Dark Places in Around the World in 80 Books

Dec 16, 2020 Farhana Faruq rated it it was amazing

Shelves: fiction

This was pretty good. The narrative was interesting even though I didn't really like any character, at any point..haha I really like how it switched between different characters and what they were doing or thinking during the same time frame.

I've read previous books by Flynn, they're all "dark" and if you're not ready for that you won't enjoy this. It's about a teenage boy accused of killing his family. He's also accused of worshiping Satan, molesting children, and being a loner that no-one like ...more

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Apr 05, 2018 Lindsey Z rated it liked it

**3.5 stars**

If you've read either of Flynn's other two novels, you kind of know what to expect with this one: an exploration of the psychology of deeply disturbed characters and many untruths that reveal themselves over the course of the narrative. Libby Day was the only one in her family (besides her brother Ben) to survive a mass murder at her home when she was 7 years old. She testified against her brother Ben, who was convicted of murdering his mother and 2 sisters. Libby is now an adult a **3.5 stars**

If you've read either of Flynn's other two novels, you kind of know what to expect with this one: an exploration of the psychology of deeply disturbed characters and many untruths that reveal themselves over the course of the narrative. Libby Day was the only one in her family (besides her brother Ben) to survive a mass murder at her home when she was 7 years old. She testified against her brother Ben, who was convicted of murdering his mother and 2 sisters. Libby is now an adult and, having run out of the money she received from surviving this horrific event, embarks on a quest to figure out what really happened the night her family was slaughtered. The narrative isn't a typical 'whodunit' which isn't Flynn's style, but rather a slow unraveling of truth. What initially appears as true is not. Libby finds an underground group that is obsessed with her family's murders and they start paying her to investigate. The premise was a bit too contrived for me, but at least it broke the cliche mold of her returning home and wanting to figure out what happened so I appreciated that departure. She is also very quick to absolve her brother of the murder early on, which I didn't exactly buy. But Flynn's writing is captivating and she is quite adept at narrating the darker side of characters' interior selves but also their perceptions of the world. Libby calls the painful memories of the murders Darkplace, which is how the title of the novel comes about; that concept worked for me, although I actually think it could have had a more prominent place in the narrative. The narrative structure was compelling: Flynn alternates chapters between Libby's search for the truth in present day (2009) told in 1st person and timestamped moments of the day leading up to the murders (1985) told in 3rd person omniscient about either Ben or Patty, his and Libby's mother. This structure lends itself well to the story continually building momentum and created the "just one more chapter" desire in me. The thread of Satanic worship was a bit lost on me and I didn't think it did much to make the story interesting and the long string of sections where Ben, an insecure and lonely teenager, wanders around town with his terribly unlikable girlfriend Diondra (who becomes even more terribly unlikable as an adult when she reappears in the novel) and her friend Trey drinking, doing drugs, and participating in what seemed to me to be misguided and misunderstood Satanic worship was not very interesting to me. This kind of teenage angst told in a pedestrian way with annoying characters just initiates eye rolling from me. But I picked this one up looking for an easy to read psychological thriller and that's pretty much what I got. ...more

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