Dark Places

Dark Places - Gillian Flynn If I'm being honest, I'm still not sure how I feel about Gillian Flynn as an author. Although I've now read all three of her books, and I would say I've enjoyed them all in their own way, there is something about them that always makes me feel unclean, as though I've been soaking in a pit of humanity's darkness and decay and it's time to come out and wash all the filth away. In many ways, I don't mind this feeling. After all, murder mysteries are supposed to be dark, are supposed to get inside your brain and under your skin, and are supposed to affect us in ways that may not be entirely pleasant (the good ones, anyway). Still, there is something about Flynn's writing style, the gratuitous nature of the darkness she details, that always rubs me the wrong way, and that ultimately keeps me from declaring myself a fan.

All of the above said, I enjoyed this novel, and I would absolutely recommend it to fans of the genre. It's dark and gruesome but with pockets of light, and the narrator and main character, Libby, has a certain dark charm about her that I came to really enjoy. Although the story is far from happy, it had a certain realism to it, and the ending, while not entirely unexpected, was sufficiently twisted as to be entertaining. There was one question I hoped would be answered in the end, and leaving it open-ended was by far my biggest disappointment. In the end though, this was a quick and fun read, and I'm glad to have included it in my summer reading plans.

Rating: 3.5 Stars