Dark Places: A Novel

From my blog: www.girlathome23.blogspot.com Tumblr: www.girlathome.tumblr.com My Thoughts: No Spoilers Rating: 4-5 Stars Okay, so, this is the first Gillian Flynn novel I have ever had the privilege of reading, and I must say I was not disappointed. This was a very taut, fast paced, psychological thriller that kept me guessing until the very end. I've read some reviews where readers have found the characters in the novel unlikable or they couldn't really connect to them some what. That was not the case for me. I connected with each character from the very beginning. Libby, the main protagonist throughout the novel is a very traumatized young woman. Her defenses against everyone and everything is to shut down, and ignore them after the hell she's been through. I related to Libby from the very first page. Her whit and dark sense of humor reminded me a lot of myself which made me connect with her even more, and made me want to learn her story. If you're looking for an amazing light easy read, this is your go to book. Gillian Flynn surprised me countless times throughout the book. Her writing is flawless and she adds a sense of mystery and suspense with each chapter. I HIGHLY recommend this book! My Thoughts: Spoilers Included This book gutted me, and left me with a serious book hangover. After finding out what really happened of the night of January 3, 1985 I felt so angry, heartbroken, and sad for the Day family. They seemed like such a normal family, I mean they had their fair share of problems, but what family doesn't? The Day's had little money, they lived a seemingly poor life. No new clothes, hardly any food in their home. I have so many feelings for each character in this novel that I would like to take a minute and talk about each one. Patty, was a mother to four children, Libby, Ben, Debby, Michelle, struggling to make ends meet on her broken down families farm. She had no money, no husband, well she had an ex husband Runner, but he was a drug addict and lowlife that I wanted to punch in the face several times. Her farm was being ceased, and her son was in serious trouble, for supposedly molesting a middle school girl named, Krissy. She was frazzled, and frantic during most of her chapters in the book, trying to find Ben before the police did and try and figure out how to come up with the money to save her home and provide for her family. I really felt for this woman, she had a lot on her plate and honestly didn't know how to handle half the situations life put her in I think. She was desperate for money, and wanted to save her children from living a horrible life, so she hired someone to kill her so her kids would receive her life insurance policy. Only, things didn't go according to plan on that night, and her daughter Debby ended up waking in the middle of the night to find her mother stabbed in the kitchen, forcing the man that was hired to kill Debby too, because she saw his face. Libby, was the youngest of the Day clan and the main protagonist throughout the novel. When she was seven she "saw" her brother Ben murder her entire family on January 3, 1985, except she didn't see anything, she heard it, but still the police coerced her into testifying that her fifteen year old brother Ben had committed the crimes, ultimately putting him in jail. Twenty or twenty five years later Libby is an emotional wreck, unable to properly function because of the events of that night. She hides in her home and does as little as possible just barely making it by, much like her mother. She's running out of money, the money she got from donors and book profits after the murders is now gone. A guy named Lyle offers her money to look into what really happened to her family on that night, and so she does. I loved Libby, honestly, I did. Her sarcasm and dark sense of humor made me connect with her because I'm the same way. Ben, was the oldest sibling, and the main suspect in his families murder. He was convicted and sentenced to life in prison for crimes he didn't commit. Ben was an odd kid, a loner, a freak. He had dark thoughts, but never acted on any of them until his girlfriend Diondra and her friend Trey made him murder a cow as a sacrifice to Satan. He let himself become so closed off from the world that when put in situations he didn't know how to respond, which pissed me off. He was your typical teenaged boy, he defied his mom, wanted sex, and did drugs. He was very influenced by the people around him, always giving in to peer pressure. He needed some damn will power, something! He stood by and watched his girlfriend Diondra kill his little sister Michelle, strangle her because she knew about him getting Diondra pregnant. He did nothing, he didn't stop her, and for that I hated him by the end of the book. He was a follower and did whatever Diondra told him too, and she loved it. I wanted to feel for Ben, and I did, until i found out he let his pregnant cranked up crazy girlfriend murder his little sister. Sure, Michelle was a little blackmailer and a nosy kid, but did she deserve to be killed, no! Ben heard his mother being shot, and his sister being hacked to pieces, but did nothing. By the end of the novel, all the sympathy I had for him vanished and turned to hatred. He may not have killed his family, but he didn't try and stop it either. He was a coward, and yeah I know he was just kid, but still. It was obvious by the end of the book, he did feel guilty for never being able to stand up to anyone and letting it happen, it was why he protected Diondra and went to jail for a crime he didn't commit. The police in this novel were a freaking joke. All the evidence gathered from the murder scene was pushed aside or looked over. The signs were there that Ben hadn't killed everyone. Someone else was involved. But, everyone involved/working on the case wanted to make a name for themselves and brushed him over and the evidence. This book was twisted, but in the best possible way.

