Thrillers are a genre of fiction that produce heightened emotions of suspense, surprise, and anticipation within readers. Thrillers are meant to excite their audience. Thriller writers use red herrings, plot twists, unreliable narrators, and cliffhangers to enhance this anticipation and engage readers. Crime thrillers often center around a crime that requires solving and incorporates characters in the roles of villain and detective. As the detective figure attempts to solve the crime, the writer intrigues the reader before concluding the novel with a resolution of the central crime plot. The protagonists featured in thrillers often face grave danger. Each of these elements combines to create an entertaining story.

Stacy Willingham’s A Flicker in the Dark exemplifies the characteristics of a crime thriller. The plot centers around the murders of multiple young women both in the past and in the present. Set in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, the novel explores one woman’s journey to uncover the truth of these murders and find personal resolution. As the protagonist of the novel, Chloe Davis encounters danger as she dives deeper into her investigation. Willingham incorporates cliffhangers at the end of almost every chapter to maintain the suspense of the novel and to provide sustained tension.