A (Spoiler-Free) Review of Dark Places

Gillian Flynn has created a dark and twisted world with her second novel, Dark Places, which revolves around the murder of a Midwestern family. The majority of the story takes place 25 years after the murders, and follows the life of Libby Day, the sole survivor of the massacre, who finds herself completely changed after witnessing the death of her family. In addition, every other chapter focuses on the events that lead up to the massacre.

Although this novel is considered a mystery thriller, the majority of this story is about the relationships between various characters and the motivations that drive them to do certain things. Dark Places is so effective in creating these twisted relationships because the basis of the novel is grounded in reality: a small town in the middle of Kansas, a single mother struggling to support her four children and a farm, and a troubled, rebellious teenage boy. However, once the initial layer is peeled back, the true nature of many of the characters is revealed, and a seemingly normal family becomes darkly twisted (I'm going to be using this word a lot, its the best way to describe this novel). Depression, drugs, alcohol, pedophilia, and suicide are all dealt with brutal honesty.

The characters are another aspect of the novel that can not be overlooked. It is hard to create such complex and troubled characters and still have the readier sympathize with them. Libby Day, the main character, is a struggling kleptomaniac who, despite her inherent and obvious flaws, gained my trust and approval as the novel progressed. If anyone has read Gone Girl, which is also written by Gillian Flynn, then you know that she excels at creating psychotic and evil characters, something that Dark Places is full of. I also appreciate how the female characters are not overshadowed, and are portrayed as just as capable and strong as the men.

Of course, I have to talk a little bit about the ending of the book. I don't want to give anything away but...wow. I pride myself on my ability to overlook the red herrings and see the true culprit, although that usually applies to TV shows like Law and Order: SVSU. To say that I didn't see the ending coming would be an understatement, because not only did I not see it coming, but I also couldn't have imagined something like that happening in a million years. It was truly (here comes that word again) twisted.

I hope this post fulfills the general requirement for a good book review, although I usually struggle with transferring my thoughts from my brain to computer. Overall, I would give Dark Places 9 bloody pentagrams out of 10. If you want to check out Dark Places or any other novel by Gillian Flynn, here's the link to her website: http://gillian-flynn.com/ .

In related news, I was scrolling through my twitter feed (follow me @johningold10) and came across a tweet from Entertainment Weekly stating that Dark Places was being turned into a movie. Charlize Theron (Prometheus) will portray Libby Day, and other cast members will include Nicholas Hoult (X-Men) and Chloë Grace Moretz (Carrie). Here's a link to the first movie trailer which includes french subtitles because the director is french, and a US release date has not yet been announced. Warning: This trailer does deal with some adult material and includes swearing including the  use of the F-word. In addition, I have found that some mobile devices cannot view the trailer.

Other than that, I've continued on with my reading and am now enjoying Bel Canto by Ann Patchett. That's it for now, peace!