In the acknowledgements of her third novel entitled Dark Places, Gillian Flynn writes “Mom, you are the most gracious, generous person I know and someday I will write a book in which the mother is not a) evil or b) killed. You deserve better!”
In The New York Times Bestseller Dark Places,however, the mother Patty Day along with 2 of her 4 children are found brutally murdered in their rural Kansas farmhouse. Because of evidence found at the crime scene, the media nicknames the case “The Kansas Satan Sacrifice.” Her youngest daughter, 5 year old Libby, escaped the vicious crime alive, and testifies against her 15 year old brother Ben who is ultimately convicted and sentenced to life in prison with shockingly little evidence.
Twenty-five years later, little Libby is an adult and has finally run out of money from sympathy funds and life-insurance collections and is forced to rethink her lazy, unemployed, and bitterly cynical lifestyle. She stumbles upon a letter from a member of a “Kill Club,” a group that investigates unsolved murder mysteries. They firmly believe that Ben Day is innocent, and they offer to pay Libby, who begrudgingly obliges, to interview individuals surrounding that infamous day in order to get to the bottom of what really happened.
After questioning many people from her past, depth of dysfunction in the Day family including an alcoholic/drug-dealing father, satantic worship, sexual violence, a house on the brink of foreclosure, and so much more is startlingly revealed. Throughout the thriller, the reader will develop multiple hypotheses concerning what really happened that cold Kansas night, all of which will likely be disproved at the story’s conclusion.
Flynn’s use of stark prose and inclusion of bone-chilling details makes it tempting for a reader to surge through the book cover to cover. The novel is also set up in an interesting way. There are 3 chapter cycles (with a few exceptions) that include a flashback from Ben, a flashback from Patty, and a real-time perspective from Libby. With each flashback, the reader learns more about what really happened that night, all while Libby is uncovering the same details via various interviews.
Dark Places is a captiviating and well written book–a must read for all mystery and thrill lovers. Gillian Flynn is also the author of bestselling thriller novels Gone Girl and Sharp Objects.