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hellishpelican's review against another edition
- 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
4.5
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Gore, and Murder
Moderate: Pedophilia and Sexual assault
Content warning: There are some really tough-to-get-through scenes involving an inappropriate relationship between a teen boy and an 11 year old girl involving kissing and masturbation.hsnails's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Despite this, I was enthralled with the plot. I enjoyed jumping through time, getting pieces of the puzzle along the way, gaining the dramatic irony as we learn things before Libby.
A portion of it did get too gory for me and I had to skip forward. But it didn't ruin the book.
Overall, I give it a 3/5. I felt that the middle dragged on a bit in an attempt to build the suspense, and by that point I couldn't help but laugh how "dark" it was, but I enjoyed the mystery and writing enough to stick through to the end.
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Gore, Violence, and Murder
Minor: Pedophilia, Racism, Sexual assault, Vomit, and Pregnancy
reading_srsly's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
Graphic: Drug use, Pedophilia, Toxic relationship, Violence, and Murder
Moderate: Sexual content
Minor: Pregnancy
allisonnd's review against another edition
- 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
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
renbaybee's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Graphic: Pedophilia
Moderate: Sexual violence and Violence
adeliiasocks's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Loveable characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Graphic: Child death and Pedophilia
rachels_lit_reviews's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Loveable characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Graphic: Animal cruelty and Violence
Moderate: Pedophilia
stellahadz's review against another edition
- 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
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.
Graphic: Death, Pedophilia, Blood, Death of parent, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Sexual content and Pregnancy
b00kishnurse's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Death, Drug abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, and Pregnancy
mgrs43's review against another edition
- 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
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