Dark Places by Gillian Flynn
If Gillian Flynn isn’t already a household name, she will be sure enough. The film version of her mega-bestselling 2012 novel Gone Girl is due to hit screens in October with Ben Affleck and Rosamund Pike starring as the troubled couple. Since Flynn herself wrote the screenplay, any grumbling about Hollywood’s cinematic makeover might be unwarranted, although apparently Flynn has changed the ending …?! Huh? Guess we’ll have to check out the results come fall.
Oh, but I’ve digressed. Maybe because I’m avoiding the horror factor here. While Gone Girl and Flynn’s first novel, Sharp Objects, seemed to be more psychological brutality, Dark Places – her novel in between – is the most viscerally violent of all.
At age 7, Libby Day survived when her mother and two older sisters were slaughtered in the family farmhouse. She managed to escape into the frigid cold, and hid in the bushes for so long that she lost three toes and half a ring finger to frostbite. Her 15-year-old brother was eventually convicted of the multiple murders.
Almost a quarter century later, Libby is broke, desperate, and no longer able to live off the kindness of strangers. She hasn’t seen her brother in all that time, her deadbeat Dad is floating out there as useless as ever, and she’s estranged herself from the one relative – her maternal aunt – who stood by her in spite of all of Libby’s betrayals (including murdering her aunt’s dog). When the horrendously-named Kill Club offers her money for her time – and her memories – she’s desperate enough to play along. They’re convinced her brother is innocent … which would mean that Libby’s eyewitness testimony couldn’t possibly be true.
To find out what really happened that night – I had NO idea! – readers will wade through satanic rituals, spousal abuse, pedophilia, bovine sacrifices, teenage hormonal rages, entitled wealth, and so much more. Yes, you’ve got almost 400 pages of humanity at its worst; if you choose to go audible, a full cast of notable narrators read with just the right blend of blasé observation and urgent shock. Horrible, gruesome, unbelievable, yes … but like the best train wrecks, you won’t be able to turn away.
Readers: Adult
Published: 2009
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