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Dark Places

by Gillian Flynn (Goodreads Author)

3.88 of 5 stars 3.88 · rating details · 45,392 ratings · 6,210 reviews

I have a meanness inside me, real as an organ.

Libby Day was seven when her mother and two sisters were murdered in “The Satan Sacrifice of Kinnakee, Kansas.” As her family lay dying, little Libby fled their tiny farmhouse into the freezing January snow. She lost some fingers and toes, but she survived—and famously testified that her fifteen-year-old brother, Ben, was the k...more

Hardcover, 345 pages

Published May 5th 2009 by Crown (first published January 1st 2009)

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Aug 07, 2012 karen rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: sshh-family-secrets

i was not a lovable child, and i'd grown into a deeply unlovable adult. draw a picture of my soul, and it'd be a scribble with fangs.

gillian flynn sure does love writing about horrible people doing horrible things.and i sure do love reading about them. especially because she isn't one of those writers coasting on shock value and "can you belieeeeeve a delicate flower of a woman is writing this??" but she can really tell a story and i, for one, was completely surprised and pleased by the ending o...more

135 likes · like · see review

Aug 11, 2012 Emily May rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Recommended to Emily May by: Tatiana

Shelves: mystery-thriller-horror, 2012

I highly recommend reading this whilst sitting in the sun with plenty of happy people around you (as I did) - that way you can avoid contracting something evil and nasty from its pages, and also avoid losing any hope you had for humanity. Okay, sorry, I make it sound so negative when actually this book is pretty fantastic if you can stomach the horrors within. I ate this up in a couple of days, finding every opportunity to read that I could... Flynn certainly has a talent for dragging you into her stories and having them take you over until you find out just what the hell is going on.

As much as I enjoyed its dark predecessor - Sharp Objects - I think Dark Places was, for me, a more complex and well-developed mystery. I had many theories as to what was going on and all of them were wrong. You know, I honestly think that writing a mystery story must be the most difficult of all, because the reader is your enemy. Most readers of mystery stories will analyse the information they're given, pull it apart, and try desperately to solve the mystery before the characters do - and yet, if they are successful, they feel disappointed. For an author to manage to pull out something both surprising and convincingly real at the end of all this, they have to have a talent for it.

Dark Places alternates between the present day and 1985 when Ben Day allegedly massacred three members of his family, his sister - Libby - being the only one to escape and testify as a witness, sending Ben to a life in prison. Now, after years of living on the donations made by concerned members of the public, Libby Day has finally run out of money and is forced to earn some cash by making an appearance at a group meeting where the members believe Ben is innocent. At first, Libby is willing to write them off as crazy fanatics with a grisly obsession... but as more information is presented to her, she starts to question what really happened all those years ago.

The story is told from three main points of view and, to say I'm not a fan of multiple perspectives, I thought it was done excellently. Patty Day is an exhausted mother-of-four who starts to fear her son is becoming involved in satanic rituals; torn between wanting to protect him and being a little afraid of what his behaviour means, we begin to question through her eyes whether the heavy metal-loving loner could really have it in him to become a murderer. Then we have Ben Day's point of view, being inside his mind is a little frightening, we see how his thoughts become increasingly dark, how just wanting to have something normal can lead to the most abnormal behaviour... but does that mean he would really murder his family?

And, of course, there is Libby Day. Libby Day is the reason I think I enjoy Flynn's novels so much, she is so imperfect, complex, selfish, violent... but somehow you manage to stay on her side. I have no idea how the author manages this, but I've always loved a protagonist with issues, the kind of issues that make them lash out in ways that would make you hate them if you weren't inside their head, understanding them. She does some horrible things and, though you don't necessarily forgive her for them, you are able to see why.

If you're okay reading about filth, gore, and underage sex, then you should dive into this mystery straight away and immerse yourself in the disturbing but awesome mental workings of Gillian Flynn.(less)

124 likes · like · see review

Jun 18, 2013 Kristen rated it 5 of 5 stars Recommends it for: thriller lovers, true crime fans, women

Recommended to Kristen by: Entertainment Weekly

Shelves: novels, favorites, crime, mystery, gothic

Normally I wouldn't give a genre book like this a 5-star review, because I'm picky and controlling about handing out major praise. How could a crime/mystery be as good as, say, Thomas Hardy or Alice Munro? Apples and oranges.

But I just finished this about five minutes ago, and it made me gasp. It's so good -- a well-paced page-turner, beautifully wrought. I literally couldn't put it down for longer than a couple hours at a time once I picked it up (with the exception of sleep).

