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Oh, Alice Feeney, we've come so far from the 1-star I gave "I Know Who You Are," and I couldn't be happier. This one is another all-the-stars read for me!

For me, anything with Agatha Christie's "And Then There Were None" vibes is a must-read. Daisy Darker and her extremely dysfunctional family have all been summonsed to visit their Nana at Sea Glass, her house on a secluded Cornish island, for her 80th birthday (which coincidentally corresponds with Halloween). The catch is when the tide is in, the island is completely inaccessible. Not one of the Darker family members, except for Daisy, want to be there; and they all have good reasons for disliking each other. Nana is the glue who holds them together - until she is found dead and a poem is found foretelling misfortunes of the rest of the family members. True to form, the Darkers begin dying one by one. Someone is a killer, but not many Darkers will live to tell about it.

No one can spin a tale like Alice Feeney! The setting is eerie and well suited to the storyline, and the tidal element provides the perfect, plausible reason for no one to leave the island. I love Daisy - she is the youngest of three sisters, all of whom are named after flowers. The book is told mainly through her eyes, and her story goes back and forth between the past and the present. Daisy was born with a serious heart condition and has been told she will not live to old age. In fact, she has technically died on five occasions but has always rallied and come back. She knows she is "broken" and the least favorite daughter of her parents; but it has made her observant, shrewd, and a tad bit sneaky. Other than Daisy, none of the other Darker family members are all that likable, so when they start getting killed off, you really don't care - you just want to find out the who and why. I figured out a few things early on, but just when I was certain that I knew whodunnit, the final twist happened, and I was left with my mouth hanging open, wondering how I didn't see it coming before then!

I will say that initially I felt like not much was happening (although you can tell right away that this is a very character-rich story), but it all made perfect sense in the end. I finished the last page with even greater admiration for Feeney - she can push a reader's boundaries to the point of almost-too-unbelievable-to-be-taken-seriously and then bring it back around in a way very few thriller authors can do.

Ultimately, this one might not be for everyone, but I think everyone should read it and find out for themselves!