Review of Daisy Darker by Alice Feeney

Daisy Darker was published in 2022.  Daisy, the title character, has two older sisters who are cruel to her, a father who loves music more than he loves his family, and a mother who loves gardening more than she loves Daisy.  Her nana and her niece Trixie are the only ones who love her.

The story starts with Nana inviting everyone to her island home to celebrate her 80th birthday.  The entire family shows up because Nana always said her 80th would be her last.  Nana surprises everyone by announcing that only Trixie will inherit anything of value from her when she dies.  Then everyone, starting with Nana, begins to die one by one.  They are isolated on the island, so one of them must be the killer.  But who?

Daisy narrates in first person and keeps mentioning a secret.  She wants to apologize to everyone for something that happened a long time ago.  But, other than Nana and Trixie, no one will talk to her.  Is she killing everyone?

I admit that I couldn’t put the book down after the second person died.  I had no idea what was going on but desperately wanted to understand.  To the author’s credit, I never saw the twist coming.  Yet, looking back, the clues were all there.  Daisy Darker is one of the best thrillers I have ever read, but knowing the twist makes a reread impossible.  I would say that’s what makes any thriller worth reading in the first place.

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