Did I really need to read another book about a serial killer? Probably not, but the blurb from crime writer Karin Slaughter clinched it: Stacy Willingham's debut novel, "A Flicker in the Dark," will "keep you turning pages long past your bedtime." And she was right.
"Flicker" builds slowly and steadily until you realize you're hooked on the story of Baton Rouge psychologist Chloe Davis, whose her father was imprisoned 20 years ago for the deaths of six teens, girls she had gone to school with in her small Louisiana hometown of Breaux Bridge, girls who went missing, their bodies never found.
Chloe is still dealing with the emotional fallout as the anniversary of her father's arrest nears, but she has made strides toward a normal life: She has a growing practice and she's about to be married. Then a teen girl goes missing, and another. Chloe's existence begins to unravel as it becomes clear that these disappearances have something to do with her father. But how?
Be prepared for a few late nights as you navigate Willingham's twists and turns to get to that how. Believe me, the loss of sleep is a small price to pay.
Maren Longbella is a Star Tribune copy editor.
A Flicker in the Dark
By: Stacy Willingham.
Publisher: Minotaur, 368 pages, $27.99.