According to her A...more

28 likes · like · see review

Oct 02, 2010 Tatiana rated it 4 of 5 stars Recommends it for: those who can stomach filth

Shelves: 2010, mysteries-thrillers-horror, only-i-will-like

As seen on The Readventurer

Seriously, what goes on in Gillian Flynn's head? She writes the freakiest stuff. Sharp Objects was nasty enough, and Dark Places is just as vile. Luckily for her, I (along with millions of people) like vile now and then.

Libby Day is a sole survivor of a horrendous massacre. Her mother and two sisters were brutally killed one winter night and, mostly thanks to Libby's testimony, the murders were attributed to Libby's older brother Ben, an alleged active Satan worshiper....more As seen on The Readventurer

Seriously, what goes on in Gillian Flynn's head? She writes the freakiest stuff. Sharp Objects was nasty enough, and Dark Places is just as vile. Luckily for her, I (along with millions of people) like vile now and then.

Libby Day is a sole survivor of a horrendous massacre. Her mother and two sisters were brutally killed one winter night and, mostly thanks to Libby's testimony, the murders were attributed to Libby's older brother Ben, an alleged active Satan worshiper. Now, almost 25 years later, 32-year old Libby is out of money that had been donated to her by well-wishers over the years and must look for a new source of income. She settles on helping the Kill Club (a group of obsessed women who believe in Ben's innocence) to re-investigate the murders, for money of course. As Libby starts talking to various people involved in the original investigation at the Kill Club's request, her strong belief in Ben's guilt starts wavering...

I am fairly certain now that Gillian Flynn's "schtick" is writing about VERY BAD women. We are presented with an array of them in Dark Places - they lie to get attention, they abuse, they blackmail, they mooch, they kill, they are weak and pathetic. It is, no doubt, a novel approach to women empowerment. If women are equal to men, they can be equally despicable, right? The men are no better - they are good-for-nothing losers mostly. What I am getting at is that you can hardly find any likable characters in this book, which for many readers is a must (not me though).

The story itself is gruesome. Prepare yourself for brutal killings, molestation, bullying, Satan worshiping, drugs and underage sex. Some parts are so tough to read, I had to put the book aside for awhile.

But underneath the filth, there is a great mystery - well-paced, suspenseful, full of red herrings, it keeps you guessing until the very last moment who the perpetrator is.

Just like Sharp Objects, this book is absolutely not for everybody. But I thoroughly enjoyed this freaky thriller and will wait with anticipation for the release of Gillian Flynn's next macabre mystery.(less)

86 likes · like · see review

Apr 28, 2013 Dean Petersen rated it 5 of 5 stars

This is an amazing novel. Black and depressing, with a main character that's both pathetic and disgusting, but likable at the same time. Meloncholy, ironic, dark and wonderful.

16 likes · like · see review

Jul 03, 2010 Kemper rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: crime-mystery, whodunit

As someone who grew up in rural Kansas and has lived in the suburbs of Kansas City for the last fourteen years, I made my peace long ago with the fact that I don’t live in one of the hip places on the map. The only Kansas based things that have worked their way into popular culture are In Cold Blood and that goddamn Wizard of Oz. (As a Kansan, I listen to everyone I’ve met from somewhere else do the “I guess you’re not in Kansas anymore! Ha ha!” thing and can barely resist the urge to punch them...more As someone who grew up in rural Kansas and has lived in the suburbs of Kansas City for the last fourteen years, I made my peace long ago with the fact that I don’t live in one of the hip places on the map. The only Kansas based things that have worked their way into popular culture are In Cold Blood and that goddamn Wizard of Oz. (As a Kansan, I listen to everyone I’ve met from somewhere else do the “I guess you’re not in Kansas anymore! Ha ha!” thing and can barely resist the urge to punch them in the throat.)

But it seems like every book, film or tv show is set in either New York or L.A. with a few other places like Miami, Chicago or Boston thrown in now and then. I think half the reason I’m such a huge fan of John Sandford is that most of his books are set in Minneapolis, and he’s shown that there actually is life in the Midwest. I know that the folks who run the various entertainment industries like to talk about getting us off our tractors long enough to sample their wares, but it seems like the only attempts to include us in the stories either mock us as morons or sentimentalize small town life to vomit inducing degrees.

Gillian Flynn is originally from Kansas City, and her first book was very well received so I was excited to hear that Dark Places was set in both rural Kansas and K.C. Of course, it involved the slaughter of a family on the prairie, going back to the In Cold Blood thing, but I’ll take what I can get. I was excited to get one of the rare chances to read a story set in the place I live.

