Characters don’t always have to develop into someone readers can love, or even really like, but progression and change are important in any narrative. Though Libby is a truly unlikeable character, I think this showed that she grew as a person throughout the narrative. One of the most memorable quotes is: “I know a little about trying to do the right thing and fucking it up completely”.

Unfortunately her male characters don’t have the same depth, and the three men central to the plot were the weakest elements of this book.

Dark Places is filled with women struggling against others, society or themselves, women who have tried and failed or not tried at all, women who seem exaggerated at first glance but are very real underneath. She also writes brilliant, complex women. Your idea of adulthood still comes from picturebooks.”įlynn writes about very familiar domestic settings that become warped and twisted almost beyond recognition, only to pull readers back in with detailed observations about daily life that shake up the horror. “That’s how screwed up you are, I thought. Some of the perspectives were more interesting than others but they all added to the drama. The story is told mainly from Libby’s perspective in the present day, but the flashback chapters occasionally reveal other versions of events, or scenes Libby did not witness as a child. Though I disliked all the characters the mystery of the murders had me hooked and the shifting timeline interspersed with flashbacks helped to build the tension towards the climax. “She talked to me because we had the same chemicals in our blood: shame, anger, greed. When a group of ‘murder nerds’ challenge her version of events, and seemingly having nothing better to do, 30 year old Libby sets out to prove her version of events. The story follows protagonist Libby Day, who at the age of 7 gave testimony that landed he brother in prison for the murder of their mother and two sisters. From the opening line, “I have meanness inside me, real as an organ” there is little light in this tale.ĭark Places is unashamedly a ‘thriller’. The novel is filled with irredeemably flawed characters and very unpleasant women.

A twisted thriller that highlights the complicated nature of family, loyalty, greed, and regret.

Dark places gillian flynn book