Reviews tagging 'Animal cruelty'

Dark Places by Gillian Flynn

141 reviews

lwrn2's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.75

Definitely hooked me in; was not sure I liked the main character until more than halfway through the book

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Physical abuse, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Torture, Grief, Gun violence, Murder, Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Gore, Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, and Violence

asianadrienne's review against another edition

dark mysterious medium-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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty and Animal death

Moderate: Drug use, Pedophilia, and Alcohol

dennistraub's review

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Animal cruelty, Child death, and Murder

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

hellishpelican's review

dark mysterious sad tense 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

4.5

The title is no joke. This book is dark. And I've read write a few King books. That said, it was a good pageturner that evoked a LOT of different feelings. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Murder, and Gore

Moderate: Sexual assault and Pedophilia

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.

katydied's review

dark emotional mysterious 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

Moderate: Animal cruelty

chris_reads's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious reflective 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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic relationship, Blood, Animal cruelty, Classism, Religious bigotry, and Murder

Moderate: Child abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Pregnancy, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Drug abuse, Gore, Sexual assault, and Vomit

Minor: Gun violence, Racial slurs, and Fire/Fire injury

hsnails's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

• 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

I should've known from the title that this would be a "dark" book, but I expected darkness like Flynn's other books. The main character, Libby, describes herself in such dark ways it was hard to take her seriously.


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.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Gore, Murder, Animal death, and Violence

Minor: Vomit, Pregnancy, Pedophilia, Sexual assault, and Racism

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: Excrement, Blood, Emotional abuse, Adult/minor relationship, Sexual content, Pregnancy, and Gore

emmalikescats's review against another edition

dark emotional 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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Animal death, Murder, and Animal cruelty