Unfortunately, Flynn didn’t do her old hometown any favors because it seems like she singled out every depressing aspect like the run down old stockyards and warehouse district that’s got some of the worst urban decay in the area. Or I-70 between K.C. and St. Louis that is filled with tacky billboards and low rent strip clubs. One restaurant that she uses as a location recently burned to the ground, and its owner is charged with arson. I know she was telling a story about the aftermath of a brutal crime and how it screwed up the sole survivor, but damn! Would it have killed her to have a character pop down to Power & Light for a drink? The K.C. tourism board would have thanked her for it.

Enough of my bitching. About the book: Back in 1985 on a rundown Kansas farm, a mother and two daughters are brutally killed. Young Libby Day manages to survive by fleeing the house, and it’s her testimony that convicts her fifteen year old brother Ben of the crime. Supposedly, Ben was a Satan worshipping freak who went shotgun and axe happy one winter night.

In the present, thirty-one year old Libby is a freaking mess. She doesn’t make it out of bed some days, she’s a kleptomaniac, she has no friends, and she usually can’t even manage to take care of simple things like remembering to buy cat food, wash her sheets or fill her ice cube trays.

Libby has been living off the trust fund that started when donations poured in after the murders, but the money is about to run out. Desperate, Libby agrees to a paid appearance for the Kill Club, a group of amateur investigators who think that her brother is innocent. Libby doesn’t even want to think about her brother, but offers of more cash get her motivated to start visiting people connected to the murders. Suddenly, Libby isn’t so sure that Ben was the killer after all.

The story is told in two parallel ways. We get Libby’s first person account of her activities in the present, while a third person narrative of the last day of her family gives us the background of what happened in 1985.

This is a character based mystery, and Flynn does a great job with both the struggling Libby in the present and the family in 1985. The stark reality of a poor farm family in the mid-’80s along with Libby’s pathetic life as an adult makes for a pretty depressing story, but Flynn really sucks the reader into the plight of everyone involved. I was somewhat let down by the ending, but I can’t say much about that without spoilers.

While this book probably won’t convince anyone to move to Kansas, it’s a good read for those who don’t mind a raw story about just how much life can sometimes suck, even if you don’t get chopped to bits with an axe.(less)

61 likes · like · see review

May 30, 2009 Brooke rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2009, mystery

Well. I can't really say that I liked this book. None of the characters are likable, including the main character. Libby Day's family was killed by her brother when she was 7. By the time she hits 30, she's still 7 inside, her inner growth stunted by the tragedy. She can barely take care of herself, has never had a job, and suddenly the money that strangers donated out of charity over the years is down to about $900. To replenish her bank account, Libby grudgingly agrees to pimp herself out to a...more Well. I can't really say that I liked this book. None of the characters are likable, including the main character. Libby Day's family was killed by her brother when she was 7. By the time she hits 30, she's still 7 inside, her inner growth stunted by the tragedy. She can barely take care of herself, has never had a job, and suddenly the money that strangers donated out of charity over the years is down to about $900. To replenish her bank account, Libby grudgingly agrees to pimp herself out to a group of people obsessed with the Day murders and with proving that her brother isn't really guilty. Along the way, she starts to have doubts herself and the real story unfolds between her present-day sleuthing and flashbacks to her mother's and brother's point-of-view from the day of the killings.

As I said, no one is likable. I wanted to slap everyone, and I found it impossible to feel any sympathy towards Libby despite her trauma. Gillian Flynn is disturbingly good at creating characters who are beyond messed up and irritating, to the point where you start to wonder what sort of inner darkness she harbors (on the contrary, her Author's Notes always make her sound very well adjusted. At the end of this book, she charmingly promises her mom that she will someday write a book where the mother is neither evil nor killed). Nothing about the dark story that's filled with hopelessness and screw-ups made me feel good about reading it. To use a well-worn phrase, it was almost like a train wreck.

I will hasten to add though, a very well-written train wreck, one with fabulous pacing that rushes along at a breakneck speed and refuses to let you take a breather. It gripped me, kept me guessing, and totally sucked me in with the great voice that Flynn gave the unlikable Libby. I almost felt like I WAS Libby, and it reminded me of the single-minded focus that Tana French's books inspired, where I had to almost physically extract myself from the book once I was finished. I think I liked French's books much better, but I'm very glad to keep coming across such talented women in the mystery genre.

Not a beach book. Not a feel-good story of the year. But damn highly recommended.(less)

46 likes · like · see review

Jul 05, 2009 Terry rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: fiction

Gillian Flynn's first novel, Sharp Objects, was interestingly disturbing; in fact, it walked a razor-thin line between "Huh, you certainly don't read that every day" and "Gillian Flynn has some serrrriiiious issues and I'm a little bit afraid of her". I wasn't sure whether I respected her extremely dark side or her dark side is so dark it makes her books kind of uncomfortable to read.

