Reviews tagging 'Murder'

Dark Places by Gillian Flynn

273 reviews

constancepoplos's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense medium-paced

• Loveable characters? No

3.0

Ok I listened to this in audiobook format and honestly I’m not sure I would’ve kept going if I was physically reading. 
Let’s start with what I enjoyed. Flynn is clearly good at what she does. She got multiple visceral reactions out of me because of her descriptive writing. She’s also great at writing unlikeable characters.
Now for what I didn’t love. Multiple parts of the story felt unnecessary (eg descriptions of Ben and Chrissy together, in depth explanations of what occurred on the night of the murders) to the point that I almost dnf-ed the book. But I pushed through out of curiosity. I also thought the story was slightly predictable. I don’t even read a whole lot of this genre and was able to guess most of the true story of the murders. 
I think to listen to this book would be a good road trip activity but otherwise I wouldn’t necessarily recommend. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Death, Drug use, Gun violence, Pedophilia, Sexual content, Blood, Death of parent, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Graphic descriptions of blood; murders by gun, axe, and strangulation. More minor but still significant descriptions of sexual acts, some scenes involving a minor. Teen pregnancy with mentions of abortion.

judyegallagher's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

kadams46's review against another edition

dark mysterious

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Gore, and Murder

Moderate: Violence

luku_moukka's review against another edition

dark

5.0

Gillian Flynn on kyllä kova, ihanan synkkää ja rehellistä ihmiskuvausta.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death and Murder

cpratreads's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

2.5

I think this book was fine. I was interested in what had happened, and I did have to double check that my doors were locked at bedtime. But overall, other than the shock value I didn't find this to be a very good story. Some of the plot elements were interesting but I certainly wouldn't read it again. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Violence, Death of parent, and Murder

Moderate: Eating disorder and Suicidal thoughts

gmdelisio's review against another edition

dark tense slow-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Gore, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Death of parent, and Murder

clarklyn's review against another edition

dark sad tense slow-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

2.75

Gyllian Flynn knows how to write grimy, gross characters and environments. So many moments in this book made my stomach turn and my skin crawl. Not my favorite read to be honest- Sharp Objects was less grimey in my opinion. However, the story kept me interested enough to tolerate the disgusting descriptions but just barely. There were 2-3 spots that genuinely almost made me DNF. Lots of animal cruelty/killing/abuse and the MC even kills a pet dog at one point. Lots of other horrid descriptions throughout that made me queasy. 

I hated Ben…but it almost seems like the author doesn’t want us to hate Ben? His girlfriend/baby mamma/emotional abuser killed his sister and he let her get away with it for 2 decades? Huh?

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child death, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Violence, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, and Injury/Injury detail

greatexpectations77's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense slow-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

4.25

Ms. Flynn is just such a specific but descriptive writer. It's a rough, bloody story, but it does keep you guessing until the end, and the format of slowly revealing the past story in real time makes you want to keep pushing through the story. It may have felt a bit on the slow side, but I didn't mind it. It is really interesting to think about who "owns" your story once something so big happens that it can't stay in just your life anymore.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Bullying, Child death, Death, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Death of parent, Murder, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Mental illness, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Sexual content, Grief, and Suicide attempt

nahal3's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Violence, Suicide attempt, and Murder

Moderate: Bullying, Child abuse, and Sexual assault

devynkeith's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.25

I like that the story flashes back and forth between the day of the murder and present, as well as switches between character POVs. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Child death, Death, and Murder