Reviews tagging 'Death'

Dark Places - Gefährliche Erinnerung by Gillian Flynn

135 reviews

danaslitlist's review against another edition

The casual and constant racism in the flashbacks was annoying and gross enough that I actually caved and went looking at spoilers to confirm if my theory of who the killer was. I’m happy to report that no; it wasn’t who I thought it was which is a good thing because that would’ve been even more racist and gross. But I’m not happy to report that finding out what happens at the end made me slow blink before quickly DNF-ing because, hey Gillian Flynn? Are you really that lazy to write an ending and/or plot that makes sense or????

Which is shame because I was about 6 hours in and overall was having a decent time. This book has good bones and was entirely wasted on an author who is clearly more interested in “BOOM GOT YA!” twists than actual sense and emotion.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Racism, Suicidal thoughts, Drug use, Death of parent, Animal death, Abandonment, Child death, Stalking, Pedophilia, Murder, Death, Gun violence, Gore, Blood, Alcohol, Toxic relationship, Suicide, Sexual assault, Suicide attempt, and Violence

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

m3l3fic3nt's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense slow-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

2.5

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Grief 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

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Content Warnings

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

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

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Content Warnings

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

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

b00kishnurse's review against another edition

dark emotional sad 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Animal cruelty, Death of parent, Gore, Blood, Gun violence, Body horror, Vomit, Murder, Animal death, Grief, Pregnancy, Violence, Death, Pedophilia, Drug abuse, and Suicidal thoughts