Reviews tagging 'Drug abuse'

Dark Places by Gillian Flynn

57 reviews

kingcrookback's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

This is my second Gillian Flynn after Sharp Objects, and while I rank Dark Places below Sharp Objects, I did enjoy this. It's well-paced and Flynn maintains the tension and intrigue throughout. I wasn't entirely surprised by the ending, largely because the hints were seeded throughout the story well enough that the reveal felt like it fell into place in a way that made sense - which is honestly more satisfying than twist ending geared toward pure shock. I think this might make for a decent reread for that reason. I also enjoyed the exploration of the unglamorous, more unsavory aspects of grief and trauma - Libby's anger, the sluggishness of her depression, her desire to isolate. Like Sharp Objects, this is great source material for a miniseries, in the right hands and with a good cast; shame the 2015 adaptation wasn't well-received.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Blood, Death, Gun violence, Gore, Child death, Death of parent, Animal death, and Murder

Moderate: Drug abuse, Pregnancy, Drug use, Suicidal thoughts, Domestic abuse, Animal cruelty, Sexual content, Vomit, Pedophilia, and Alcohol

Minor: Homophobia, Racism, and Injury/Injury detail

brittanygoodrich's review

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Toxic relationship, Drug use, Murder, Sexual content, Violence, Blood, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic friendship, Child death, Drug abuse, Death, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, and Mental illness

kat_rowlen's review

challenging dark emotional mysterious tense slow-paced

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

2.5

This book is short to begin with but could have been at least 150 pages shorter. Nothing happened for the first 95% of the book (I track my pages so that’s accurate) the ending was twisty and surprising, but wasn’t really worth enduring the first half of the book. I was comparing this book to Sharp Objects and it doesn’t hold a candle to it! 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use, Grief, Gun violence, Rape, Murder, Pedophilia, Sexual assault, Torture, Pregnancy, Blood, Death of parent, Animal cruelty, and Animal death

Moderate: Drug abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Bullying, Emotional abuse, Incest, Child death, and Drug use

leyendoentremontanias's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Toxic relationship, Drug use, Drug abuse, Adult/minor relationship, Addiction, Violence, Sexual content, Injury/Injury detail, Death of parent, Death, Blood, Animal cruelty, Murder, Pregnancy, Alcoholism, Alcohol, Emotional abuse, Child death, and Animal death

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Drug abuse, Grief, Child abuse, Child death, Drug use, Excrement, Gun violence, Alcoholism, Blood, Domestic abuse, Alcohol, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Hate crime, and Injury/Injury detail

livlovread's review

challenging dark sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Loveable characters? No

1.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Drug abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Murder, Suicidal thoughts, Alcohol, Emotional abuse, Violence, Child death, Death, and Death of parent

christinabijou's review against another edition

mysterious 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

3.75

This was a pretty slow build, but the twist was good. Most of the characters are unlikeable, but the dysfunction kind of draws you in. Throughout the story, I found myself simultaneously frustrated and bewildered with the characters’ actions, but at the end of the day,  I still found myself rooting for them. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse and Murder

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Child abuse, Alcoholism, and Violence

marybsimp's review against another edition

dark emotional funny mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Drug use, Murder, Suicide, Violence, Adult/minor relationship, Bullying, Blood, Death of parent, Pedophilia, Sexual content, Grief, Gun violence, Alcohol, Death, Emotional abuse, Alcoholism, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, Pregnancy, Child death, Drug abuse, and Gore

maddieads's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.5

An incredibly well-written book by Gillian Flynn. Although all of her books are dark I think this one is the darkest. I had DNF’d it several years ago and just recently picked it back up. I remembered why almost right away. It’s a book that makes you viciously uncomfortable at almost every turn. This is not a book with a happy ending but it does have a fitting one. There are definitely major trigger warnings to go with this book. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use, Gore, Murder, Pedophilia, Blood, Bullying, Emotional abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Sexual content, Animal cruelty, Child death, Cursing, Violence, Pregnancy, Alcoholism, Drug abuse, Alcohol, Animal death, Death, Death of parent, and Vomit

alidathealien's review

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Child death, Death, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Drug use, Murder, Animal cruelty, Animal death, and Blood

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Excrement, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Toxic relationship, Racial slurs, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Homophobia, Toxic friendship, and Vomit

This should be called Yucky Places because Gillian Flynn is very talented in the art of describing a scene that makes me want to take a shower. I liked this a lot more than Sharp Objects. The plot was fast paced and engaging and I certainly didn't figure out what happened before it was explained! I loved how little things mentioned at the beginning come back in a significant way just as you were starting to forget about them. The way the different character perspectives tend to refer to the same things but with very different contexts would be very funny if not for how serious the book is. Just that aspect reminded me a lot of Arrested Development humor. Can we get another mini series starring Amy Adams please?

a_reader_of_book's review against another edition

adventurous dark 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

3.25

I decided to pick this up after really enjoying some of the adaptations of Gillian Flynn's other works. So this was my first time reading her. Honestly, it was a little hard to have a large cast of characters that were all incredibly unlikeable if not awful people. I did enjoy the way the book flipped back and forth between the past crime and the present day. This allowed the reader to experience unveiling the story while the main character did. It helped me feel more connected to these people who I disliked to actively resented. So I enjoyed the storytelling style. Also, I thought the ending took it about 2 or 3 steps too far into the unbelievable, but that's just my opinions. If you are looking for an interesting enough thriller/ mystery, I guess you could pick this up if you don't have anything else better to read.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Gore, Murder, Child death, Death of parent, Blood, Death, Drug abuse, and Emotional abuse