Dark Places by Gillian Flynn

Dark Places is another book from the pile that my mother loaned to me ages ago. Continuing on in my mission to clear things out of my house before I move in the fall, I decided to read it as my last book for 2017. I finished it right in the nick of time too - it's New Year's Eve.

This was my second novel by Gillian Flynn (the first being Gone Girl). It's another mystery/thriller, this time centered around a troubled young woman named Libby Day. At the beginning of the novel we learn that Libby's family was massacred when she was seven years old. She managed to escape the bloodbath and fingered her brother, fifteen-year-old Ben, as the murderer. Her testimony sent him to prison for life. Since then, she has struggled to life a functional life, with bouts of depression and anger hitting her regularly. She's survived into her thirties on money donated by the public in the aftermath of the crime, but the fund is nearly empty. Unskilled and unable to even hold down a regular job, Libby is desperate for a way to earn enough money to live.

She sees a glimmer of hope when she is contacted by a representative for a group that likes investigating infamous crimes. The group members offer to pay her for interviews and old Day family memorabilia.She attends a meeting with these people and is immediately made uncomfortable by their firm belief that her testimony was false (most likely coached by her psychologist in the aftermath of the incident) and that her brother Ben was actually innocent of the crime. Lured by the promise of additional payments, Libby reluctantly agrees to begin speaking to people from her past and re-investigating what happened. Her efforts end up leading her to reconsider what she thought she knew about the night her family died and putting her in the middle of a dangerous web of secrecy and lies surrounding the murders.

Boy, does Gillian Flynn know how to craft an engaging mystery. I truly couldn't put this one down. Part of what made this such a page-turner was the clever narrative structure. The chapters of the novel alternate between Libby in the present day, and her mother and brother in the day before the massacre. As the chapters bounce around between these characters, more and more details are slowly revealed, allowing readers to put together the pieces as they read. Flynn is careful not to reveal too much at once and throws enough red herrings into the mix to keep you guessing until the end. I was not able to predict what the ending would be ahead of time, which is a bit unusual for me.

I also really enjoyed Libby's character. She was not very likable, but was troubled and vulnerable enough to make you care about her. I think she showed an accurate depiction of the emotional damage that someone in her position would have to deal with. Add to that her sarcastic sense of humor (that actually was pretty funny) and her toughness, and she was a great character to spend a novel with. The remaining cast of characters were well-written too, with Ben's inner turmoil and her mother's quiet desperation shining off the pages. No one in this novel was a great person, but they were all either sympathetic or interesting.

When all of the details of what happened were finally revealed at the end of the novel, I was happy to discover that I wasn't disappointed. Sometimes thrillers that present a great mystery don't end as cleverly as they began, but that wasn't an issue here. Everything made sense and wasn't what I was expecting. That's pretty much a best-case scenario for a thriller like this.

I'm quite happy that I chose to read Dark Places. It was a very well-crafted thriller, and fans of this genre would do well to check it out. You know, as I move through this stack of books on loan from my mom, I'm discovering that I'm enjoying her picks more than I thought I would. Don't tell her. There's still five left to go. Let's hope some other gems are in there.


Total Books Read in 2017:81