Thriller Annotation: Daisy Darker by Alice Feeney

Author: Alice Feeney

Title: Daisy Darker

Genre: Thrillers (Fiction)

Publication Date: 08/30/2022

Number of Pages: 338

Geographical Setting: Cornwall, England

Time Period: 2004 (Present day) ; 1980-1988 (Flashbacks)

Plot Summary: On Halloween Eve, Daisy Darker's dysfunctional family reunites to celebrate Nana's 80th birthday at her crumbling cliff-side estate on the Cornish coast. According to a palm reading Nana received years ago, her 80th birthday will be her last. As the tide rises around the gothic house and the tidal island it stands upon, the family—Daisy; her divorced parents, Frank and Nancy; her older sisters Rose and Lily; her niece Trixie; Nana; and Conor, a longtime friend—is isolated from the rest of the world. 

Nana surprises her family with a reading of her will, and two hours later at the stroke of midnight she is found dead. A poem describing the deaths of each family member is found on the chalkboard wall only feet from Nana's body. It soon becomes clear that someone is killing off members of the family one-by-one when another body is found an hour later. As tensions rise and death draws nearer, dark secrets are brought to light.

Subject Headings:

Family secrets - Fiction

Dysfunctional families - Fiction

Murder - Fiction

3 terms that best describe this book: Dark, gripping, melancholic

Appeal:

Pacing: Wyatt & Saricks (2018, p. 23) note that speed is an essential component of the Adrenaline genre, which includes thrillers. Oftentimes, clocks or time stamps are used in thrillers, which "help[s] create a relentless sense of speed" (p. 26). The main events of Daisy Darker take place over the course of one night—from 4 P.M. on October 30 to 6:55 A.M. on October 31—and each chapter is time stamped to create an ever-increasing pace. Flashbacks to Daisy's childhood are interspersed throughout the book to provide insight into the Darker family and ease some of the tension, if only momentarily.

Character: Saricks (2016) notes that readers of thrillers and suspense novels are meant to "relate to the protagonists and fear for them in the dangerous situations in which they are placed" (p. 17). Wyatt and Saricks (2018) also note that protagonists often have a "sad or broken history" (p. 27). Readers of Daisy Darker are immediately encouraged to feel sympathy for Daisy due to her broken heart and dysfunctional childhood. On the other hand, Feeney's descriptions of Daisy's family lead readers to distrust them.

Language: Feeney's storytelling is quite poetic despite the darkness in the background. Readers who are not fans of professional jargon or straightforward writing in thrillers will appreciate the more casual, everyday language used here.

3 Relevant Fiction Works and Authors:

 And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie

 

Christie, A. (1939). And then there were none. St. Martin's Griffin.

"Ten houseguests, trapped on an isolated island, are the prey of a diabolical killer" (Novelist).

Common Appeals: Locked room mysteries, fast-paced, secrets

The Guest List by Lucy Foley

Foley, L. (2020). The guest list. William Morrow and Company.

"An expertly planned celebrity wedding between a rising television star and an ambitious magazine publisher is thrown into turmoil by petty jealousies, a college drinking game, the bride's ruined dress and an untimely murder" (Novelist).

Common Appeals: Isolated island setting, atmospheric tone, murder

 

There Should Have Been Eight by Nalini Singh

 

Singh, N. (2023). There should have been eight. Berkley.

 

"Seven friends. One sprawling mansion half in ruins. One last long weekend together. No more lies. Someone is going to confess. Because there should've been eight" (Novelist).

 

Common Appeals: Revenge, remote setting, locked room mysteries 

3 Relevant Non-Fiction Works and Authors:

If You Tell: A True Story of Murder, Family Secrets, and the Unbreakable Bond of Sisterhood by Gregg Olsen

 

Olsen, G. (2019). If you tell: A true story of murder, family secrets, and the unbreakable bond of sisterhood. Thomas & Mercer.

"Three courageous and strong sisters band together to escape their sadistic mother’s unimaginable abuse, degradation, torture and psychic terrors, which resulted in multiple murders" (Novelist).

Common Appeals: Fast-paced, sisters, murder

Somebody's Daughter: A Memoir by Ashley C. Ford

 

Ford, A. C. (2021). Somebody's daughter. Flatiron Books.

"One of the prominent voices of her generation, the author presents this coming-of-age recollection of a childhood defined by the ever looming absence of her incarcerated father and a traumatic event, revealing the threads between who you are and what you are born into" (Novelist).

Common Appeals: Family relationships, family secrets

 Liliana's Invincible Summer: A Sister's Search for Justice by Cristina Rivera Garza

 

Garza, C. R. (2023). Liliana's invincible summer: A sister's search for justice. Hogarth.

"The award-winning Mexican author recounts the story of her younger sister's murder by an abusive ex-boyfriend and her struggles to come to terms with the pain of a life cut short" (Novelist).

Common Appeals: Women murder victims, lyrical, family relationships

 

References:

Saricks, J. (2016, May 1). At leisure with Joyce Saricks: suspenseful thrillers and thrilling suspense. Booklist, 112(17), 17. 

Wyatt, N., & Saricks, J. G. (2018). The readers' advisory guide to genre fiction: Third edition. American Library Association.