Flynn sure knows how to keep the reader turning pages. [b:Dark Places|5886881|Dark Places|Gillian Flynn|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1354988288s/5886881.jpg|6873353] is told primarily from the perspective of Libby Day. Libby and her brother, Ben, are the sole survivors of a night during which the remaining family members are murdered. Ben is implicated and imprisoned for the murders, and Libby provided the testimony that helped put him away. The story reveals what really happened using chapters that alternate between the present and the past.

This book is fast-paced, dark, and definitely is the type of book you want to keep picking up to find out what happens next. Flynn makes the unbelievable fathomable . . .but it's a good idea not to think too much about it and just enjoy the ride.

Personally, of the three books I've read of hers, I would say this one was my least favorite of the three, but may others I've spoken to like it best. Regardless, I'm sure I will reach for whatever she comes out with next . . . ( )

Masterful storytelling ( )

Better than Gone Girl, actually.

Okay, that's not my whole review. I love how Gillian Flynn uses unreliable narrators: it's always the small and pointless things that tip you off, such as the name of the city/place they live in being lied about, or some other pointless detail. But once you see stuff like that, you can't begin to wonder ... what else isn't true? What else is a lie? Love it.

Libby is ... surprisingly gullible. Until the plot sets in motion she doesn't seem to care about anything, really, and she especially doesn't seem to be able to question anything anyone says, or ask for more knowledge. Whenever we learn the smallest new detail of the case she has NEVER heard of it before. This could've been annoying or a plot point to keep us in the dark, but it's very consistently written like this the entire way through, so it is actually a believable character flaw of Libby, rather than an annoying plot device.

I also enjoyed how it was told: every other chapter is from Libby's POV in the current time, and every other chapter is her mom or brother from the day that the murders took place. The "past" chapters are so well-written that they could've been a book of their own, but it worked well to go back and forth like that. Sure, if a Ben chapter ended on a cliffhanger it was annoying to know there were TWO Libby chapters and a mom chapter to get there, but usually by the end of the next chapter something new and exciting had been discovered to make you forget about the first cliffhanger. Very suspenseful all the way through.

The ending was pretty good: it didn't come from out of the blue, neither was it immediately obvious, though I did guess that the mom had something to do with it about halfway through, it wasn't exactly like I had imagined it, so that was nice. I like to be surprised.

I guess I should go pick up Sharp Objects now. ( )

Finished this earlier today I was faintly annoyed by the ending but I guess it wrapped it up well. I guess I wasn't that surprised that I was a bit disappointed as the end of Gone Gril disappointed me to. However, I was annoyed when I had to go to bed with only 30 or so pages left to go as I knew that I was just about to find out what happened so the story was obviously compelling enough for that!

Couldn't put it down. Great voice and writing. Kept me in suspense until close to the end and I can usually figure out "whodunit" pretty quickly. I absolutely recommend it to anyone who likes a dark tale with plenty of blood, mystery, and a nice touch of humor mixed in. ( )