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A review by _chelseachelsea
Dark Places by Gillian Flynn
dark
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
It’s hard to put into words what I didn’t like about this book when there are so many things I DID like. Three narrators - two from the past on a day marked for death, one in the present reluctantly piecing it all together - converge in a dark wood (not literally, though kind of literally) for a resolution that never quite reaches the level of tension it promises.
I can genuinely say I did not figure out the ending until it was unraveling, but I can’t say it’s because of Flynn’s cleverness. It’s more because (*baby spoiler*) an entirely new element is introduced just pages earlier which would have been impossible to predict.
(*Larger spoilers start here*)
As for the backstory we’ve been following all this time, there’s a loose tie-in but overall, it’s hard to see how all the red herrings fit together. The entire novel rings of influences like the West Memphis Three: a boy accused of satanic rituals and child abuse takes the rap for the vicious slaughtering of his family. As the story unfolds we’re angry on his behalf, angry at the injustice of all the police who made their careers on this devil-worship bull crap.
But then, as it turns out, he kind of IS a devil worshipper; at least, his friends are, and when the killer is ultimately revealed, you’re left kind of siding with the police on this one because... you can’t really blame them for buying into that theory?
In the present day, we’re following the sole survivor of “Ben’s” massacre as she unwillingly dives deeper into the case at the behest of a true crime fan club eager to fund her interviews with people from her past. Her trauma is well-represented and she is enjoyably snarky, a bit of a klepto, and undeniably still stunted from a childhood born in violence. Libby is a great narrator, I just wish her plot wasn’t so BORING. Flynn does her best to heighten the tension with a couple of encounters at the very end, but it’s too little too late and her main character is rapidly overshadowed by the past’s much more infuriating and emotionally involved stories.
Ultimately the events just never meet the jaw-dropping, “ARE YOU SERIOUS??” climax they’ve been working toward, which is disappointing considering this is the writer responsible for moments exactly like that in Sharp Objects and Gone Girl. Alas, you can’t win them all.
I can genuinely say I did not figure out the ending until it was unraveling, but I can’t say it’s because of Flynn’s cleverness. It’s more because (*baby spoiler*) an entirely new element is introduced just pages earlier which would have been impossible to predict.
(*Larger spoilers start here*)
As for the backstory we’ve been following all this time, there’s a loose tie-in but overall, it’s hard to see how all the red herrings fit together. The entire novel rings of influences like the West Memphis Three: a boy accused of satanic rituals and child abuse takes the rap for the vicious slaughtering of his family. As the story unfolds we’re angry on his behalf, angry at the injustice of all the police who made their careers on this devil-worship bull crap.
But then, as it turns out, he kind of IS a devil worshipper; at least, his friends are, and when the killer is ultimately revealed, you’re left kind of siding with the police on this one because... you can’t really blame them for buying into that theory?
In the present day, we’re following the sole survivor of “Ben’s” massacre as she unwillingly dives deeper into the case at the behest of a true crime fan club eager to fund her interviews with people from her past. Her trauma is well-represented and she is enjoyably snarky, a bit of a klepto, and undeniably still stunted from a childhood born in violence. Libby is a great narrator, I just wish her plot wasn’t so BORING. Flynn does her best to heighten the tension with a couple of encounters at the very end, but it’s too little too late and her main character is rapidly overshadowed by the past’s much more infuriating and emotionally involved stories.
Ultimately the events just never meet the jaw-dropping, “ARE YOU SERIOUS??” climax they’ve been working toward, which is disappointing considering this is the writer responsible for moments exactly like that in Sharp Objects and Gone Girl. Alas, you can’t win them all.