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3.86 AVERAGE
3.86 AVERAGE
This is my third Gillian Flynn book, and I have to say that I really enjoy her dark and broken characters... :) She does such an excellent job with character development and even if I can't relate to the characters I feel connected to them. The details are excellent and draw you into the twisty story. I have to say that of her books that I've read, I like "Sharp Objects" the most, but this is a close second. The book's central plot point is a horrific murder of a family and the narrative goes back and forth between a near-hourly accounting of the day that everyone was killed (from both the mother and son's perspective) and then a present day account from the young daughter's perspective. Maybe because the book is set on a farm in Kansas, but I had a lot of flash-backs to "In Cold Blood" by Truman Capote. Definitely recommend this book to Gillian Flynn fans, and people that enjoy this genre.
I was curious to see where Dark Places fell in chronology of Flynn's work and as I suspected, it falls in between Sharp Objects and Gone Girl. I could clearly see in this novel that she had developed as a writer considerably since Sharp Objects, as Dark Places contained none of the clumsy writing and amateur errors that her first novel did.
Dark Places also shows her maturation as a writer in its construction and characterisation - I really enjoyed the switching of POVs and time lines - a technique she takes to dizzying new heights in Gone Girl, which remains one of my absolute favourite novels.
Flynn has never been an author to shy away from shocking or dark material, and just as the title suggests, Dark Places takes the reader on the disturbing and twisted tale of the Kinnakee Satan Sacrifice Murders (or a name to that effect!). Libby Day was seven years old when she testified that she witnessed her brother, Ben Day, murder her mother and two older sisters in her family home. Ben is sentenced to life imprisonment based on her testimony and the lack of a decent alibi, and Libby is passed around various relatives, and later on various foster parents as her behaviour becomes increasingly destructive. The darkness of Dark Places emanates not only from the horrors of Libby's childhood but also from the self-loathing adult she has become. Libby has assaulted her loved ones, set fires and stolen countless possessions from those around her, all of which leads her to being completely alone in her early thirties, living (if it can be called that) on an ever-dwindling good will fund set up after the murders.
In a desperate attempt to avoid having to get a job, Libby responds to an offer to attend a Kill Club meeting, where she is given cash to answer questions from a group who are obsessed with her family's murders and convinced that Ben has been wrongfully convicted. In the company of the rather pathetic Lyle Wirth (the so called "treasurer" of the Kill Club) Libby reluctantly embarks on an investigation into the horrific past that she has spent over two decades trying to repress. Initially only in it for the steady stream of money, Libby soon realises that perhaps she cannot entirely trust her memory of what happened that night.
Dark Places is a well-written, well-paced, twisty-turny thriller which leads you down plenty of wrong turns before its satisfying and surprising conclusion. The POV chapters of Libby, Ben and Patty (their mother) are expertly interspersed so that you are constantly getting closer to the truth in both Libby's investigation and Ben and Patty's reminiscence of that terrible day. A page-turner which will definitely not disappoint lovers of thrillers (or good books in general).
Dark Places also shows her maturation as a writer in its construction and characterisation - I really enjoyed the switching of POVs and time lines - a technique she takes to dizzying new heights in Gone Girl, which remains one of my absolute favourite novels.
Flynn has never been an author to shy away from shocking or dark material, and just as the title suggests, Dark Places takes the reader on the disturbing and twisted tale of the Kinnakee Satan Sacrifice Murders (or a name to that effect!). Libby Day was seven years old when she testified that she witnessed her brother, Ben Day, murder her mother and two older sisters in her family home. Ben is sentenced to life imprisonment based on her testimony and the lack of a decent alibi, and Libby is passed around various relatives, and later on various foster parents as her behaviour becomes increasingly destructive. The darkness of Dark Places emanates not only from the horrors of Libby's childhood but also from the self-loathing adult she has become. Libby has assaulted her loved ones, set fires and stolen countless possessions from those around her, all of which leads her to being completely alone in her early thirties, living (if it can be called that) on an ever-dwindling good will fund set up after the murders.
In a desperate attempt to avoid having to get a job, Libby responds to an offer to attend a Kill Club meeting, where she is given cash to answer questions from a group who are obsessed with her family's murders and convinced that Ben has been wrongfully convicted. In the company of the rather pathetic Lyle Wirth (the so called "treasurer" of the Kill Club) Libby reluctantly embarks on an investigation into the horrific past that she has spent over two decades trying to repress. Initially only in it for the steady stream of money, Libby soon realises that perhaps she cannot entirely trust her memory of what happened that night.
Dark Places is a well-written, well-paced, twisty-turny thriller which leads you down plenty of wrong turns before its satisfying and surprising conclusion. The POV chapters of Libby, Ben and Patty (their mother) are expertly interspersed so that you are constantly getting closer to the truth in both Libby's investigation and Ben and Patty's reminiscence of that terrible day. A page-turner which will definitely not disappoint lovers of thrillers (or good books in general).
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
dark
mysterious
sad
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
I can't exist on a diet of Thrillers, but I don't mind one once in a while. I shouldn't have read this one straight after Gone Girl, because my lack of enthusiasm for this one is probably partly fuelled by my satiety with the genre. I'll try not to be unfair, though.
