Come at low tide
Why: to celebrate Nana
RSVP: by August 30th!
A palm reader once told Nana that she wouldn’t live past 80 years old. Convinced this is her last birthday, she invites her estranged family members to Sea Glass to celebrate.
The Darker family are a miserable, selfish bunch, who only care about themselves and how much money they have.
Everyone has a their own reason for attending the party.
You will meet Frank and Nancy.
Their daughters Rose, Lilly and Daisy.
Lilly’s daughter, Trixie.
Connor, the neighbor.
And Poppins the dog.
Grab your card and punch in for a birthday celebration!
When one family member is found murdered every hour, the rest must solve the puzzle before they wind up dead.
In a family filled with devastating secrets, no one will go unpunished.
Daisy Darker can best be described as And Then There Were None meets We Were Liars.
It is a fantastic gothic tale and murder mystery filled with domestic drama and suspense. With 1980s nostalgia and an unsavory cast of characters that you will love to hate, this is an unputdownable thriller that will have you guessing until the end. Pay close attention to the clues, or you might be next!
Stephanie Racine’s stellar five star narration of the audiobook is not to be missed.
Alice Feeney has done it again! You do not want to be tardy to this party.
4.5/5 rounded up
Expected publication date: 8/30/22
Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for the ARC of Daisy Darker in exchange for an honest review.
September 5, 2022
If there’s one thing I know for sure when I read an Alice Feeney novel, it's that it will be smartly written. I know all my (remaining) gray cells are going to be kept busy sleuthing my way through the twists and turns every time she puts words to paper, and I know I’m going to have a lot of fun doing it! Her latest, Daisy Darker, is no exception.
In an homage to Agatha Christie’s And Then There Were None, the dysfunctional Darker family has come together, at Beatrice (Nana) Darker’s invitation, to celebrate her 80th birthday - on Halloween, no less! Her son, Frank, his ex-wife, Nancy, their three girls, Rose, Lily and Daisy, Lily’s 15-year-old daughter, Trixie, and an old family friend, Conor, have all arrived to this small tidal island and Nana’s home, Seaglass, for that purpose, but as you can guess … it’s never that simple.
Nana decides this is the ideal time to use her celebrated author skills to poetically express her last will and testament to her gathered family, since she’s been assured by a palm reader that this birthday will be her last. These verses, and the ominous ones that appear written in chalk on the kitchen wall later, cleverly reflect the character deficits of each of the gathered members and portent certain fates for each.
As the tides come in trapping the Darker family at Seaglass for the night and each of Nana’s 80 eclectic wall clocks chime on the hour, those fates will visit upon the gathered. Who survives, who is behind these events, and what’s the story between the lines of Nana’s verses? That’s the clever story Feeney has woven, and as always, it kept me reading - or in this case - listening with rapt attention!
The story goes back and forth in time, showing how each character came to be who they are today. It reveals some secrets and keeps some close to the vest until later, only hinting at them along the way, enticing the reader along the twisty path until the big reveals you know are going to come with a Feeney novel!
Stephanie Racine, once again, brilliantly narrated this. She’s stellar with Feeney’s books! Two things dropped this from a 5-star read to a 4-star read: 1) I had a feeling about the ‘whodunnit’ that ended up being correct, which took a bit of the surprise out of the final reveal, and 2) I just don’t love locked-room style mysteries as much. All-in-all, I still enjoyed it a lot, and can highly recommend it - especially the audio!
★★★★
In an homage to Agatha Christie’s And Then There Were None, the dysfunctional Darker family has come together, at Beatrice (Nana) Darker’s invitation, to celebrate her 80th birthday - on Halloween, no less! Her son, Frank, his ex-wife, Nancy, their three girls, Rose, Lily and Daisy, Lily’s 15-year-old daughter, Trixie, and an old family friend, Conor, have all arrived to this small tidal island and Nana’s home, Seaglass, for that purpose, but as you can guess … it’s never that simple.