Strangely enough (once you know the story outline) Dark Places actually has a more conventional plot than Sharp...more Gillian Flynn's first novel, Sharp Objects, was interestingly disturbing; in fact, it walked a razor-thin line between "Huh, you certainly don't read that every day" and "Gillian Flynn has some serrrriiiious issues and I'm a little bit afraid of her". I wasn't sure whether I respected her extremely dark side or her dark side is so dark it makes her books kind of uncomfortable to read.

Strangely enough (once you know the story outline) Dark Places actually has a more conventional plot than Sharp Objects, and having just discussed Jodi Picoult at some length with Marie, I was totally in a place to read a book with alternating points of view which would normally exasperate me, I think. Some reviewers have pointed out there is absolutely no one to like in the book, but I agree with the reviewers who point out the fact that Libby is not at all likable is actually more compelling, because the stunted (in every possible way), damaged (in every possible way) adult she is is a response to the life she has lived. So I think it's a good thing that every character in the book is frustrating or enraging or downright disgusting. That's more truthful, really, I think.

All that being said, I can't say I enjoyed the book. I certainly didn't put the book down; I read it in one day. But the device used to galvanize Libby into action in the beginning of the book is very, very weak and that put me off. Also, despite unconventional characters and a really, really, really, really REALLLLLLLY serious devotion to bloody crime scenes, in the end the book just devolves into a who-really-done-it mystery that felt kind of, well, dull. SOMEBODY done it, and we'd either find out eventually or Flynn would confound us with "ha ha, you'll never really know what happened!"--either way I wasn't really all that excited to find out who-really-done-it just because the whole red-herring "she did it! no, HE did it! no, another person entirely did it!" trope is boring and even disappointing, coming from Flynn.

I'm not even sure which of Flynn's two books I like better. I am interested in reading her next book. Still, there is something off-putting at the same time about her... interests? Passions? She is really serious about really studying really disturbed people doing really disturbing things and at some points in both books it feels... not over the top, but almost... well, creepy. She's like that strange neighborhood kid who lives in that weird house and who is a little too fascinated by chopping earthworms in half or seeing what happens when you burn ants, or something. I read just one of Lionel Shriver's books and it was so upsetting to me I absolutely refuse to ever read any of her books again, because she seemed to take a sly enjoyment in really pushing her characters into more and more awful places, mentally and physically. I don't quite feel that way about Flynn yet, but there's just something about her books that's too...hot-breathed for me.

(less)

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Jul 13, 2009 Liberty rated it 5 of 5 stars Recommends it for: those who like a twisted, suspensful story

Recommended to Liberty by: Novel Ladies 5 Star Nomination

This was my first book by Gillian Flynn and it will not be my last.
Gillian Flynn is a masterful writer who can take an idea and twist and turn it into a dark intense story that you cannot put down-not even if you wanted to. Dark Places had me hooked at the beginning and breathless at the end.

Dark Places tells the story from the perspective of three individuals-Patty Day and two of her children, Ben and Libby. The Day family was massacred at their Kansas farm, the only survivors were Libby and B...more

22 likes · like · see review

Dec 10, 2012 Bill rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: mystery-suspense

edit:

I am modifying this review because since I finished it, I have read and loved Sharp Objects. This lady is a can't-miss read.

Back to the review (and take this one with a grain of whatever. I enjoyed Gone Girl and Sharp Objects more, but many people find Dark Places their favorite. So read 'em all.)

Normally when I hear about a new author I like to read their works in the order they had written them.

This is a rare case for me where I'm moving backwards.
I loved Gone Girl, Gillian Flynn's lates...more

12 likes · like · see review

Nov 08, 2011 Jess Michaelangelo rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: favorites, fiction, library, mystery, own

I'm just gonna come right out and say it--this is easily one of the best books I've read this year.

I knew it was going to be as soon as I read the first page, which I will now force you to read so you can bask in its awesomeness:

I have a meanness inside me, real as an organ. Slit me at my belly and it might slide out, meaty and dark, drop on the floor so you could stomp on it. It's the Day blood. Something's wrong with it. I was never a good little girl, and I got worse after the murders. Litt

...more I'm just gonna come right out and say it--this is easily one of the best books I've read this year.

