Genre: Thriller | Horror
Release Date: 18th August 2022
Publisher: Pan Macmillan
Daisy Darker was born with a broken heart. She died the day she was born, and many times since.
Named after a flower that is often picked, trampled and made into chains, she knows she has always been invisible compared to the other flowers in her family bouquet, the beautiful and beloved Rose, and the poisonous and pale Lily.
Today she is returning to her ancestral home, Seaglass, for her Grandmothers 80th and possibly final birthday. And when the tide comes in around the little island, they will be trapped together until the sun rises. But then at the stroke of midnight, when the Darker family should all be in bed after Nana Darkers controversial will reading, there is a scream. A scream that ensures when the tide finally returns and washes away the night, that nobody will be the same when they leave … if they leave at all.
"There are as many different kinds of clouds as there different kinds of people and, like people, they all float and drift as they please, being one thing one minute, transforming into something quite different the next. Unrecognizable in the blink of an eye."
Daisy Darker is undeniably Feeneys' best work yet. In this ghostly, eerie tale, you don't need to worry about the ghosts of the past and the hidden secrets under the stairs, it's the living you need to fear.
This locked-house mystery is addictively compelling - we slowly receive our clues, in poems, in VHS tapes, in the books Nana published, in blood and death. It's a mystery where you think someone might have all the answers, they just need to be willing to accept them. At times I had multiple suspects and suspicions, at times I had none, until I realised I'd fallen prey to Feeney and her masterful misdirection once again and saw everything in the unforgiving morning light not a moment before she intended me to.
The setting was stunningly vivid, entirely set in a crumbling manor on a crumbling island, and pulling us in deeper to smell the salt in the air and feel the cold wind on our faces. But inside that old manor was a cast of characters like no others - intricate family dynamics weaved into a complex tapestry, each character carved out into something unique with their potential for darkness distinct; jealousy, anger, rivalry, insecurity. And all of this combined with the conflicting love they felt for one another created an atmosphere that was unnervingly suffocating and claustrophobic.
A truly multi-faceted tale that spans lives, time, and death itself - this book is just further proof that Alice Feeney really is the Queen of the dramatic twist.
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
I was gifted an advanced reviewers copy of this title in return for an honest review.
CW: Gore/Blood, Death, Alcoholism, Divorce, Illness, Sexual Assault, Injury.
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