Dark Places

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Average customer rating 4.6 (17 comments)

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Whenever I thought I would stop and take a break from reading, I decided to just read one more chapter. Next thing I knew, I had read more than half the book in one sitting. I only stopped since it was the middle of the night and I really needed to get some sleep. The next time I picked up the book a couple days later, I finished it. I did the same thing with Gillian Flynn’s first book, Sharp Objects. I read it really quickly. I purchased this book as soon as it came out, but didn’t get around to reading it until after I tore through Flynn’s third book Gone Girl. Flynn writes really twisted, dark stories that I have a hard time putting down once I start reading them. I enjoyed Sharp Objects, but could tell where it was going about halfway through the book. Gone Girl threw me for a total loop and I did not completely expect that was heading where it went while reading it. I can see with this book, which was her second one written that her writing was improving. I did enjoy Gone Girl best out of the three I have read by Flynn, but really enjoyed Dark Places. When I started reading this book, I had to know what happened with the murders so I was more interested in the chapters that were either from Patty or Ben’s point of view since it was what was going on with either of them the day before all the murders took place. The present day chapters were a bit sad because Libby had not adjusted well to adult life after living through that horrifying event and losing her entire family. Later on though, I found it really interesting that Libby started to doubt her own memories when she was faced with bits of evidence or heard conflicting stories from people she was talking to from her past. That’s when I reached a point of no return with this book and I couldn’t stop. I could not completely tell where this story was heading. Even when I had a vague idea, there were still a lot of surprises. It was frustratingly realistic about how the entire town would feed into gossip and rumors about what they thought happened with the family and how it affected the trial and Libby’s life after the murders. Also, the murders and the family affected so many people still living besides just Libby. That’s why the current day part of the book became more interesting as it went on, even though what I guessed had happened with the actual murders still surprised me, which is great. I love it when I can’t guess what is going on, but still having enough clues to try to figure it out while I read anyway.

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After reading Gone Girl, I had to get my hands on Flynn's other writing. Dark Places did not disappoint and is probably more terrifying than GG. I highly recommend reading it during the Halloween season, it's far better than watching a horror movie!

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After loving 'Gone Girl' so so much, I had to read everything by the author. This wasn't as captivating and insightful as 'Girl' but it was very good. Ms. Flynn has a way of looking into the souls of her characters and making them leap off the page at you!

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This is a good mystery story as well as a story about guiding pace after unspeakable trauma. Flynn has a writing style that keeps you reading to find the answer. She managed to keep her reader guessing until the point of resolution and then she continues just enough to give satisfaction of the fate of all the necessary characters. while I doubt I can say I enjoyed this book, I have to amid I didn't want to put it down.

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A gripping, mystery where we follow Libby to the "dark places" of her past to unravel the truth of her family murders. If you liked Gone Girl, you won't be disappointed in Dark Places!

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I have admired the way Flynn creates relatable and believable characters since I’ve read her novel, Gone Girl. And that had led me to read yet another of her morbidly twisted, psycho-ridden thriller Dark Places. The title and the cover of the book, together, almost sum it all. Libby survived the day of the murder of her mother and two older sisters at the tender age of seven, in their home at a farm in Kinnakee, Kansas. She swore then that Ben, her freakshow of a brother, killed them as some sort of sacrificial ritual to the Devil. But now, at the age of 31, she wasn’t sure at all. And so goes the story of how she delved the depths of that nightmarish moment she have locked up decades ago in the place she called the Dark Place, to find the truth she was once too young to get a hold on to. This is the story of how love, the right kind of love, when cultivated in bad soil, flourishes into evilness. Flynn has made an amazing job of creating unstable, psychotic characters that somehow, in sort of a normal kind of way, relates to us. That as the moment you tread into their minds (through Flynn’s magnificent storytelling), there is a sense of actually believing that grows upon you. And by the end of the day, you will be left with the thought that maybe, somehow, you have or have had that meanness inside you too. The storytelling was magnificent (I could say this more that twice and still be astounded); the pace just a brilliant. Flynn does know how to build the suspense. You may find yourself holding your breath for pages. And she does know how to make an explosion of a climax where you get to feel cheated, in a good way of course, because amidst the multitude of angles and probability, you’re guesses of the ending, are in no way as good as the one she has conjured. This is the kind of crime story that actually puzzles, with its number of plot directions that could lead in equally marvelous resolutions. But the one Flynn actually resolved this mystery tops it all, with it quirks and homage to her originality. If you want a break off the usual, "there’s a crime so there’s a detective" kind of crime novels, this one will suit your needs best. Flynn has a way of being loved, through her characters, her ideas, her storytelling and her ability to construct a nightmare out of an equally horrifying nightmare, that haunts even with our eyes wide awake.

