BOOK REVIEW: Dark Places by Gillian Flynn ★★★☆☆

SORRY, BUT SPOILERS AND MINI RANT.
Libby Day was just seven years old when her evidence put her fifteen-year-old brother behind bars.
Since then, she has been drifting. But when she is contacted by a group who are convinced of Ben's innocence, Libby starts to ask questions she never dared to before. Was the voice she heard her brother's? Ben was a misfit in their small town, but was he capable of murder? Are there secrets to uncover at the family farm or is Libby deluding herself because she wants her brother back?
She begins to realise that everyone in her family had something to hide that day... especially Ben. Now, twenty-four years later, the truth is going to be even harder to find.
Who did massacre the Day family?

I have been meaning to read Gone Girl for some time because I’ve watched the movie. After watching Dark Places movie adaption, I had to read the book. and to be fair, both the movie and book was Okay, nothing altogether fantastic.

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.

In 1985 Kinnakee Kansas, seven-year-old Libby Day is a survivor of a family massacre. Her mother, Patty’s head was blown off with a shotgun. Her oldest sister Michelle was strangled and Debby was chopped up with an axe. They were known as ‘The Satan Sacrifice of Kinnakee, Kansas.” Thinking about that night sends Libby straight into what she calls her dark place. Libby’s testimony lands her brother fifteen-year-old Ben Day in prison. Twenty-five years later she is broke, depressed and invited by an amateur Kill Club, who believe that her brother is innocent.

I assumed everything bad in the world could happen, because everything bad in the world already did happen

The story alternates between the present and the day of the murder which flowed well. Flynn has a way with words. It’s descriptive and detailed to the tiniest smells, tastes, feels, sound and sight. Even Libby Day’s description throughout the novel is spaced out and grim. She’s not beautifully depicted in the movie played by Charlize Theron. She’s five foot with missing toes, a crooked left hand, dyed blonde hair with natural ginger roots. She doesn’t care about anything, steals whatever she wants and only decides to help the Kill Club when they offer her money.

That said, this book is not for faint hearted as this has heavy description of satanic sacrificing, animal mutilation and sexual abuse. The plot and twist reveals were done in a non-choppy manner.

The actual stuff my family owned, those boxes under my stairs, I can't quite bear to look at. I like other people's things better. They come with other people's history.

The characters are vile and nasty which goes great with the title, but some of the character’s motivation did not make sense. Sorry for the spoilers. Nothing made sense about Ben. I was utterly baffled by his motivations. Flynn paints a picture of a very confused and contradicting young teen. First, she says he’s not a child molester, yet he kissed a ten-year-old, got an orgasm from it, writes her weird notes and fantasises about her. Hmm, it’s paedophile is flashing neon lights. Second, Ben hates his girlfriend Diondra and his baby that she is pregnant with. He fantasises about killing them both, yet he spends years in jail protecting her, for her part in killing his sister Michelle. Third, he allegedly lets Diondra kill Michelle to "protect" her and the baby, because it was a secret and Michelle is a big mouth. WTF? Flynn are you telling me its fine to let someone murder your little sister? The narrator convinces us that Michelle deserved to die. No, she was a normal ten-year-old who didn’t deserve it. I’m sure if Diondra caught Libby that night, Ben would have let another sister be murdered.

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.

And Libby annoyed me at times. Yes, I get it, she’s from a broken family, suffering from childhood trauma, but she really takes the piss. She’s lazy, doesn’t want a job, lives off donation and would rather use her misfortunes for money. She forgives her brother for letting Michelle die and let’s it slide when Diondra and her twenty-four-year-old daughter nearly try to kill her. Like the ending was rushed.

Not only that, but there was a big contradiction. Flynn tells us that the murders happen during the Satanic Panic time, but when Libby meets the author of her family's true crime book, she tells her she felt guilty for writing the book and making Ben look like a victim of Satanic Panic. Then later on we learn that the devil worship was a contributing factor in the murders. I’m confused. Plus, the chapter about the Angel of Debt wasn’t necessary. It told us nothing new and why would he feel any remorse for letting the murder get out of hand.

Worries find you easily enough without inviting them.

In conclusion, Dark Places was an uncomfortable read as the characters were unlikable people behaving badly with excessive detail to animal mutilation. But the side plots are skilfully woven together to lead to the twisty, somewhat okay conclusion. It’s a well-written mystery, but only certain people would love it. I’d probably read Gone Girl and see if I like any of Flynn’s work.

Rating: 3/5
Publishers: Weidenfeld & Nicolson
Publication Date: 2015 (first published May 5th 2009)
Genre: Mystery/ Crime/ Thriller