Reviews tagging 'Child death'

Dark Places by Gillian Flynn

197 reviews

paguroidea's review against another edition

dark mysterious medium-paced

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

3.0

What stands out the most is that I can now say with certainty that every book she’s written has someone “slugging” beer and at some point, people having sex described as “rutting” neither of which are bad things but, strange, maybe? 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Gun violence, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, and Murder

Moderate: Alcoholism

Minor: Child abuse

libby_lectiophile's review against another edition

dark emotional informative reflective sad medium-paced

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

3.75

Gillian Flynn is truly a master of her craft. Dark Places is engrossing and keeps the reader turning pages. The story and plot are believable, but the pace stalls toward the middle and end of the book. 

I love her use of language in this quote, found in Chapter 11: 

While I stilll had the energy, I knifed bright yellow mustard onto my white bread, stacked thick smushy chunks of Velveeta on top, and swallowed the sandwich while negotiating with three different but equally bored phone operators to reach the Bert Nolan Group Home for Men.

The story is excellent for the first half of the book. The chapters alternate between present day, which is mainly told from Libby’s  point of view  (main character) and Jan 1985, leading up to the day that the murders happen. Libby, Ben (her accused brother) and her mother all have chapters from their first person point of view. This helps the story come together well. 

What I didn’t like is 1) the

unnecessary subplot that involved Ben being accused of molestation after he, at 15, kissed an 11 year old girl

; and 2) the decision to include satanic worship as an actual phenomenon underlying the murders. 
The long scene where

Ben axes a cow to death in graphic detail

is graphic, violent and completely superfluous to the story.  Finally, I hated the inclusion of

a random killer that was hired by Patty to kill her so that the kids would get life insurance

Patty isn’t the type of character that seems to fit with

hiring someone to stab and kill her at night where her children might possibly see her or find her dead

Final thought: 

Engrossing, well written story. Annoying subplot of molestation that doesn’t tie into the overall plot, unbelievable hit man hired by Patty to kill Patty, and most of all, too graphic and too gory with the satanic teenager angle. The scene where he butchers a cow does not tie into the ending nor provide a foundation for the ending. It’s just gory and graphic and makes you want to skip an entire 15 pages. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child death, and Death of parent

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Emotional abuse, Gore, Sexual content, Blood, Excrement, and Pregnancy

fandomchaos_posts's review against another edition

mysterious sad

• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Child death, Death, and Death of parent

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts

missgrangerr's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious 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

1.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

allisonnd'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? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

Slow start but good ramp up. Really dark 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

tinkerbell2706's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious 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

4.0

Found it really hard to get into but once it picked up pace I really enjoyed the book x 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Gun violence, Vomit, Death of parent, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

adeliiasocks's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense

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

3.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death and Pedophilia

teddylouise00's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad 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

4.75

HOLY FUCK. I just stayed up till 4am reading the last 100 pages, I couldn’t stop. Took me a little while to really get it going but when it goes it fucking FLIES. Devastating and heartbreaking

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Child death, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Violence, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Cursing, Vomit, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, and Classism

karaplum's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-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? It's complicated

3.75

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child death, Death, and Violence

skeptic_hecate's review against another edition

dark mysterious slow-paced

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

3.0

Not the best of the author's work, I enjoyed the author's other books better, to be perfectly honest. It is not a bad book, it is just a bit too slow for my liking. The Mystery is not as organically laid out, and although it is an interesting story and premise, I came to expect a lot from the author, given her other works. Either way, it is till an enjoyable and entertaining book to read, I do however recommend other books by the author, since I find them better than this one. Also, very forgetable, I forgot everything about the book already. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Sexual violence, and Death of parent