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DARK PLACES was written by Gillian Flynn before she wrote her 2012 smash success GONE GIRL. Although the two books are different, DARK PLACES is every bit as good as GONE GIRL, and I encourage you to read it. It's a five-star book. This book begins with a declaration by one main character that will interest you right away. There's no wait of several pages or chapters here, no wondering whether you should give up after page 50. From there, you will learn, little by little, of an event 30 years ago. You think you see what happened until you see it from another main character's perspective. And every chapter divulges more and more information. I see in both GONE GIRL and DARK PLACES, plus in an even earlier Flynn book, SHARP OBJECTS, that she has a definite style. That is, all three of her books grab your attention on page 1 and tell the story from different points of view while going back and forth in time. DARK PLACES should have been the success that GONE GIRL is. Who knows why it wasn't; it really is that good. But I predict that it will be recognized more now when readers of GONE GIRL become curious, as I did, to read Flynn's other books. Please be glad I skimp on details. I don't tell you the story so you can discover it as you read the book. How can a thriller be thrilling or a mystery be mysterious otherwise?

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Gillian Flynn's second novel also features a tortured protagonist trying to solve a crime, but it's the flashbacks to the day of the crime that really drew me into the story. Excellent balancing act between the present and past.

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great, amazing, couldn't put it down

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What a gripping thriller Gillian Flynn has written! As engaging as "Gone Girl" and far more chilling. The characters' behaviors reflect the best and worst of society......those who value human life and those who do not. This novel is masterfully created from the opening pages and high pitched and engaging to the very last.

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I was wary of this book at first, expecting total doom and gloom. But I was quickly drawn in by the achingly human elements of the characters, who experienced bizarre events and somehow coped as best they could, though not in normally expected ways. A must-read if you enjoy well-written literary mysteries.

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These days it seems like the books that I HAVE to read -- the ones that grab me from the start, that I sit down to read a chapter and lose hours to, that I'm willing to stay up past my bedtime to get just a little more of -- are few and far between. But "Dark Places" did all that and more, with haunting prose, complicated and fascinating characters, and a compelling mystery that was in turns gruesome and heartbreaking and unfolded at just the right pace to allow time to ponder the implications of such a thing in the real world, but also keep me turning the pages.

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Gillian Flynn obviously has a very dark place she goes to when she writes. Deliciously dark and twisted. It was almost impossible to put this book down. It's about a farm family massacre and the psychic scars left on the lone survivor, who begins to doubt her own testimony that her brother was the killer. Devil worship, sex, sarcastic wit, and mounting suspense, - this book has it all.

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As far as a darker, more serious read, this book fits the bill. It isn't crazy gorey, just enough to make it not only believable, but real-life hauntingly true. Gillian Flynn uses a rough-around-the-edges narrator for most of the book and she sucks you in to this crime and to the narrator Libby's search. A psychological mystery that, this book made me have to remind myself that it was not a true story, which means the author did a Very good job!

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Libby Day distrusts everyone,with real cause..when she was seven,her mother and 2 sisters were murdered as she hid in a closet.She heard but did not see the crime.Her testimony sent her troubled brother to jail.Ben was fifteen,unpopular and traumatized by the desertion of his father and his poverty-ridden life on a failing farm with his mother and three little sisters.He falls in with several other misfits.One of these,his girlfriend Diondra,is cruel and promiscuous;the other,Trey, a charismatic sociopath who pulls Ben and Diondra into drugs and Devil worship.Ben's participation in animal sacrifice,his strange manner and accusations of sexual abuse by several pre-teen girls become common knowledge in town,and when Ben is arrested for his family's murders no one is surprised.Little Libby becomes famous as the only surviver of the grisly crime..She lives on her late mother's insurance money,donations that pour in from people who have read about the murders,and a book she ghost-writes about the crime.Libby has no personal attachments and her depression is profound.The crime has inspired a cultish group convinced of Ben's innocence .At thirty one, Libby has gone through the last of her money and agrees to appear at their meetings .The Ben worshipping members try to convince Libby to recant her trial testimony.She embarks on a journey into her dismal past to find out more about Ben,his companions,the brutal father who abandoned the family,and her once loving Aunt.This book is so well written that despite the sad ,horrifying insights into the Day family,reading it is a pleasure.Gillian Flynn's characters can break your heart and anger you,she makes them living,breathing beings.You care about these people and want to warn or help the.To me,that makes a great book.

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I read this several months ago and still find myself involuntarily reminiscing over some scenes. Haunting, eerily nostalgic, vaguely familiar. Flynn has a knack.

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This is the kind of book you cannot read fast enough! The characters are so different and you cannot decide who is good, who is bad and who is really a killer. What a great thriller!