Review: Dark Places by Gillian Flynn

 

Dark Places by Gillian Flynn

My rating: 4 stars

I found this book to be fairly compelling - it's certainly a dark read. There are no truly likeable characters in the entire novel but Flynn does an excellent job of telling the story and keeping the reader compelled to continue reading. I actually liked the darkness and felt it was appropriate for the story. I liked that the characters were not particularly likeable. I found the character of Libby Day to be a fascinating character - very multi-faceted but in a really screwed up way! She had a voice that has stuck with me - I found her compelling in that 'i can't stop watching this train wreck' kind of way. I know that its human nature to hope that she overcomes her 'issues' and comes out ok. But, frankly, I like that there was so much open to interpretation in terms of her future. I would have been upset had Flynn taken the easy way out and 'fixed' it all in the end. It felt more real and more true to life for me.


I thought the book was extremely well written, with fabulous pacing that keeps you on the edge of your seat for the entire novel. The book grabbed me, kept me guessing and didn't let up until the final pages. I enjoyed the way that Flynn told the story via different characters at different points in time. I thought it was an interesting element to the book that kept it flowing quite well.

Overall, I really enjoyed this book and look forward to reading more by Gillian Flynn.