Reviews tagging 'Sexual content'

Dark Places by Gillian Flynn

72 reviews

hanlhs's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

Good, suspenseful read. Not sure how I feel about the ending, but I enjoyed the story overall 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Murder, Death, and Gore

Moderate: Drug use, Sexual content, and Pregnancy

Minor: Suicidal thoughts

sarahmaxwell's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

I really liked it, I think I was just expecting…. more. Sharp Objects worked so well for me in a way that this book just couldn’t. But Gillian Flynn’s prose and her ability to keep you enraptured will always be impressive to me. In this novel, she can keep you hooked until you actually begin to uncover the truth, and it all sort of… falls apart. The ending is what we are all searching for, the climax, the answers to all of our questions. But she doesn’t give us a chance to absorb it, let it linger, or consider all of the consequences of this deep string of lies.

It’s immediately resolved—Ben is freed, and Aunt Diane forgives her.

I want to soak in the moment we are able to piece everything together. I want to feel the moment deeply, but we aren’t given the chance.

But while the ending may have felt rushed, the journey there was anything but. Every little clue means something, and every page points to something deeper. Flynn gives us the information little by little; she doles it out in tiny doses, dangling the answers in front of us like a seasoned expert. She knows where to push, and where to pull back. I find myself impressed by this at the end of every chapter, and I think I’ll keep this awe throughout the rest of her novels.

I may need to sit with this novel a bit longer. I don’t know how much i skimmed over or haven’t absorbed fully, but I trust that there’s more to this novel than its initial read-through.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Alcoholism, Body horror, Murder, Violence, Death of parent, Child death, Blood, Alcohol, Animal cruelty, Injury/Injury detail, and Suicidal thoughts

Moderate: Pregnancy, Self harm, Sexual content, Addiction, Grief, Adult/minor relationship, Cursing, Classism, Gun violence, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, and Violence

Minor: Fire/Fire injury, Miscarriage, Cancer, Domestic abuse, Abandonment, Drug use, Excrement, Gore, Misogyny, Drug abuse, and Bullying

cozmicdotcom's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Death, Drug abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Pedophilia, Sexual content, Animal cruelty, Child death, Pregnancy, Toxic relationship, Death of parent, and Drug use

Moderate: Domestic abuse and Child abuse

bayports's review against another edition

challenging dark funny relaxing tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content, Animal death, and Murder

Minor: Pedophilia

jstenman's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Vomit, Alcohol, Suicidal thoughts, Physical abuse, Grief, Toxic relationship, Domestic abuse, Sexual content, Blood, Animal death, Violence, Pregnancy, Death, Child death, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Gun violence, and Gore

kleezy's review against another edition

dark tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder and Animal cruelty

Moderate: Sexual content

chelsealeem's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Murder, Vomit, Animal cruelty, and Violence

Moderate: Pregnancy, Bullying, Sexual content, and Alcoholism

allifaro's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.25

My word for it is just: gross. I think the story was well written, but not my cup of tea. I say gross because there were just details, I felt unecessary, but maybe they help paint the picture. It has a satisfying ending though! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Child death, Murder, Sexual harassment, Physical abuse, Animal cruelty, Toxic relationship, Vomit, Sexual assault, Addiction, Excrement, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, Sexual content, Drug use, Child abuse, Drug abuse, Violence, Bullying, Sexual violence, Torture, Emotional abuse, Pedophilia, Suicidal thoughts, Abandonment, Blood, Death, Alcohol, Animal death, and Suicide

chris_reads's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic relationship, Blood, Animal cruelty, Classism, Religious bigotry, and Murder

Moderate: Child abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Pregnancy, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Drug abuse, Gore, Sexual assault, and Vomit

Minor: Gun violence, Racial slurs, and Fire/Fire injury

reading_srsly's review against another edition

dark slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

* Multi-timeline

* Dark mystery

* Everybody sucks here

Libby Day was only seven when her family was brutally murdered. As the only blameless survivor, she’s thrust into the spotlight as empathetic donors throw money at her in exchange for sharing her story. She’s able to live lavishly, until the donations stop rolling in and she’s forced to take more drastic measures to maintain her job-free lifestyle. Even if it means taking a harder look at what happened twenty-five years ago, and the role she might have unwittingly played in it. 

Originally, I picked up this book for the premise. With social media detectives on the rise, a more modern story on the topic easily rose to the top of my TBR. But there was something about the writing style that made it difficult for me to get into the story at first. The plot itself wasn’t bad, and the unique narrative device of reliving the past from the points of view of the other members of Libby’s family was a refreshing change from the typical mystery narrative. However, there were less clues to ‘solve along’ with Libby as the reader gets concrete insights into the past that are absent from the modern day interrogations.

While the characters felt real in the gritty way that you want to believe and uplift someone who’s been struggling, they were all so unfailingly twisted or self-destructive that after a while it almost felt like a caricature of a town. Nearly every character was unlikeable, with a thin sheen of patheticness and rare moments of humanity to keep the reader from giving up on them entirely. 

Objectively, this was a good dark thriller - the average person who wants to face down the harsh realities of the world and read through gratuitous descriptions of the worst aspects of humanity will love this book. But subjectively, I think it went way over the top in a lot of places, and while I can appreciate that the author accomplished her goal in writing an incredibly dark and twisted mystery, I definitely wish the repulsiveness of the world had come across better in the official description.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pedophilia, Violence, Toxic relationship, Drug use, and Murder

Moderate: Sexual content

Minor: Pregnancy