Dark Places Book Review

I just wrapped up my third novel by Gillian Flynn.  Gone Girl was the first from this author and I found the book intriguing, suspenseful, and complex.  After Gone Girl, I read her first novel Sharp Objects-check out my review of Sharp Objects here.  It was my least favorite because I could figure out the story and where the book was headed from the beginning. 

Dark Places is quite possibly my favorite of the three novels!!  Here is the brief synopsis from Amazon.

"Libby Day was seven when her mother and two sisters were murdered in “The Satan Sacrifice of Kinnakee, Kansas.” She survived—and famously testified that her fifteen-year-old brother, Ben, was the killer. Twenty-five years later, the Kill Club—a secret society obsessed with notorious crimes—locates Libby and pumps her for details. They hope to discover proof that may free Ben. Libby hopes to turn a profit off her tragic history: She’ll reconnect with the players from that night and report her findings to the club—for a fee. As Libby’s search takes her from shabby Missouri strip clubs to abandoned Oklahoma tourist towns, the unimaginable truth emerges, and Libby finds herself right back where she started—on the run from a killer."

This book is written from the perspective of several characters.  True to form, the heroine of the story, Libby Day is not the most likeable character.  She is immature and selfish with very few redeeming qualities in the beginning of the book.  I personally liked her sarcasm and attitude and as the book progresses, I grew to like her more and more.  Her chapters are all present day as she tries to figure out what really happened the night of her family's murders.

Her brother Ben Day is the one in jail for the murders of the family.  He is a beat down teenage boy trying to find his way.  He desperately seeks acceptance and a father figure.  All of his chapters are written leading up to the murders.

The third perspective comes from Patty Day-Ben and Libby's mother.  She married young to the wrong man, Runner, and ended up with four children.  She is struggling to keep her family afloat as her farm is going under, conflicts with her ex-husband arise, and tensions are escalating with Ben.  She is the epitome of a run down and exhausted single mother. 

I loved that it was set in the Kansas City area.  That is rarely the setting for novels, so it was fun to recognize towns nearby and be able to relate on another level to the book.  I honestly could not figure out the true killer in this book until the very end.  It keeps you guessing as the plot unfolds.  If you liked Gone Girl, you will also like Dark Places.

Have you read any good books lately?