Dark Places by Gillian FlynnAuthor Website Amazon (UK) Amazon.com Phoenix (paperback), 2009
421 Pages
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 a meanness inside me, real as an organ.
Dark Places is a really good thriller. The characters are complex and messed up. There is plenty of intrigue, tension and suspense as Libby tries to find out what really happened the day her family was slaughtered with a little help from the Kill Club. I just don't think the novel is as good as the author's other novels, Sharp Objects and Gone Girl. Dark Places is the weakest book. I didn't really find Libby a sympathetic character despite what she'd gone through. She comes across as a lazy, self-indulgent person. She's lived off money donated by people who feel sorry for her and well-wisher's. She doesn't seem to have any motivation to get a job and earn her own money. She spends a lot of time wondering what family memories she can flog. You find out what really happened the day Libby's family was slaughtered near the end of the novel. I was disappointed when the truth is revealed. Dark Places is a decent thriller and I did enjoy most of it - I just feel it was nowhere near as good as Sharp Objects or Gone Girl.
