Reviews tagging 'Injury/Injury detail'

Dark Places - Gefährliche Erinnerung by Gillian Flynn

54 reviews

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 

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Content Warnings

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

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 

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Content Warnings

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

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

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Content Warnings

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

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

stellahadz's review against another edition

dark mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• 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

This was a solid mystery novel -- in classic Gillian Flynn fashion, some aspects of the book were incredibly disturbing (see content warnings), but never so much that I stopped wondering how the story would turn out. The plot twist isn't nearly as shocking as the ones in Sharp Objects or Gone Girl (the former, by the way, probably being the best plot twist I've ever seen in any thriller novel), but I definitely didn't see it coming. 

I felt pretty lukewarm about the whole "Satan worship" aspect of the story -- maybe I've listened to too much of the podcast You're Wrong About, which has several episodes dedicated to debunking Satanic Panic-era myths. (Side note: I'm very curious about whether that show's host, Sarah Marshall, has read this book!) I also wasn't a fan of the way Ben was essentially absolved of his behavior, but as far as we know he stays in prison, which is fine by me.

In an interestingly self-aware way, Dark Places addresses the morbid curiosity of true crime "fans," which sometimes spirals into boundary-crossing if not downright creepy and borderline abusive behavior towards survivors like Libby (although she cleverly spins that behavior to her own advantage). It would be interesting to see how different the story would be if it had been published in the era of social media and true-crime podcasts. Despite Libby describing herself as mean and unlikable, I couldn't help but feel for her and I enjoyed the dynamic of her friendship(?) with Lyle. 

I would recommend this book to anyone who's interested in "whodunnit" type stories and the theme of true crime (despite this story not being based on actual events), or anyone who enjoys Flynn's other work. Definitely check out the content warnings before reading, though, because certain plot points might be disturbing and distressing for some readers, even beyond what can normally be expected of a thriller novel.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, Death, Murder, and Pedophilia

Moderate: Pregnancy and Sexual content

amandab0514'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? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Sexual assault, Death, Pedophilia, Suicide, Violence, and Gore

sydfitz24's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious reflective tense fast-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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Grief, Addiction, Alcoholism, Body horror, Child abuse, Sexual assault, Murder, Racial slurs, Self harm, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Death, Drug use, Mental illness, Rape, Suicidal thoughts, Abandonment, Animal cruelty, Violence, Vomit, Blood, Gun violence, Pedophilia, Child death, Sexual violence, Confinement, Cursing, Death of parent, Racism, Alcohol, Animal death, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

zosia3's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Child death, Animal cruelty, Toxic relationship, Drug use, Drug abuse, Bullying, Suicidal thoughts, Pregnancy, Injury/Injury detail, Gun violence, Death of parent, and Alcoholism

miggyfool's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny mysterious reflective sad tense fast-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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Child death, Death of parent, Animal death, Blood, Body horror, Confinement, Addiction, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Child abuse, Classism, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Excrement, Gaslighting, Gore, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Murder, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, and Vomit

Minor: Fatphobia, Ableism, Xenophobia, Religious bigotry, Misogyny, and Fire/Fire injury

uniquelymace's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Pregnancy, Sexual content, Excrement, Fire/Fire injury, Forced institutionalization, Sexual violence, Violence, Vomit, Fatphobia, Gore, Gun violence, Suicide attempt, Torture, Gaslighting, Murder, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Grief, Mental illness, Sexual assault, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Injury/Injury detail, Self harm, Sexual harassment, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide

hcassell's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense medium-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? Yes

5.0

Gillian Flynn at her best. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Injury/Injury detail, Gun violence, Gore, Pedophilia, Toxic relationship, Suicidal thoughts, Pregnancy, Death of parent, Bullying, Animal death, Violence, Physical abuse, Death, Cursing, Child death, Blood, Body horror, Alcoholism, Grief, Gaslighting, Misogyny, Murder, Suicide attempt, and Domestic abuse