Book Review: Daisy Darker by Alice Feeney

“…she chose to name me after a flower that often gets picked, trampled on, or made into chains. A mother’s least favorite child always knows that’s what they are.”

Alice Feeney, Daisy Darker

Review:

Alice Feeney is a master of suspense. I didn’t think there would be any topping Rock, Paper, Scissors but Daisy Darker surpassed my expectations (which were high to begin with).

Speaking as someone who comes from her own brand of dysfunctional family, there was something cathartic about this story for me. It’s filled with miscommunication, revenge, bitterness, justice, as well as the complicated love that comes along with a toxic family dynamic. The book is told from Daisy’s perspective but we get a good glimpse of all of the characters and why they might have a motive to kill.

There’s a great mix of suspense, twists, and even a little bit of creepiness. Even while I did predict each part of the ending, I couldn’t have imagined it as a whole. I had plenty of suspicions, but it was a situation with so many possible suspects that I didn’t want to cling to any one theory for very long.

The narrator for the audiobook did a wonderful job, putting emotion in the right places but never over the top in her delivery. Her voice was a compliment to Daisy.

Thanks to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for providing me with a free ARC copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

Likes & Dislikes

What I liked:

• The dysfunctional family at the core.
• The writing. I enjoy Alice Feeney’s style immensely.
• An unreliable narrator.
• The setting (an isolated island home that gets trapped with the tide).
• The characters. Not in a sense that they’re likable, but they had a diverse range of personalities that played off one another well.
• The mystery and the twists.
• The time period. How I miss the aesthetic of VHS tapes!

What I didn’t like:

• Some loose ends or things left unexplained; Rose’s Hush Little Baby poems, for example.
• A few repetitive passages.

Afterthoughts:

I can’t wait for this book to be published so I can talk about it with other people! I’m definitely going to purchase a copy. This is the first time I’ve listened to a narrated thriller so I was a little nervous when I started that it would be too intense. I can handle a lot more while reading as opposed to watching or listening to something. Thankfully, it turned out well for me. I think it actually added something hearing it spoken.

The story is set in the early 2000s so I wasn’t quite sure if I should categorize this as Historical or Contemporary. I went with both because while I personally consider the 2000s+ contemporary, some younger readers might not. There are also a number of flashbacks to the 1980s.

Where to buy the book: