Daisy Darker

How it reads

Daisy Darker is thriller (gothic psychological thriller, specifically), and its dominant mood is dark. It goes to difficult places and doesn't look away. It moves fast: plot-driven and hard to put down, the kind of book that carries you along even when you're tired.

It's set in the wilderness or at sea, in the present day, told in the first person by a single narrator. Its central concerns are family, secrets and loss and grief. In weight it's light and escapist — easy to fall into.

It stands alone, so there's nothing else you need to read first or after. The ending is dark — no rescue, no neat bow. At 339 pages it's an ordinary novel's length. It's well known, the kind of book most keen readers have heard of.