I’ve tried to avoid having flashbacks in my writing because I find them rather annoying when I’m reading. It seems to be a common technique to tell a story in two timelines at once, going back and forth. I suspect the author thinks it heightens suspense. I’ve found myself skipping the past storyline in some novels and enjoying the book more.
But I have a novel that I don’t want to spend much time with the characters in Cleveland, yet stuff can happen when she is around her family that would be good to show. So I guess it’s time for a couple of flashbacks. But I still think it’s cheating to have that be a major source of tension in a novel. If it doesn’t have conflict and development in a straight timeline, then it falls flat.