Reviews tagging 'Emotional abuse'

Dark Places by Gillian Flynn

40 reviews

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. 

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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

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: 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

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: 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

mirandahems's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

3.75

gets pretty dark there at the end 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Child death, Gun violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Blood, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, and Murder

Moderate: Alcoholism, Emotional abuse, Sexual content, and Toxic relationship

mgrs43's review against another edition

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Gore, Gun violence, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, and Murder

Moderate: Alcoholism, Animal death, Emotional abuse, and Forced institutionalization

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

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

illgiveyouahint's review against another edition

challenging dark funny medium-paced

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

3.5

First finished vacation read!
I wil lsay I'm not much of a crime thriller reader. It's not really my thing.
However the first 3/4 of the book were great. I enjoyed the switching between now and then. I thought the three narrators had all distinct voices. Ben was so beautifully stupid and teenagery. I occasionally found it funny even.
But I gotta be honest the ending really disappointed me. After all this build up I expected a bit more. It felt like the resolution/reveal came out of nowhere and it was all tied up with a bow all too neatly in my honest opinion. Like it was such a let down after such a build up.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Grief, Mass/school shootings, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Minor: Ableism, Cancer, Confinement, Homophobia, Incest, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Racism, Suicide, Medical trauma, Abortion, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Fire/Fire injury, and Cultural appropriation

saraavowlerr's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

1.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Bullying, Child death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Grief, Religious bigotry, Murder, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

the_pink_pharmacist's review against another edition

challenging emotional mysterious sad medium-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Toxic relationship, Blood, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, and Alcohol