I knew it was going to be as soon as I read the first page, which I will now force you to read so you can bask in its awesomeness:

I have a meanness inside me, real as an organ. Slit me at my belly and it might slide out, meaty and dark, drop on the floor so you could stomp on it. It's the Day blood. Something's wrong with it. I was never a good little girl, and I got worse after the murders. Little Orphan Libby grew up sullen and boneless, shuffled around a group of lesser relatives--second cousins and great-aunts and friends of friends--stuck in a series of mobile homes or rotting ranch houses all across Kansas. Me going to school in my dead sisters' hand-me-downs: Shirts with mustardy armpits. Pants with baggy bottoms, comically loose, held on with a raggedy belt cinched to the farthest hole. In class photos my hair was always crooked--barrettes hanging loosely from strands, as if they were airborne objects caught in the tangles--and I always had bulging pockets under my eyes, drunk-landlady eyes. Maybe a grudging curve of the lips where a smile should be. Maybe.

I was not a lovable child, and I'd grown into a deeply unlovable adult. Draw a picture of my soul, and it'd be a scribble with fangs.

Oh yes. It's THAT good.

This book first caught my eye when I saw that Stephen King blurbed it. It was most definitely worthy of his praise. Gillian Flynn's writing is just dead-on. It's simple. It's straightforward. There's no flowery description here, but you still get the feeling that she treats her language and her words as art. She's brilliant, there is no other word for it.

The way she tells this story is agonizing, and I mean that in the best way. The story bounces back and forth between Libby's present-day, first-person narrative (as she attempts to piece together what really happened the night of her family's murders) and alternately Patty and Ben in the mere hours and minutes leading up to the murders. Gillian Flynn tantalizes readers with little clues. Just as soon as you think you have an idea about what's going on, she ends the chapter and switches time periods on you. It probably sounds annoying, but it is far from that--I was flying through pages like a banshee, desperate to know what was going to happen next. She does this thing where she drops you a tidbit of info, and you gobble it up thinking it definitely incriminates this character or that character, end of story. Then in the next chapter or two, you find out that the tidbit didn't mean this, it actually meant that, as discovered through someone else's point-of-view. I don't know if that made any sense, but it is seriously a genius move. It keeps you guessing and second-guessing through the entire book.

You all know how I love characters, and Gillian Flynn doesn't disappoint here, either. All of her characters are complex and they're fleshed out. You understand her characters and their situations and why they are the way they are. My favorite character would probably be Libby. She is so unlikeable--so whiny, selfish, uncompassionate, but damned if you don't root for her the whole time. I love it when authors do that.

I feel like I'm rambling, so just do yourself the favor and go pick this up. You won't be disappointed. (less)

6 likes · like · see review

May 24, 2009 Greg rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: fiction, girls-girls-girls

If you are the kind of person who likes books where some people are killed and there is confusion over who did it, and through the course of the book complexities and resolutions happen then you just might like this book.

I don't know if I would call this a mystery, yes there is death and there is the question of, well who did it? But to me mystery's are usually kind of bland and episodic and generally not really that interesting outside of the idea of who did what (I love making sweeping genera...more

24 likes · like · see review

May 18, 2009 Ellen Puccinelli rated it 4 of 5 stars

I loved Gillian Flynn's Sharp Objects. This novel was also amazingly written and makes it clear that SO was by no means a fluke or a one-time thing for this writer. The rhyme presented before this novel's beginning is so creepy that there are some who will likely read the first few pages in the bookstore and put the book right back on the shelf because of that alone. And if you are easily creeped out, putting the book back would be a smart idea. For everyone else, this novel is another must-read...more

11 likes · like · see review

May 14, 2009 Patrick rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2009

This had the tightest You Must Keep Reading stranglehold on me since I read "The Ruins" a year ago. Although I liked the main character from Flynn's first book, "Sharp Objects" more (both are psychologically disturbed 30ish single women), the murder mystery in "Dark Places" was more gripping and unfolded in such an interesting way, as present-day Libby digs into her family's murder while the events are illuminated in corresponding flashbacks featuring her now-dead mother or now-incarcerated brot...more

17 likes · like · see review

May 13, 2013 Donna The Happy Booker rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: best-of-2013, mental-illness, read-in-2013, dark-and-disturbing, thriller, criminal-element, favorites, awesome-audio-narration

Dark Places was SO good! I was immediately drawn into the story and remained alternately riveted and frustrated throughout, but never once bored. Frustrated because I could not make up my mind who I thought was actually responsible for the "The Satan Sacrifice of Kinnakee, Kansas" and riveted because this story was disturbing, heartbreaking, suspenseful, and altogether incredible.

The audio narration by Rebecca Lowman, Cassandra Campbell, Mark Deakins, and Robertson Dean was flawless, giving dept...more Dark Places was SO good! I was immediately drawn into the story and remained alternately riveted and frustrated throughout, but never once bored. Frustrated because I could not make up my mind who I thought was actually responsible for the "The Satan Sacrifice of Kinnakee, Kansas" and riveted because this story was disturbing, heartbreaking, suspenseful, and altogether incredible.