About one-third of the way through Dark Places, I found myself just wanting to know how the book ended. The mystery had already built up so much in the first third that I didn't feel like I could handle waiting any longer to discover who killed Libby Day's family. The question plaguing Dark Places is whether or not Ben Day has been unjustly imprisoned for killing his family or whether he really did do it. It's a testament to Gillian Flynn's skill as a rider that the suspense doesn't let up until the last fifteen pages. After finishing, I remember thinking to myself: "Well, now that I know what happened, I have no intention of ever reading that book again." It wasn't that I didn't like the book, per se. It was more that what had propelled me through the dark and twisted story was the need to have resolution, more than pleasure in the journey. The title pretty much says it all. This book takes the reader to some very Dark Places. Within the book's 368 pages, you will encounter Satanism, gruesome murders, frank sexuality, drugs, alcohol, child molestation, prostitution, and foul language. There is a whole lot of ugly in this book. It's all realistic and I don't believe that the author, Gillian Flynn, revels in any of it exactly, but she certainly doesn't shy away from details that other authors might find distasteful. The characters in Dark Places are remarkably well-realized. Most books, you're lucky if you can remember the name of the main character when the story is done. After reading Dark Places, I remembered the names of practically every character. Libby Day is one of the most compelling leads in any novel I've read this year. From her kleptomania to her self-described "meanness," Libby is far from being traditionally "likable" but the first person narration makes us feel almost everything that she does and forces the reader to empathize with her almost in spite of ourselves. Surprisingly, Libby Day is not Dark Place's most compelling character. From the tempestuous Diondra to Runner Day, Libby's leach of a father, who makes Frank Gallagher on Shameless seem like a tame parody, the characters are simultaneously fascinating to read about and people we would want to stay far away from in real life. Flynn's ability as a prose writer is also quite strong. She has a knack for giving gritty details that fill in many cracks in our pictures of the characters and their lives. The story is told with flashbacks that gradually reveal the answers to the mystery as the story progresses. The suspense and horror we feel as we realize what the flashbacks are leading up to is mirrored by the suspense and horror felt by Libby Day in the present as she seeks to solve the mystery. By the time the murders are described, your anticipation and fear will be at a fever pitch and you will have trouble containing your emotions. This is the kind of book that sucks you in and keeps you reading long after you intended to stop and haunts you for days afterwards. The work is moody, adult and complex and depressing if the truth be told. I had to shake the book off me whenever I stopped reading like a cat shakes itself to get dry. It clung to my mind and heart and was never far from my mind on the days that I read it. Do I recommend it? Well, if you've read everything I said and still want to read it, then I certainly recommend it to you. If, on the other hand, you're wondering if you can handle it or if it's too dark and disturbing for your taste, I recommend you look elsewhere, cause reading it is an experience you can't take back. This book will take you to Dark Places and won't let you leave them behind you.

Gillian Flynn's DARK PLACES is not an easy book to read. I came to it, like many others, after reading GONE GIRL . . . and there are definitely similarities (in both style and tone) between the two novels. But while GONE GIRL is essentially a story about marriage gone wrong (as well as the perversity of love), DARK PLACES is just depressing. The story is certainly intriguing enough - at seven, Libby Day witnessed the slaughter of her mother and sisters in rural Kansas; her testimony put her fifteen-year-old brother Ben in jail for life. Now, twenty-five years later, Libby is a total mess. She doesn't work (she's been living off the pity donations she received when she was a child, but that money is running out), she has no friends, and many days she can't even bring herself to get out of bed. She's depressed, morose, and totally unlikable. It's no surprise that Libby has psychological issues - but she's so unsympathetic, so completely lost in her own swamp of self-pity, that it's hard to relate to her. When she meets Lyle, a member of a fanatical group called the "Kill Club" (they are obsessed with mass murders), she figures she can make money by selling her family memorabilia and by interviewing key figures in her own murder case (members of the club are desperate to get inside info). Lyle and his friends are convinced Ben didn't kill anyone, and that little Libby was manipulated by the police and psychologists to turn against her admittedly fractured brother. DARK PLACES is told through a series of alternating viewpoints - Libby's present-day story is told in first person, while the events of 1985 are told from the perspectives of her mother, her brother Ben, and her two sisters. Flynn is an expert at weaving together an intricate mystery and keeping her readers on the hook to find out what happens next. I was totally engaged from the start. But at the same time, I wasn't particularly interested in what would happen to adult Libby, or to imprisoned Ben, or to Lyle and his freaky friends. All of them were so perverse, so lacking in any real humanity, that I felt distanced from them. I did want to know what happened that night in 1985. Did Ben really kill his mother and sisters? Or did something else happen, something even darker and more horrible? Those of you who have read GONE GIRL will know that endings are not easy for Gillian Flynn (she has admitted as much, and the ending of GONE GIRL has inspired quite a bit of controversy). Here, the ending is almost ridiculously contrived, as if Flynn just threw it together in the minutes before her manuscript was due at the publishers. If you don't mind an incredible series of absurd coincidences, it won't bother you. If you expect something that makes any kind of logical sense, it will. It bothered me. And Flynn's rather flimsy attempt to wrap things up for Libby in the last few pages (to give her some sort of positive resolution) just seemed too little too late. Every single character in this novel is deeply disturbed, tragically flawed, and very depressing. This is a depressing book. If you're one of those people who believe in the ultimate depravity of all humanity, then DARK PLACES will resonate with you. It left me feeling very, very tired . . . and in need of a brisk walk around the block. Flynn is a good writer. DARK PLACES is a well-written and interesting novel. It's also very hard to read, and even harder to forget. Those aren't bad things. I guess you just need to be in the mood for a book like this.

