Daisy Darker by Alice Feeney
Genre: Psychological thriller
Read: 16th September 2025
Published: 30th August 2022
★★★★★ 4.5 stars (rounded up)
DESCRIPTION:
The 'New York Times' best-selling Queen of Twists returns…with a family reunion that leads to murder.
After years of avoiding each other, Daisy Darker’s entire family is assembling for Nana’s 80th birthday party in Nana’s crumbling gothic house on a tiny tidal island. Finally back together one last time, when the tide comes in, they will be cut off from the rest of the world for eight hours.
The family arrives, each of them harboring secrets. Then at the stroke of midnight, as a storm rages, Nana is found dead. And an hour later, the next family member follows…
Trapped on an island where someone is killing them one by one, the Darkers must reckon with their present mystery as well as their past secrets, before the tide comes in and all is revealed.
With a wicked wink to Agatha Christie’s 'And Then There Were None', 'DAISY DARKER's unforgettable twists will leave readers reeling.
MY THOUGHTS:
Darkness runs in the family...
30th October 2004: It's the eve of eccentric author Beatrice Darker's 80th birthday and the family have been invited to celebrate at her home Seaglass on the Cornish coast. They have spent years avoiding each other but as Nana's 80th approaches, and if a fortune teller's palm reading was correct, it will be her last. And so they descend in the hope of picking at the carcass of her remains.
Seaglass sits on a remote tidal island accessible only by a causeway at low tide. And it has been the only place Daisy, the youngest of the Darkers, has ever felt truly at home. As one of the first to arrive it is like she has never left, the fabric of the ancient house's woven threads a shroud in which she feels completely safe. Then one by one, the family assemble crossing the causeway until the tide cuts them off from the rest of the world until morning. And as they take their seats around the table, Nana announces that there will be a reading of her will. But don't expect them to break out the champagne. In fact, Daisy's father heads straight to the whisky while her mother downs the wine, claiming Nana really has lost her marbles. The bequests are delivered - strange, eccentric, poetic even, but they are pure Nana.
The family prepare for bed and the birthday celebrations ahead of Nana's 80th the following day, halloween. But as the clock strikes twelve, the Darker family are in for a surprise and as the hours count down, a deadly mystery begins to unfold. Nana is dead and on her chalkboard wall is a dark poem about the family written in Nana's hand. Or is it? Because when the clock strikes the following hour, several lines have been crossed out about another family member and the discovery of another body. Terror begins to fill those remaining as they wonder what this means - and who is doing this? But most of all, they are each left wondering will they be next? The Darker family has their secrets - some darker than others. But what secret is enough to kill for?
From the Queen of twists comes this dark and claustrophobic atmospheric nod to the iconic Queen of crime as she pays homage to Agatha Christie's "And Then There Were None" with her own unique spin on the timeless mystery. Told from the narrative of the youngest Darker, Daisy, the chapters unfold hour by hour with snippets of the past peppered throughout as secrets begin to unravel, manipulating the reader as only Feeney does. The numerous clocks that all strike at once on each hour adds to the chilling atmosphere which only highlights the terror of the agonising eight hours that keep them all trapped together on the remote island during the token stormy night that also keeps them locked indoors.
As a Christie fan from my teenage years, I thought I knew what to expect and how things would play out. And in homage to Ms Christie, I was partly right (I guessed who was behind it) because well, it goes without saying if you have read "And Then There Were None". But Feeney throws her own spin on this terrifying locked room mystery with a difference and making it her own. And believe me, as eye-rolling as far fetched as it is, it is chilling and perfect in its own way that you won't see coming. As the mystery unfolds and you begin to piece it together with the reveal, you start to think back to the beginning to try and recall how it played out then. And then it makes you want to go back and re-read it in a completely different light.
While not my favourite of Feeney's, it is still an outstanding accomplishment to re-write Ms Christie as never before. Most of the characters are completely unlikeable except for maybe one or two. But one thing is for sure, you will see some of them in a completely different light by the end of the book. Weaving twists both effortlessly and seamlessly, Feeney truly manipulates her readers as well as her characters, enthralling us to the very end.
MEET THE AUTHOR:
Alice Feeney is an author and former BBC journalist. Her debut novel, Sometimes I Lie, was a New York Times and international bestseller. It has been translated into over twenty languages, and is being made into a TV series by Ellen DeGeneres and Warner Bros. starring Sarah Michelle Gellar.
Her books have been translated into over twenty-five languages, and have been optioned for major screen adaptations. Including her novel Rock Paper Scissors, which is being made into a TV series by the producer of The Crown.
Alice has lived in London and Sydney and has now settled in Devon, where she lives with her husband and dog..
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