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aqilah92's review against another edition
The writing is not the one that I like. A lot of swearing and foul language.
hezaasan's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
funny
mysterious
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
3.0
I enjoyed a lot about the book. Strong turns of phrase, metaphoric narrative, compelling characters. The plot hooked me and I was into the various twists and turns ... Until the final twist. The third act fell flat and as an ending snob, that took this otherwise fun romp down to 3 star territory for me. Glad I read it. It was fun. Not sure I would exuberantly recommend it.
rouselle's review against another edition
4.0
"Dark Places" is a very dark and disturbing book. Fantastic read. Kept me up all night. I liked it even better than "Gone Girl", although I also loved that book. Need I say that I'm a huge Gillian Flynn fan now?
Mainly told through the point of view of Libby Day, the only survivor of the gruesome massacre that happened to her family in their little farm house in Kinnakee, Kansas, she finally decides to find out what really happened to her family on that fateful day of January 1985. Was it really her brother Ben who killed their mother and their two sisters as a demonic ritual sacrifice? Was it their father Runner who was after their mother's insurance money?
As Libby starts digging around, the truth finally comes out, and well, I wasn't expecting that at all. Mind = blown.
Mainly told through the point of view of Libby Day, the only survivor of the gruesome massacre that happened to her family in their little farm house in Kinnakee, Kansas, she finally decides to find out what really happened to her family on that fateful day of January 1985. Was it really her brother Ben who killed their mother and their two sisters as a demonic ritual sacrifice? Was it their father Runner who was after their mother's insurance money?
As Libby starts digging around, the truth finally comes out, and well, I wasn't expecting that at all. Mind = blown.
meaghandesigns's review against another edition
3.0
I think this is my least favorite Flynn. Took me a bit to get into it and it cleaned up a bit too nicely at the end for me.
cfadilla's review against another edition
3.0
If you had Gone Girl before reading this, my first advice is don't expect too much.
Overall, the story line is much tense, and emotional. I think, it may be caused by the theme in the book is 'family' (every book that tells about family, never fails to be emotional). I enjoyed it, surely a page-turning book, a kind of Flynn books.
But, I was quite disappointed with the ending because it wasn't as breath-taking as Gone Girl. Like, you can guess who's the suspect, and the probabilities inside the story. Yes, it's much tense than Gone Girl, but I personally like Gone Girl better.
Overall, the story line is much tense, and emotional. I think, it may be caused by the theme in the book is 'family' (every book that tells about family, never fails to be emotional). I enjoyed it, surely a page-turning book, a kind of Flynn books.
But, I was quite disappointed with the ending because it wasn't as breath-taking as Gone Girl. Like, you can guess who's the suspect, and the probabilities inside the story. Yes, it's much tense than Gone Girl, but I personally like Gone Girl better.
kirstyhind's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
selenajournal's review against another edition
4.0
not as good as Gone Girl, but the ending was better, tidier and more logical.
bookishwelshie's review against another edition
4.0
Libby Day’s life fell apart when she only seven years old. She was hiding in the closet and heard her mother and two sisters being brutally murdered. She testified in court that it was her older brother Ben who committed this unbelievable act of shocking brutality. She is now forever known as the sole survivor of The Satan Sacrifice of Kinnakee, Kansas.
Twenty five years later, Libby is contacted by a secret society who are obsessed with true crime/murder cases called The Kill Club. She is struggling for money so agrees to give a talk about that terrible night to the club. But when she arrives there, she is grilled with questions, it is very apparent that the members think that Ben is innocent.
She agrees to reconnect with key players from that night and report her findings to the club - but for a fee. She even goes to visit her brother in jail for the first time.
The book goes back and forth between the present day and the past - to January 2nd 1985, when the killings took place.
Ben Day is a troubled teen with a darkness inside of him. We see as his story plays out that he was accused of committing another unspeakably evil crime, involving a young girl in the town called Krissy. But even after that is revealed, is he guilty of murdering his family? And if it wasn’t Ben, then who did it? Could there still be a murderer on the loose, and would they come after Libby for digging too close to the truth?
Gillian Flynn knows how to write a solid, engaging, thriller story. There was an uncomfortable, unsettling feeling for the reader here where you may start to feel empathetic towards Ben, only to be thrown the curveball that even if he *could* be innocent of murder that he still has this dark-side to him. You’re left questioning him until the penny drops… I’ll say no more but everything falls into place.
I like not trying to guess every single twist and turn in a story like this and just allow myself to become completely absorbed. The twists here felt dark and satisfying as a reader. Even if you may not agree with, or outright despise, some of the characters actions.. that what makes this such a compelling read!
I ended up falling into abit of slump with this book for absolutely no reason, so I watched the Charlize Theron movie when I was about halfway through reading. The movie was good, but the book added in some great extra details. So preferred the book overall! The ending is very satisfactory, it’s worth sticking with for sure!
Twenty five years later, Libby is contacted by a secret society who are obsessed with true crime/murder cases called The Kill Club. She is struggling for money so agrees to give a talk about that terrible night to the club. But when she arrives there, she is grilled with questions, it is very apparent that the members think that Ben is innocent.
She agrees to reconnect with key players from that night and report her findings to the club - but for a fee. She even goes to visit her brother in jail for the first time.
The book goes back and forth between the present day and the past - to January 2nd 1985, when the killings took place.
Ben Day is a troubled teen with a darkness inside of him. We see as his story plays out that he was accused of committing another unspeakably evil crime, involving a young girl in the town called Krissy. But even after that is revealed, is he guilty of murdering his family? And if it wasn’t Ben, then who did it? Could there still be a murderer on the loose, and would they come after Libby for digging too close to the truth?
Gillian Flynn knows how to write a solid, engaging, thriller story. There was an uncomfortable, unsettling feeling for the reader here where you may start to feel empathetic towards Ben, only to be thrown the curveball that even if he *could* be innocent of murder that he still has this dark-side to him. You’re left questioning him until the penny drops… I’ll say no more but everything falls into place.
I like not trying to guess every single twist and turn in a story like this and just allow myself to become completely absorbed. The twists here felt dark and satisfying as a reader. Even if you may not agree with, or outright despise, some of the characters actions.. that what makes this such a compelling read!
I ended up falling into abit of slump with this book for absolutely no reason, so I watched the Charlize Theron movie when I was about halfway through reading. The movie was good, but the book added in some great extra details. So preferred the book overall! The ending is very satisfactory, it’s worth sticking with for sure!