Daisy Darker: A Gripping Psychological Thriller With a Killer Ending You'll Never Forget

Product Information

Daisy is twisty, loaded with gloomy atmosphere, and what’s more fun than watching a family rip each other to bits? It’s like Christmas in August.” 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. 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. For Daisy Darker, however, it’s an opportunity to reconnect with her family and, perhaps, to find out the truth.

Lily announces that she can’t find her missing diabetic kit. Also, she can’t find Trixie. Nancy suggest to Lily that Trixie is asleep somewhere, as she and Lily put a sleeping pill in Trixie‘s tea. 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! 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. 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. 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.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. 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." Daisy told Trixie her secret and Trixie told Nana, who was horrified. Conor’s father had committed suicide after Daisy’s body was found because when he found blood on his car (he car Conor borrowed) he thought he had been the one who had killed somebody.

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. A twisting, pulse-pounding thriller from Freida McFadden, the New York Times bestselling author of The Housemaid and The Coworker Daisy recalls a big storm in 1987. Frank’s car had been hit by a falling tree and he was badly injured. Conor’s dad told the children about a man killed with a poisoned umbrella. Daisy recalls that Conor’s father had a relationship with Nancy but they broke up and Conor left home. Trixie says that despite her heart condition, she hopes to live to twenty-five and wants to travel the world. Daisy is wearing childish clothes because those are the clothes she wore the day that she died. Nana wanted Daisy to write her own story. Daisy uses Conor’s computer to start writing her story. 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 . . .Someone has written a poem on the kitchen chalkboard wall about the flaws of the Darker family. Daisy thinks that Nana must’ve been standing on a chair writing the poem when she fell.

I loved the setting of this book because it was so eerie, but at the same time felt like such a cosy family house I would want to live in! Although not in a storm… it sounded like a truly terrifying place when the waves were crashing against the outside walls of the house and the wind was howling. And it is also the place in which a lot of bad things happened to the Darker family, mainly to Daisy Darker, our main character. So it is a really good setting, both a happy and very sad place but I thought it was a great sort of character in itself as it felt living at times. CHARACTERS A sinisterly satisfying play on Agatha Christie’s And Then There Were None...Readers will be intrigued by the setting, the action, and the question of whether or not they can trust narrator Daisy.” 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.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 would say that this book is both character driven and plot driven because everything is so complex. There is such an evolution in what you think or suspect of the various characters and it’s just not a clean cut story at all. I loved seeing the plot unfold and take drastic twists and turns and I also really enjoyed reading about the characters, their lies, their secrets and the ultimate reveal at the end which I really did not see coming. 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.