On a cold winter night in a rural Kansas farmhouse, a mother and two little girls were viciously slaughtered in what appeared to be a Satanic ritual murder. Tiny seven year old Libby, who barely managed to escape through her mother's bedroom window out into the snow, somehow survived the terrible massacre and later testified in court that her older brother Ben, a moody, awkward teenager, had committed the murders. He had been acting stranger than usual in the days leading up to the tragedy. The light in his room had been on when she woke up. She had heard loud voices coming from behind his door just before the nightmare and bloodshed began. She had heard Ben calling out her name while she was hiding in the frozen reeds by the pond. Those are the memories that Libby carries with her, now 25 years later. She doesn't like to think about that night, she tries to avoid letting her mind go to those "Dark Places", but not dealing with her past has left her virtually crippled in her present day life. She's not motivated to do anything, she's barely able to get out of bed most days, she has no friends, she has no life. Then her trust fund money, which was set up with the donations from the public when she was little, has run out. The money she made from a book deal years ago is long gone. She has to find a way to make some money fast when suddenly she is approached by a member of a secret society that investigates infamous crimes. The Kill Club, a group of "armchair detectives" who are convinced that Libby's brother Ben is innocent, is willing to pay her money to help them unravel the mystery and try to free Ben from prison. She reluctantly agrees to help, although she still believes Ben is guilty. Libby realizes that she will have to come face to face with anyone and everyone who could be considered a suspect in the deaths of her family...which could ultimately put her on the run for her life, all over again. This book is, in my opinion, the best novel I've read from Gillian Flynn and the best murder-mystery I've read this year. I enjoyed it far more than "Gone Girl" and "Sharp Objects". Every page had me second-guessing my theories about who the killer was, and believe me, I suspected EVERYONE in this cast of characters at one time or another. And as soon as I would mentally cross someone off my list, I'd end up putting them back on it later. So I was literally left guessing all the way up to the very end of the book who the real killer was. The lead character, Libby, is at first not a very likable person, but as you get to know her throughout the progression of the story, you come to understand that she's a very flawed human being (like the rest of us) who's been through the worst hell imaginable as a child, and underneath all the character flaws lies a strong, sympathetic, genuinely good soul that is struggling to emerge. In the end, I grew to really like her and all her strange eccentricities. The story is told is through three different character's points of view and at two different points in time, which sounds confusing, but it is so expertly written that switching from POV to POV, past day to present day is effortless and very effective at creating suspense and moving the story along at just the right pace. Each character's viewpoint was so interesting and engrossing that I never found myself wanting to skip anyone's narrative. I was always excited to discover the events in the past that were happening up to the very moment of the murders or what Libby was doing in the present day to uncover those mysteries, and how they each deftly tied into one another. I did, however, find the ending a little implausible. Not that it couldn't have happened that way, but it would be highly unlikely. Made for a good story, though! Dark Places is has been one of my favorite reads this summer. Each of the characters is compelling and believable, the sights, sounds, smells, and emotions so real and haunting that you will lose yourself in this book, not to mention the plot is pure genius. And like all of Flynn's novels, the writing is clean, beautifully crafted and a joy to read - each word and sentence is well thought out and completely relevant to the story, with no repetition or page filler. Dark Places is the perfect book to spend your summer with. Very highly recommend!

When she was seven-years-old, Libby Day gave testimony that put her fifteen-year-old brother Ben in prison for the deaths of three family members. Now, twenty years later, Libby is beginning to realize that her testimony may have been manipulated, and her only chance at healing may be finding out the truth of what happened that night. “Dark Places” grabbed my attention and would not let go. The story alternates between past (with a variety of narrators) and present (mainly narrated by Libby). There were a few times that I lost the thread of the past and had to re-read the last part of the previous chapter to make sense of the new one. It was occasionally hard to keep track of characters between appearances. It read so fast that I feel like the author may have glossed over some details and scenes, in particular, one of the final scenes where a runaway suspect is finally apprehended. Still, it was well-plotted and enjoyable. Unfortunately, I can’t speak to any elements of surprise it may have held, because I was reading a digital copy and, for some reason, the book opened about 50 pages from the end. So, I accidentally read the climax of the story before realizing the issue (and, yes, I wondered why the author was giving away so much at the beginning!). Despite knowing the end, I then started the book from the beginning. The final chapters were just as interesting, and made a lot more sense, the second time around.