The audio narration by Rebecca Lowman, Cassandra Campbell, Mark Deakins, and Robertson Dean was flawless, giving depth to the multiple perspectives as they alternated throughout the story. I think that it's easier to process a book that so often switches perspective and alternates between past and present when listened to on audio with multiple narrators. I highly recommend the Audible version to anyone considering reading Dark Places.

While the story itself was fascinating, revolving around a family's massacre in a small farm town, what really grabbed me was Libby's character. She was understandably damaged by the traumatic events she witnessed at such a young age and now, as an adult, she finds it difficult to function as anything like a "normal" adult. She sees herself as separated from society and unable to connect with just about anyone. I could relate to so many aspects of Libby's personality, as I'm sure anyone with any kind of "difficult" childhood could. I believe it was extremely perceptive of the author to present Libby as such a dysfunctional character because it felt authentic and I absolutely fell in love with her.

I had a few very minute issues with the story. Some of the other characters I felt were a bit less dynamic and more one dimensional, such as Libby's brother Ben. His character, as well as his relationship with his girlfriend, was awkward and difficult for me to understand which didn't always work for me in the story. Also, the ending, while I didn't see it coming, was pretty far fetched and didn't feel exactly plausible. However, I would much rather read an exciting yet over the top ending than an ending that is anti-climactic. All in all, any flaws were so small as to be nearly insignificant when compared to how fascinating this story was.

I would highly recommend this to any fans of crime, suspense, and/or thrillers. I would be interested to see this made into a movie. I think this story would translate well to film. (less)

4 likes · like · see review

Apr 15, 2012 Stephanie rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: crime, mystery, thriller

The One Sentence Summary: A woman who testified thirty years earlier that her brother slaughtered her entire family begins to investigate the crime after doubts about her brother’s guilt begin to surface.

The Meat and Potatoes: When Libby Day was seven, her mother and two sisters were killed in their rural Kansas farmhouse, their blood used to paint satanic symbols on the walls. Ben Day, Libby’s moody fifteen-year-old brother, was convicted of the murders, largely on the basis of Libby’s testimon...more

14 likes · like · see review

Oct 11, 2010 Megan rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: not-mine-library, fiction, mystery

Devil worship in the 1980’s! Back then, I was a rebellious Catholic school student who read a lot of horror paperbacks, listened to Metallica and dated leather jacket wearing, cigarette smoking public school boys (gasp!) Ah, those were the days =) Gillian Flynn includes tons of eighties details such as scrunching a spiral perm with mouse and rolling up your baggy pants legs a few inches to show off socks that match your shirt. In fact, Flynn is good with all of the details of the story. So much...more

11 likes · like · see review

Feb 08, 2013 Jana rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

What I like is filthy mind and cussing. And how damaged Libby is. And I loved paragraphs like this (a book is full of it): ''I was born bent out of shape. I could picture myself coming out of the womb crooked and wrong. It never takes much for me to lose patience. The phrase fuck you may not rest on the tip of my tongue, but it's near. Midtongue.''

Sadly this book is probably over the top for those readers who don't go into dark literature so surely there is material to be shocked and disturbed...more

3 likes · like · see review

Aug 28, 2009 Ashley Hart rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: audiobook, favorites, mystery

Let me start this by saying I never write reviews, but I just had to for this one. I really enjoyed Gillian Flynn's first book, Sharp Objects. So when I decided I was in the mood for a good mystery, one that grabs you and doesn't let you go till the very end, I was fortunate in remembering that she had just come out with a new book. Let me tell you, this book did exactly what I was hoping for and more. The story centers on Libby Day, a broken woman who suffered an unthinkable tragedy when she wa...more

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May 26, 2009 Charity rated it 4 of 5 stars

I just finished this book last night. It was so much better than her first book SHARP OBJECTS. This book had 3 points (Libby, Ben, and Patty) of view and I like that the author did such a good job of allowing the main character, Libby, to speak her mind and share her real feelings. Not everything in life is roses and butterflies and all squishy and soft feeling. Libby has issues and I felt that I could totally relate to her rage and her anger. Perhaps this book should have been called HARD PLACE...more

3 likes · like · see review

May 27, 2009 Diane rated it 4 of 5 stars

“I was not a lovable child, and I’d grown into a deeply unlovable adult. Draw a picture of my soul, and it’d be a scribble with fangs”.

“I have a meanness inside me, real as an organ. Slit me at my belly and it might slide out, meaty and dark, drop on the floor so you could stomp on it. It’s the Day blood. Something’s wrong with it. I was never a good little girl, and I got worse after the murders”.

