Book Review: Dark Places by Gillian Flynn

Dark Places by Gillian Flynn
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

"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." So begins the third Gillian Flynn thriller I read after Gone girl and Sharp Objects and I am absolutely bowled over.

Narrated from the points of view of the Murdered, the Accused and the Survivor, Dark Places pulls you into that big dark reading chair and even after you realise you're trapped, you don't want to leave before you read the next page and the next and then the next.

7 year old Libby Day is the sole survivor of the Kinnakee Satanic Massacre that left her 35 year old mother and 2 sisters aged 9 and 10 dead, which the world believes was conducted by her 15 year old brother Benjamin Day, also an alleged Satan worshipper and child molester. 25 years later, Libby is approached by Lyle Wirth, a member of the Kill Club, a group that solves murders and mysteries, obsessing over the case and convinced Ben is wrongfully convicted over the testimony from a 7 year old's unreliable memory. Exhausted of the money raised by charity for her support 25 years ago, baited by the lure of money by the members of Kill Club, Libby is compelled to look into the past. And once she embarks on that journey into her "Dark Place", there is no turning back.

Apart from the essential ingredients that make a best selling crime thriller - suspense, grip, sneak peeks of clues scattered through out that your head tries to work up like a puzzle, the book also has a certain poignancy and character attached to it. Like all of the "effortless storyteller's" other characters - Ben, Patty and Libby, The Days, my narrators, leave you hurting for them. All this while always keeping the rein of the story line tight and commanding the parade to a grand finale..
Yes. Yes. Yes. You got the point. Go get the book. 💁


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