Nana decides this is the ideal time to use her celebrated author skills to poetically express her last will and testament to her gathered family, since she’s been assured by a palm reader that this birthday will be her last. These verses, and the ominous ones that appear written in chalk on the kitchen wall later, cleverly reflect the character deficits of each of the gathered members and portent certain fates for each.
As the tides come in trapping the Darker family at Seaglass for the night and each of Nana’s 80 eclectic wall clocks chime on the hour, those fates will visit upon the gathered. Who survives, who is behind these events, and what’s the story between the lines of Nana’s verses? That’s the clever story Feeney has woven, and as always, it kept me reading - or in this case - listening with rapt attention!
The story goes back and forth in time, showing how each character came to be who they are today. It reveals some secrets and keeps some close to the vest until later, only hinting at them along the way, enticing the reader along the twisty path until the big reveals you know are going to come with a Feeney novel!
Stephanie Racine, once again, brilliantly narrated this. She’s stellar with Feeney’s books! Two things dropped this from a 5-star read to a 4-star read: 1) I had a feeling about the ‘whodunnit’ that ended up being correct, which took a bit of the surprise out of the final reveal, and 2) I just don’t love locked-room style mysteries as much. All-in-all, I still enjoyed it a lot, and can highly recommend it - especially the audio!
★★★★
October 2, 2022
Daisy Darker’s family were as lovely as can be.
I can count on Feeney to bring such a wonderful atmosphere to every book I read so far. Daisy Darker takes place on a private island off the Cornish coast.
The Darker family gathered at Nana Darker's 200-year-old victorian home for her 80th birthday which coincides with Halloween. The Seaglass house is decorated with orange and black theme, pumpkins, and candles. It's perfect for October read if you enjoy the holiday.🎃🧹
The novel is inspired by Agatha Christie's "And Then There Were None" so you know how it goes, a character is killed one by one.
I love the ominous rhyme on the wall. It's probably my favorite part of the book. The last part of it goes like this...😬
....Daisy Darker’s family wasted far too many years lying.
They spent their final hours together learning lessons before dying.
I enjoyed this dysfunctional family thriller. I had to suspend my disbelief to be able to appreciate the concept and the ending. The audiobook read by Stephanie Racine was wonderful, she reads all A.F. books.
August 17, 2022
Daisy Darker by Alice Feeney is a 2022 Flatiron publication.
It's Nana’s eightieth birthday- and her entire family has gathered to help her celebrate. This would include her son, ex-daughter-in-law, her granddaughters, and her great granddaughter, as well as Connor, a man she practically helped raise, and who all her granddaughters had a crush on at some point.
Nana was a successful children’s author- writing books named after her granddaughter, Daisy Darker. Her son is famous musician who never wanted a wife or children and spent most of his time abroad. His former wife picked favorites amongst her children, and Daisy definitely wasn’t the chosen one.
Daisy- bless her heart- was born broken. She has a congenital heart defect and wasn’t expected to live beyond her childhood years. She was never allowed to go anywhere or have the fun her sisters did…
But she was Nana’s favorite!
Then there is the fifteen-year-old Trixie- Nana’s only grandchild- who is the only one to treat Daisy with any kindness.
Now they are all under one roof and all the resentments, pettiness, competitions and back biting come boiling up to the surface after Nana decides to read them the contents of her will….
Then a deadly prediction comes true when Nana is found dead...
But that’s just the beginning!
Obviously, this story has a very familiar set up- reminiscent of Agatha Christie. But while the format is a comfortable as a pair of old jeans, Feeney puts a fresh spin on the old locked-room mystery format with an extraordinary surprise twist that will knock your socks off!
Overall, as a fan of Christie, locked-room mysteries and Alice Feeney this one was a win for me. This one is a bit ‘darker’ that the usual locked-room format, but it was a nice fit for this story.
The atmosphere is spooky and tense, but the guessing game is fun, and the entire experience was very entertaining. A great book to curl up with a dark and stormy night….
4+ stars
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