A short review of Dark Places by Gillian Flynn a must-read murder mystery thriller book that has its own movie. Perfect for your quarantine blues.
Background
Dark Places is written by Gillian Flynn, the same author who wrote the book “Gone Girl“ which has been adapted into a film starring Ben Affleck and Rosamund Pike.
Unlike its more popular counterpart, Dark Places hasn’t really seen the same hype and attention. A movie, however, has been based on it starring Charlize Theron in the lead. Both books have some similarities in them such as having strong female leads and being thriller mysteries.
The book is based in present-day and is written in true The Book Thief fashion jumping between timelines. The reader follows the main character piecing together moments from her childhood which she has since chosen to forget.
The Plot of Dark Places
The plot of the book is built as a murder mystery, similar to Gone Girl it is focused on a crime; a triple homicide that took place in the late 1980s.
The book focuses on Libby Day, a washed-out 30-something-year-old unemployed woman. As a child, Libby witnessed her mother and two sisters being murdered. Thus, now labeled, the Kinnakee massacre survivor.
Weeks after the massacre her only brother, Ben Day, was convicted of the crime and to this day serves his sentence in prison. Furthermore, Ben was also suspected of joining a Satanic Cult during this time period.
The book revolves around Libby in present-day and her life post-murders. She doesn’t have a job and survives on donations she received from her childhood. Now, as an adult, her donations are drying up and she needs to make fast cash.
As a solution to her money problems; she decides to strike a deal with a local Crime Club founder to answer some questions about the massacre in exchange for money.
Hence, in order to do this, Libby has to play detective and revisit the scene of the crime through her memories. This causes her to ask herself the pivotal question that she’s been avoiding for years. Was her brother the true killer?
The narration of the book shifts from present-day Libby, to her mother and brother in the 1980s. The three of them together provide you with a complete and detailed narration of the events and how they unfolded, leaving you at the edge of your seat and wanting more till the very end.
The Writing of Gillian Flynn
Gillian Flynn is personally one of my favorite authors of this generation. Both Gone Girl and Dark Places have been beautifully written. Flynn has this incredible ability to write thrillers. She also has a talent for smoothly transitioning from narrating from one the point of view of one character to another.
Indeed, Flynn is one of the most talented authors and it can be seen throughout this book. The plot is full of twists and turns and leaves you predicting the story to the very end.
Also, the book focuses on themes such as social inequality, economic disparity, poverty, domestic violence, strained family relationships, and the satanic cult hysteria that swept the United States in the 1980s.
Final Thoughts on Dark Places
To conclude, if you’ve been having trouble reading books these past few months or years because of a lack of a solid attention span, this book might be the answer to your problems and might have you develop the habit of reading again. This book will keep you on the edge of your seat and add some flavor to your quarantined and pandemic riddled life.
Write down in the comments which book you want me to review next!