Thrillers, to my mind, are a kind of a game between the reader and the author - the author puts out clues and the reader tries to interpret them correctly to come to the right conclusion, even though the author has done all that she could to hide the 'truth', bar the clues. There are certain rules, though, which cannot be broken for this bargain to be a satisfactory one for both sides: the book must have an inner integrity - i.e. red herrings are allowed, and obfuscation of the truth, but loose ends must be tied up, and the plot must hold together with a plausibility that makes the pieces fall into place satisfyingly in an Aha! moment for the reader.
Unfortunately, there are careless lapses in the integrity of the plot in Dark Places, and since the genre doesn't require, or usually offer any other good reasons for it to be read, such as fine descriptions or interesting characterisations, this is a CARDINAL SIN. Here's a rundown of these sins as I see it. Please add to this list if you spot any more of your own.
!!!!! SPOILER ALERT!!!!!!!!SPOILER ALERT!!!!!!!!!!!!SPOILER ALERT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Libby is alerted to Diondra's name change by a tattoo with her new name on Ben's arm, which is apparently recent, i.e. since he went into jail.
I just can't think of any plausible reason why Ben Day, who has considered himself responsible for letting Diondra murder his spying sister Debby, to the point where he has stayed in prison for 16 years in penance for the crime, would want to tattoo the murderess' name onto his arm. Sure, she used to be his girlfriend, but he is not seeing her anymore, she murdered one sister and would have murdered Libby if she could have (at the same time) and in the end he's not too perturbed by her being put in jail for the crime, so he obviously does not still love her.
I also feel that Patty's decision to allow herself to be murdered for the insurance money, though unlikely, is plausible, but the CRAZY unlikely part is that a mother who is allowing herself to be murdered so that her insurance money will support her children would allow herself to be murdered in her own home with her children in the house. So risky, and so traumatic for the children who might hear something and end up finding her body.
Finally, that Diondra would end up being a good mother to Crystal (let alone that Crystal would actually be Ben's daughter) and having a squeaky clean, no secrets relationship where Crystal seems pretty normal and Diondra has completely cleaned up her life. Same with the indian boy - the chances of these druggy murderous satanists going squeaky clean just doesn't wash with me (pardon the pun).
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!END OF SPOILER ALERT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Flynn's writing has obviously been strongly influenced by the works of Stephen King, though this is a common thread amongst most post King thriller writers, I suspect. The characters, voice and descriptions come from the King notebook: a spiteful, resentful voice recounting petty acts of revenge, and characters who are hopeless, poor, ignorant and apathetic, inhabiting dives with garbage swept into corners, smelling of urine, with loving attention to details such as used condoms sticking to the walls. Not a genre I relish spending too much time in, and not one which, when written so clonishly, holds many new surprises for its readers.
Thrillers, to my mind, are a kind of a game between the reader and the author - the author puts out clues and the reader tries to interpret them correctly to come to the right conclusion, even though the author has done all that she could to hide the 'truth', bar the clues. There are certain rules, though, which cannot be broken for this bargain to be a satisfactory one for both sides: the book must have an inner integrity - i.e. red herrings are allowed, and obfuscation of the truth, but loose ends must be tied up, and the plot must hold together with a plausibility that makes the pieces fall into place satisfyingly in an Aha! moment for the reader.
Unfortunately, there are careless lapses in the integrity of the plot in Dark Places, and since the genre doesn't require, or usually offer any other good reasons for it to be read, such as fine descriptions or interesting characterisations, this is a CARDINAL SIN. Here's a rundown of these sins as I see it. Please add to this list if you spot any more of your own.
!!!!! SPOILER ALERT!!!!!!!!SPOILER ALERT!!!!!!!!!!!!SPOILER ALERT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Libby is alerted to Diondra's name change by a tattoo with her new name on Ben's arm, which is apparently recent, i.e. since he went into jail.
I just can't think of any plausible reason why Ben Day, who has considered himself responsible for letting Diondra murder his spying sister Debby, to the point where he has stayed in prison for 16 years in penance for the crime, would want to tattoo the murderess' name onto his arm. Sure, she used to be his girlfriend, but he is not seeing her anymore, she murdered one sister and would have murdered Libby if she could have (at the same time) and in the end he's not too perturbed by her being put in jail for the crime, so he obviously does not still love her.
I also feel that Patty's decision to allow herself to be murdered for the insurance money, though unlikely, is plausible, but the CRAZY unlikely part is that a mother who is allowing herself to be murdered so that her insurance money will support her children would allow herself to be murdered in her own home with her children in the house. So risky, and so traumatic for the children who might hear something and end up finding her body.
Finally, that Diondra would end up being a good mother to Crystal (let alone that Crystal would actually be Ben's daughter) and having a squeaky clean, no secrets relationship where Crystal seems pretty normal and Diondra has completely cleaned up her life. Same with the indian boy - the chances of these druggy murderous satanists going squeaky clean just doesn't wash with me (pardon the pun).
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!END OF SPOILER ALERT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Flynn's writing has obviously been strongly influenced by the works of Stephen King, though this is a common thread amongst most post King thriller writers, I suspect. The characters, voice and descriptions come from the King notebook: a spiteful, resentful voice recounting petty acts of revenge, and characters who are hopeless, poor, ignorant and apathetic, inhabiting dives with garbage swept into corners, smelling of urine, with loving attention to details such as used condoms sticking to the walls. Not a genre I relish spending too much time in, and not one which, when written so clonishly, holds many new surprises for its readers.
dark
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
challenging
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
While I didn't like this book as much as Gone Girl, I did appreciate the author's ability to weave three storylines simultaneously, all leading to the same destination.
dark
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Content Warnings
Graphic: Pedophilia, Murder