A Flicker in the Dark by Stacy Willingham chronicles the turbulent family history of Chloe Davis, a successful medical psychologist whose father is a convicted serial killer. Published in 2022, A Flicker in the Dark explores the complexities of trauma as Chloe struggles to uncover the truth behind the tragic murders of various young women. A Flicker in the Dark was Willingham’s debut novel and features plot twists and flashbacks that suspensefully examine Chloe’s self-discovery while grappling with the violent deaths of women in her community. Willingham has since published the thrillers All the Dangerous Things (2023) and Only If You're Lucky (2024).

This guide was written using the St. Martin’s Press eBook edition.

Content Warning: The source material in this guide features depictions of prescription drug and alcohol addiction, attempted suicide, domestic violence, assault, and murder.

Plot Summary

Chloe Davis describes her intense fear of darkness and hints at the major turning point in her life at age 12. In Chapter 1, Chloe is 32 years old, and she is working as a medical psychologist 20 years later. Working from her office in Baton Rouge, Chloe conducts a session with a teenage client named Lacey. They bond over their shared experiences with abandonment. After work, Chloe hangs up on a reporter from The New York Times named Aaron Jansen who is writing a story about her father’s conviction 20 years later as the killer of six young girls in her hometown of Breaux Bridge, Louisiana. Disturbed by the call, Chloe fills a prescription for her fiancé on her way home and takes a Xanax from the prescription to numb her emotions. At home, she grows scared when she notices the lights off in her home before being surprised with an engagement party by her fiancé, Daniel Briggs. Surprised by her brother’s attendance at the party, Chloe argues with her brother Cooper Davis about her relationship with Daniel. Cooper questions Daniel’s intentions and warns Chloe about being close with people she doesn’t really know.

The next morning, Daniel leaves for one of his frequent business trips and encourages Chloe to continue planning for their wedding the following month. Chloe recalls her hesitancy to choose the wedding date as it falls near the 20th anniversary of her father’s arrest. As Chloe plans the wedding, she sees a news report about a missing 15-year-old girl named Aubrey Gravino. Aubrey’s disappearance reminds Chloe of Lena Rhodes, the first girl her father murdered. Unnerved, Chloe drives to a cemetery where a search party has gathered for Aubrey. Inadvertently, Chloe assists a member of the search party and discovers an earring that belongs to Aubrey. While doing so, she flashes back to the Crawfish Festival in Breaux Bridge. At the festival, Chloe notices her father staring at Lena as she shows Chloe her firefly belly ring. Chloe discovers this firefly charm in her father’s closet four months later.

Overwhelmed, Chloe takes another pill and recounts her father’s decision to plead guilty to avoid the death penalty. Her father led the police to the woods behind her childhood home to show where he buried the young girls’ bodies. Although they were never found, Chloe remembers seeing her father emerging from the woods with a shovel. Chloe reads an announcement that Aubrey’s body has been found in the cemetery.

Days later, Chloe arrives at work and learns that her client Lacey has now disappeared. As one of the last people to see Lacey, Chloe is questioned by the police. As she speaks with the officers, Chloe remembers traveling to the police station with her mother years ago to report finding Lena’s firefly charm in her father’s closet. After speaking with the police, Chloe decides to visit her mother in her assisted living facility after a long time without seeing her. After an attempted suicide, her mother can no longer talk and communicates by tapping her fingers. Upon learning that Aaron Jansen visited her mother, Chloe demands to meet with him.

At their meeting at a local coffee shop, Aaron shares his theory that someone is copying her father’s murders. Five days later, Chloe receives a phone call informing her of Lacey’s death. Her body was found by a dumpster behind Chloe’s office and the police ask her to come to the morgue to review Lacey’s body. Chloe obliges. After learning that Lacey died of strangulation, Chloe notices that Lacey is missing her bracelet. She asks Aaron to meet again and shares with him the killer’s pattern of collecting pieces of jewelry seen in both the Breaux Bridge and Baton Rouge murders. Despite Aaron’s insistence that she go to the police, Chloe decides to investigate on her own.