When Libby Day was just 7 years old, she survived a massacre that took the lives of her mother and...more “I was not a lovable child, and I’d grown into a deeply unlovable adult. Draw a picture of my soul, and it’d be a scribble with fangs”.

“I have a meanness inside me, real as an organ. Slit me at my belly and it might slide out, meaty and dark, drop on the floor so you could stomp on it. It’s the Day blood. Something’s wrong with it. I was never a good little girl, and I got worse after the murders”.

When Libby Day was just 7 years old, she survived a massacre that took the lives of her mother and two older sisters. She was just a child when she testified that her 15-year-old brother Ben was the one who committed the murders.

Fast forward twenty-five years, Libby’s brother Ben is serving a life sentence in prison, and Libby is running out of money from the trust that was set up in her behalf by strangers who donated money when she was little. Just as she is notified her trust fund has just hundreds of dollars remaining, Libby is contacted by someone named Lyle who has a proposition for Libby.

Lyle belongs to a group called: “The Kill Club", a group misfits obsessed with serious crimes. The group believes that Ben did not kill Libby’s family. Libby agrees to reconnect will people who were around at the time of the killing to find out more, hoping she will profit from the money the Club’s players are willing to pay to find out the truth. Libby is finally forced to confront the terrifying “dark places” she has managed to block out for most of her life.

The story is told in alternating chapters, present day and the time of the murders (1985), which works well, and although it takes a while for the story to build, the reader gradually learns about what happened on that terrible day in 1985.

I guess I should have known how dark and creepy this story would be after reading the author’s first book: Sharp Objects: A Novel several years ago --- I did enjoy that one. I did think the author did a very good job building the suspense about the events that occurred on that horrible day in 1985. A word of caution, if you are bothered by large amounts of foul language, and gore, you might want to pass on this title, otherwise if you are ready for a creepy-psychological thriller, give this one a shot.(less)

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Apr 24, 2009 Annmarie rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: book-club-appeal, mystery

Great mystery, good for fans of literary mysteries like Laura Lippman's. Libby Day's family was murdered when she was seven, and her 15-year-old brother went to prison for the crime in large part due to Libby's testimony against him. Now, Libby is 31, still suffering from the effects of the murders, and the trust fund set up for her after the murders has just about run out. She's contacted by a member of a local true-crime club, the "Kill Club", and out of desperation agrees to visit the club in...more

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Sep 14, 2009 Trudi rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: secrets, prose-that-sings, 2009-reads, small-town-living, in-her-own-words, crime-mystery, first-line-fever, gillian-flynn, stephen-king-recommends, books-i-want-to-marry, my-desert-island, modern-lit

I have a meanness inside me, real as an organ. Slit me at my belly and it might slide out, meaty and dark, drop on the floor so you could stomp on it....Draw a picture of my soul and it’d be a scribble with fangs.

With her second novel, Gillian Flynn has become one of my favorite authors. She blends genres like a mad genius -- crime, mystery, the macabre, the grotesque, family dysfunction, small town Americana -- taking the reader on dark and disturbing journeys, steeped in contradiction -- whe...more

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May 13, 2009 Erin rated it 5 of 5 stars

Gillian Flynn does it again! "Dark Places" is much like her previous book, debut novel "Sharp Objects" -- a story/journey of an anti-heroine with a mystery as the backdrop. And Flynn's writing is the same clean, clever, and sometimes poetic, prose of that in "Sharp Objects." But "Dark Places" is, well, darker. Much darker. However, I'd argue it's a more ambitious work and more artfully done than "Sharp Objects." The only thing I was sad about as I turned the last page was that I'd have to wait w...more

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Feb 09, 2013 Kp rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: mystery-thriller-crime

Dark Places has lots in common with Gone Girl, Gillian Flynn’s 2012 blockbuster novel that I recently finished.

First of all, both novels have more than one main character who is narrating the story. The point of view switches back and forth as the plot unravels in each book. This method works pretty well, partly because it leaves the reader hanging in suspense while the POV switches back to another character.

In both novels, the characters really aren’t very likeable at all. I’d say in Dark Pl...more Dark Places has lots in common with Gone Girl, Gillian Flynn’s 2012 blockbuster novel that I recently finished.

First of all, both novels have more than one main character who is narrating the story. The point of view switches back and forth as the plot unravels in each book. This method works pretty well, partly because it leaves the reader hanging in suspense while the POV switches back to another character.