Could not put this down - the story was told by bouncing back and fourth from past to present from a few different character's point-of-view. This style writing is great for keeping readers, like me, sucked into the plot. I must admit that I was a little disappointed with the ending, but enjoyed the journey of the story line so much that I still believe this novel deserves 5 stars. Gillian Flynn has a way of creating a love-hate relationship between her characters and her readers. You love how well developed the characters are but find yourself annoyed with their flaws. Which to mean is a sign of a great writer. This story is based on the tragic, brutal murder of a low-income, farming family. Of the family of five, only two survive, the youngest daughter, Libby Day, who is our heroine, and the oldest brother, Ben, who has been serving prison sentence for the murders for the last 25 years.A young Libby becomes the key witness of the murder case and is coerced into confessing that she witnessed her brother, Ben, commit the murders. Libby to this day is tormented by the brutal death of her mother and sisters and has never really learned how to be a functioning member of society. After 25 years of living off the donations of others and profits from a book she allowed to be written about her and her family's tragedies, the money has run out. Libby must find others ways to pay the bills. Knowing there is no way she will be able to hold down a real job, she decides to meet with members of the Kill Club, a cult-like fan club that dedicates their time obsessing over old murder cases such as the Day's. Members of the Kill Club all have their own theories about who actually killed Libby's family and though they may not all agree on who exactly did it, they all agree that there was no way Ben himself did. With money on the mind, Libby, with the guidence of one of the main Kill Club members, Lyle, begins tracking down people from her past to ask the questions she never had the guts to ask before. As more and more facts present themselves, the more Libby is convinced her Brother is innocent. And she is the one responsible for him being locked up the last 25 years. Finally facing the demons of her past, Libby dives into the mysterious circumstances surrounding her family's murders to seek the truth she never thought she wanted.

Dark places is very well written but very depressing and slow moving. I was disappointed as I saw the Gone Girl movie and the Sharp Objects series which were both excellent fictional crime detective stories. Neither for the weak of heart but both extremely well crafted.

I like Gillian Flynn quite a bit. I really enjoyed both Gone Girl and Sharp Objects! But, when reading the summary of this book, it just didn't grip me. The thought of a "kill club" sounded a little too unrealistic and desolate to me. But a year after finishing both of the others I finally downloaded this one since I was in between my book club books so thought it would be a quick read to hold me over. And I've been raving about it since. I'm not sure I liked it MORE than Gone Girl, but for such a different feel, I definitely liked it as much. It's also done in her traditional rotating perspective chapters, and that worked very well for this novel, but this had flash-back chapters from prior to the murders which was very intriguing (especially seeing back in the mind of someone you knew was killed). Once I realized that we were back on the actual day of the murders, I couldn't put the book down! (now, I do admit that it probably took me longer than it should to realize that I had been reading flashbacks of that day for a few chapters). I love how all of her characters are flawed. Every one of them. There's no one in this cast that is "pure" and I really appreciate how she can take such an honest, human approach to her books. The tone is dark and has the feeling of a thriller, but not a fast-paced, heart-pounding kind. The suspense is there from the beginning, but not in the normal way. We already know the outcome. The slaughter of the family has already been done and the murderer is in jail. But as the story unfolds, there are so many more layers that keep you on the edge of your seat. I really have very few complaints about this one. It was definitely gritty and bloody at times - so maybe it's not for the faint of heart, but none of it seemed gratuitous to me. And (small SPOILER through the end of this paragraph), I was a tiny bit disappointed in the ending. I mean, EVERYONE had a motive. There was someone new that I predicted to be the "actual" killer at each turn. I was also partially convinced at times that Ben was the true killer, but maybe it was somehow through different circumstances than made public. So, when it was over and the killer revealed, I was a little upset that I couldn't have really predicted it no matter what. I would have liked it to have been someone that if I thought hard enough and focused on all the tiny details (which I wouldn't have anyway), I COULD have guessed prior to the ending. But, then again, if it was at all predictable, I probably would have complained about that also. My disappointment with this one was different than Gone Girl, though, which upset me because it didn't really HAVE an ending. This one was a very definite conclusion and we got our answers, but maybe not in the way I was hoping for. Overall, I highly recommend this. It was an awesome page-turner. I love books that make me want to read instead of doing anything else productive!