In brainstorming who would have a motive to become a copycat of her father, Chloe becomes suspicious of Bert Rhodes, Lena’s father. Bert had an affair with her mother and harassed her family after her father’s arrest and now lives in Baton Rouge. When Daniel catches Chloe researching Bert’s security company, he calls them to install a security system to ease Chloe’s anxiety. Bert responds to the security system installation call, and Chloe believes he doesn’t recognize her. After he makes it clear that he does know who she is, Chloe and Bert begin to argue. Distressed, Chloe tells the police about her suspicions. Later that evening, Cooper visits Chloe and argues with her again about Daniel. She falls asleep after ingesting more pills and awakes to someone breaking into the house. As she searches for a gun, she finds a box with Aubrey’s necklace in it. When she discovers Daniel has arrived home early, she hides the box by shoving a shirt over it. The next morning, the box is gone.

When Cooper informs Chloe that their mother is not eating, Chloe and Daniel rush to the facility. Alone, Chloe communicates with her mother who appears distressed over the recent murders. On their way home, Chloe and Daniel go kayaking near their wedding venue. The sight jogs Chloe’s memory of seeing Aubrey there and this trip heightens Chloe’s suspicion of Daniel. Later that week, Chloe lies to Daniel about attending her bachelorette party over the weekend. At work, Detective Thomas greets Chloe, dismisses her suspicions of Bert Rhodes, and questions Chloe about Ethan Walker, her college boyfriend. Chloe admits to wrongly suspecting Ethan of murdering her roommate in college and Detective Thomas warns Chloe of her suspicious behavior.

Chloe leaves her office for her fake bachelorette party and meets Aaron at a hotel and convinces him to accompany her to an interview with a woman named Dianne whose daughter disappeared around the same time as the girls her father killed 20 years ago. During the interview, Dianne reveals that she is Daniel’s mother and that she suspects he is responsible for her daughter Sophie’s disappearance. Chloe inspects Daniel’s childhood bedroom and discovers that Daniel lied about not knowing about her father’s crimes. Dianne confronts Chloe about her engagement ring, which is a family heirloom that belonged to Sophie. Chloe and Aaron flee to the hotel where she shares her suspicions about Daniel, and they have sex. Aaron gives Chloe a glass of water and asks her if she wants to take some Xanax before leaving her to sleep.

Chloe wakes up 24 hours later to a series of frantic messages from her friend Shannon. Shannon’s daughter Riley is now missing. Positive that Daniel is responsible, Chloe travels back to her abandoned childhood home in Breaux Bridge because she suspects Daniel is hiding Riley there. At the house, Chloe pushes through her fear of the dark, and breaks in using Aaron’s press badge, remembering how Lena Rhodes showed her how to break into Cooper’s room when they were younger. When she enters, Chloe discovers Riley unconscious on the floor. Aaron arrives and Chloe initially believes Aaron’s professions of innocence, before discovering that his press badge has broken and is a fake. Aaron confesses to the murders and hints at someone forcing him to commit them. Chloe shoots him in the stomach and kills him.

At the police station, Detective Thomas reveals Aaron’s identity as Tyler Price, a local Breaux Bridge man. She remembers a boy who used to peek into their windows after her father’s arrest and believes Tyler and the boy are the same person. Returning home to Baton Rouge, Chloe confronts Daniel about his involvement in Sophie’s death. He confesses to Chloe that Sophie is not dead and that he helped her escape their abusive household when she was 13 years old. After he explains his sister’s situation, Chloe questions why Daniel has been visiting her father in prison as well, and he explains his trips to her. Later that evening, Chloe shares a glass of wine with her brother. Chloe leads Cooper to confess his murder of the Breaux Bridge girls 20 years earlier and his involvement in the recent murders of Aubrey and Lacey. After Cooper collapses due to the drugs Chloe added to his wine, she calls in the police who witnessed Cooper’s confession through her security cameras.

After Cooper’s arrest, Chloe travels to Sophie’s home in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, to return her engagement ring. While speaking with Sophie, Chloe hears Daniel’s voice in the background but leaves before he can come to the door. Through her conversation with Sophie, Chloe shares that her father will soon be released from prison after confessing to the murders to protect Cooper. As she leaves, Chloe catches a firefly in her hands that reminds her of Lena. She releases it.