In both novels, the characters really aren’t very likeable at all. I’d say in Dark Places, this is even truer, and it kept me from enjoying it quite as much as Gone Girl. Libby Day has an excuse for being so messed up and unlikeable in that her whole FAMILY was murdered when she was 7, but that doesn’t stop me from … well, from not liking her much. And her brother Ben was mean and wimpy at the same time. He has the excuse of a very dysfunctional family, but I got really sick of how he was so completely enthralled and controlled by his horrible friends Tres and Diondra. Could anyone really let a “friend” treat you like they did? And would Ben really react like he did – for 24 YEARS? Anyway, I had no sympathy for him.

Even though the woman in Gone Girl is a psychopath, she at least seemed somehow sharper and more interesting than either Ben or Libby.

In both books the endings were pretty unbelievable and that brought my enjoyment down a notch in each case. This “Angel of Debt” character Calvin Diehl at the end of Dark Places? Seemed like an easy out and not very realistic.

Both novels are very dark in nature. They verge on the macabre. In many ways they are over the top… a kind of “pulp fiction.” However, I think that both books are really well written. The stories are so well crafted. Although they aren’t particularly literary in tone or style, I think she is very skilled to be able to so smoothly tell both of these stories and keep the reader on the edge of her seat. To me that IS good writing. I’ve read other thrillers (Harlan Coben comes to mind) where the poor writing just detracted from the book. In Flynn’s novels, the writing just flows along and doesn’t get in the way of the story or the strange characters.

And finally, both books were page-turners. I really wanted to keep reading them both. I just love a good page turner!
(less)

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Mar 03, 2013 Sarah rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: book-club

Although I only rated it 3 stars, I literally could not put this book down until I knew what happened next... all the way to the very end. That's how good Fynn is with keeping you latched on. And keeping you latched on with pathetic, unlikeable characters takes a special kind of talent. I guess I would have just liked it to end differently. The fun thing about murder mysteries is taking your wild guess about who the killer is, someone who actually has a significant part in the story. Somebody wi...more

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May 24, 2009 Laura rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: mystery, drama

Couldn't put this book down from the first sentence. She really grabs you and keeps you in. You want to hate the main character, Libby, but you also feel sorry for her. The way she moves back and forth between the past and present was brilliant done to unravel the mystery of what happened the night Libby's family died. Just brilliantly beautifully written.

5 likes · like · see review

Jul 16, 2012 Brandi rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

“I was not a lovable child, and I'd grown into a deeply unlovable adult. Draw a picture of my soul, and it'd be a scribble with fangs.”

Gillian Flynn crafts this dark and twisted story so wonderfully. 25 years after the murder of her mother and two sisters, Libby Day begins to question the events of that fateful night, including her own memory that her brother, Ben was the perpetrator. After being approached by The Kill Club, a group of murder mystery enthusiast, Libby seizes the opportunity to...more

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Jul 10, 2012 Kyle rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: People who like their characters (and stories) fucked up

Recommended to Kyle by: Kelly Leigh

Shelves: 2012-favorites, adult, awesome-cover, best-books-of-all-time, better-than-expected, favorite-characters, favorites, mystery, mind-blowing, phenominal, really-excited, violence-galore, what-did-i-just-read, amazing-atmosphere, will-definitely-re-read

If somebody went up to me and told that all women are victims of male brutality and evil, I would do two things. First off, laugh in their face and tell them to get some perspective.

Second, I'd tell them to go fuck themselves and choke on their snobb-y ness. There are, as I like to call them, man haters that believe that women are superior to men in every single damn way, and have higher morals, and all people of the opposite sex are rapists and murderers who deserve to rot in Hell. I'm sorry, b...more

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Jan 16, 2013 Meg M rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: mystery, thriller

If you liked Flynn's Gone Girl, you'll like this one. I always worry that the first book I read by an author is the same as the second book I'll read by that author, in this case it wasn't true. Well, it kind of was - different chapters told from the point of view of the main characters, each piece of the puzzle dancing into place as the story whittles down to its barest bones. But the stories were vastly different.

This one had an interesting twist to it. While none of the characters stand out a...more

1 like · like · see review

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About Gillian Flynn

Gillian Flynn is an American author and television critic for Entertainment Weekly. She has so far written three novels, Sharp Objects, for which she won the 2007 Ian Fleming Steel Dagger for the best thriller; Dark Places; and her best-selling third novel Gone Girl.

Her book has received wide praise, including from authors such as Stephen King. The dark plot revolves around a serial killer in a Mi...more

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“I was not a lovable child, and I'd grown into a deeply unlovable adult. Draw a picture of my soul, and it'd be a scribble with fangs.” — 184 people liked it

“I have a meanness inside me, real as an organ. Slit me at my belly and it might slide out, meaty and dark, drop on the floor so you could stomp on it.” — 53 people liked it

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