Take a photo of a barcode or cover
elizanderson1066 's review for:
Dark Places
by Gillian Flynn
I was curious to see where Dark Places fell in chronology of Flynn's work and as I suspected, it falls in between Sharp Objects and Gone Girl. I could clearly see in this novel that she had developed as a writer considerably since Sharp Objects, as Dark Places contained none of the clumsy writing and amateur errors that her first novel did.
Dark Places also shows her maturation as a writer in its construction and characterisation - I really enjoyed the switching of POVs and time lines - a technique she takes to dizzying new heights in Gone Girl, which remains one of my absolute favourite novels.
Flynn has never been an author to shy away from shocking or dark material, and just as the title suggests, Dark Places takes the reader on the disturbing and twisted tale of the Kinnakee Satan Sacrifice Murders (or a name to that effect!). Libby Day was seven years old when she testified that she witnessed her brother, Ben Day, murder her mother and two older sisters in her family home. Ben is sentenced to life imprisonment based on her testimony and the lack of a decent alibi, and Libby is passed around various relatives, and later on various foster parents as her behaviour becomes increasingly destructive. The darkness of Dark Places emanates not only from the horrors of Libby's childhood but also from the self-loathing adult she has become. Libby has assaulted her loved ones, set fires and stolen countless possessions from those around her, all of which leads her to being completely alone in her early thirties, living (if it can be called that) on an ever-dwindling good will fund set up after the murders.
In a desperate attempt to avoid having to get a job, Libby responds to an offer to attend a Kill Club meeting, where she is given cash to answer questions from a group who are obsessed with her family's murders and convinced that Ben has been wrongfully convicted. In the company of the rather pathetic Lyle Wirth (the so called "treasurer" of the Kill Club) Libby reluctantly embarks on an investigation into the horrific past that she has spent over two decades trying to repress. Initially only in it for the steady stream of money, Libby soon realises that perhaps she cannot entirely trust her memory of what happened that night.
Dark Places is a well-written, well-paced, twisty-turny thriller which leads you down plenty of wrong turns before its satisfying and surprising conclusion. The POV chapters of Libby, Ben and Patty (their mother) are expertly interspersed so that you are constantly getting closer to the truth in both Libby's investigation and Ben and Patty's reminiscence of that terrible day. A page-turner which will definitely not disappoint lovers of thrillers (or good books in general).
Dark Places also shows her maturation as a writer in its construction and characterisation - I really enjoyed the switching of POVs and time lines - a technique she takes to dizzying new heights in Gone Girl, which remains one of my absolute favourite novels.
Flynn has never been an author to shy away from shocking or dark material, and just as the title suggests, Dark Places takes the reader on the disturbing and twisted tale of the Kinnakee Satan Sacrifice Murders (or a name to that effect!). Libby Day was seven years old when she testified that she witnessed her brother, Ben Day, murder her mother and two older sisters in her family home. Ben is sentenced to life imprisonment based on her testimony and the lack of a decent alibi, and Libby is passed around various relatives, and later on various foster parents as her behaviour becomes increasingly destructive. The darkness of Dark Places emanates not only from the horrors of Libby's childhood but also from the self-loathing adult she has become. Libby has assaulted her loved ones, set fires and stolen countless possessions from those around her, all of which leads her to being completely alone in her early thirties, living (if it can be called that) on an ever-dwindling good will fund set up after the murders.
In a desperate attempt to avoid having to get a job, Libby responds to an offer to attend a Kill Club meeting, where she is given cash to answer questions from a group who are obsessed with her family's murders and convinced that Ben has been wrongfully convicted. In the company of the rather pathetic Lyle Wirth (the so called "treasurer" of the Kill Club) Libby reluctantly embarks on an investigation into the horrific past that she has spent over two decades trying to repress. Initially only in it for the steady stream of money, Libby soon realises that perhaps she cannot entirely trust her memory of what happened that night.
Dark Places is a well-written, well-paced, twisty-turny thriller which leads you down plenty of wrong turns before its satisfying and surprising conclusion. The POV chapters of Libby, Ben and Patty (their mother) are expertly interspersed so that you are constantly getting closer to the truth in both Libby's investigation and Ben and Patty's reminiscence of that terrible day. A page-turner which will definitely not disappoint lovers of thrillers (or good books in general).