Daisy Darker

TW: suicide, alcoholism

This would have been a 5 star read if i wasn't for the ending... It has so many elements that I loved: the gloomy atmosphere chef's kiss. The characters are stuck in the house with a murder on the loose and clues/messages keep mysteriously appearing, which was very fun. Flashbacks (told through Daisy's POV) that slowly but surely reveal family secrets and helps us the reader understand more of their dynamic with one another (this family is highly dysfunctional). There are short little poems thrown in about each family member that hint at how they may or may not die. It's very “and then there were none” inspired, so if you enjoyed that book and you like the elements I mentioned then I say pick it up! But I must warn you that the ending may not be for everyone.


SPOILERS AHEAD: in case you want to know what happens in this book:




It turns out that Daisy Darker has been dead this whole time. I have a few issues with this. It did clear up why her family members kept ignoring her (even though I didn't really notice it that much). It also explains why Daisy never really helped move any bodies and why no one asked for her help when she was standing right there. However, there were two instances where it didn't really make sense. The first was when Daisy was in her room alone with Conner (the neighbor), she says something to him and he replies and has a full on small conversation with her. Was it maybe him just talking out loud? Not sure.. In another scene, Daisy, her sister Rose and her niece Trixie where in a room hiding from the murderer when Rose straight up asks “Daisy are you doing this?”, Daisy replies no and just the exchange felt like they were actually talking to each other. It's just very weird.. Rose knows her sister is dead why would she all of a sudden be asking this?

Anyway, you're probably wondering who the killer is and the answer is....Trixie, the 15 year old niece. With the help of 80 year old Nana, yes the first one to be “murdered”. I know you are confused but bare with me, let's go back to the beginning of the storyline. Daisy has a heart condition, so her life expectancy was very low. Because of this she wasn't allowed to do anything, because her parents were worried it would kill her. But don't be fooled, her parents are very wishy washy with their feelings and mainly don't seem to really care about anyone but themselves. Parents divorce, drama and mess ensue blah blah. Point is, that Daisy only really has her sisters for company and even then not really because Rose and Lily are assholes, especially Lily. I hate Lily with all my soul, to say she is an entitled brat is an understatement. So naturally Daisy loved going to her grandma's because Nana truly was the only one who loved her.

To make a long story short we will fast forward to what I will call “the accident”. It is implied that something bad happened between Daisy, Rose, Lily and Conner because after whatever it was, no one has spoken to Daisy and things were tense. When Daisy was 13 she snuck out to a halloween party because she was tired of not being able to be like a normal person. Her sisters and Conner (who were at the party) find her and let her stay. It's important to mention that the rest were between 17-18 years old and Rose and Conner were dating, and Lily was very jealous of that. Daisy ends up catching Lily and Conner having sex after Conner and Rose got into a fight. Daisy tells Rose but she doesn't believe her and Lily and Conner gaslight so Daisy gets mad and starts running back to the grandma's house. Somehow Rose, Lily and Conner end up in the car driving back home as well (the pacing here is a bit weird). Conner is drunk driving and ends up hitting Daisy without even noticing until they all get out. They are naturally freaking out and Conner convinces the sisters to throw Daisy down the cliff to make it look like she fell. So they do and midair Daisy revives, while all three are looking in shock horror realizing that their sister was actually alive and they have now murdered her twice. She dies, the police investigate and since the car belonged to Conners dad and he was back to being an alcoholic, he thought that he accidentally did it but didn't remember it during his drunken state. He commit's suicide mainly due to guilt.

Eventually, the mom finds out because Lily tells her (she is the mom's favorite) so to protect her daughter she keeps her secret. I believe the dad also found out and he too kept his mouth shut. Basically everyone knew except Nana. Trixie was born, Lily's daughter (we find out towards the end Conner is the father), and she too had the same heart condition as Daisy. One day she dies for a few minutes and that's how she see's Daisy for the first time. After that she constantly see's her and that's how she finds out the real story behind her death. Her mom Lily is very upset about this and forbids her to talk about her dead sister. Nana notices that Trixie is telling the truth because she has seen things move around. So when Nana finds out the truth, she gets extremely angry because Daisy was her favorite so she makes this plan as an act of revenge and is hoping it will also help Daisy move to the afterlife. The mom, dad, sisters and Conner die and Nana commits suicide to be able to see her granddaughter for the last time. Apparently people only see Daisy when they are dying. Daisy also forgets she is dead and apparently this reveal has been done many times before. Instead of being an adult women, she is still 13 and in the same outfit that she died in. So yeah... Trixie is basically left alone and is apparently totally fine with that because they all put her in a bubble just like they did with Daisy and she just wants to live her life. It ends with Daisy writing a book about the “real daisy darker” in order to move on because she can still somehow interact with the physical world.

I would have LOVED if Daisy was actually alive and the killer because there are so many time she mentions that “maybe killing is worth keeping secrets” and other comments that made it seem like her being the killer was being foreshadowed. Based on how awful everyone (except the niece and Nana) were to her it would have made so much sense. Sure, it would be a “been there done that” type of ending but in my opinion sometimes simple is better and it would have been such a better revenge story. So I was disappointed.