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Dark Places: A Novel
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Dark Places: A Novel
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Dark Places: A Novel
Audiobook13 hours

Dark Places: A Novel

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

4/5

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Currently unavailable

Currently unavailable

About this audiobook

I have a meanness inside me, real as an organ.


Libby Day was seven when her mother and two sisters were murdered in "The Satan Sacrifice of Kinnakee, Kansas." As her family lay dying, little Libby fled their tiny farmhouse into the freezing January snow. She lost some fingers and toes, but she survived-and famously testified that her fifteen-year-old brother, Ben, was the killer. Twenty-five years later, Ben sits in prison, and troubled Libby lives off the dregs of a trust created by well-wishers who've long forgotten her.

The Kill Club is a macabre secret society obsessed with notorious crimes. When they locate Libby and pump her for details-proof they hope may free Ben-Libby hatches a plan to profit off her tragic history. For a fee, she'll reconnect with the players from that night and report her findings to the club . . . and maybe she'll admit her testimony wasn't so solid after all.

As Libby's search takes her from shabby Missouri strip clubs to abandoned Oklahoma tourist towns, the narrative flashes back to January 2, 1985. The events of that day are relayed through the eyes of Libby's doomed family members-including Ben, a loner whose rage over his shiftless father and their failing farm have driven him into a disturbing friendship with the new girl in town. Piece by piece, the unimaginable truth emerges, and Libby finds herself right back where she started-on the run from a killer.
LanguageEnglish
Release dateMay 5, 2009
ISBN9780739383575
Unavailable
Dark Places: A Novel

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Reviews for Dark Places

Rating: 3.9282843649459047 out of 5 stars
4/5

3,235 ratings362 reviews

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  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    I found this book to be mysterious and interesting. I loved all the twists and turns and surprises that Flynn provided while reading. I thought that it was unique and one of a kind.

    I don't know that I really actually liked any of the characters. I couldn't grow to like Libby just from her attitude at the beginning of the story. I had difficulty in feeling empathy for Patty due to a few things she mentioned throughout the story. Ben was a strange character that I failed to understand why he did some of the things he did and allows other things to happen with full knowledge and how he let certain people get away with the things they did but most importantly the things they did to him and the way they treated him. And I certainly had absolutely no love for Trey and Deandra...she was just a spoiled brat who though she could treat anybody as badly as she wanted to. Lastly, what is there to say about that loser of a father, Runner other than he simply was a complete and total loser and failure of a man! Despite all of these characters dapper personality, they did all exude in depth personality characteristics that sticks with you.

    I thoroughly enjoyed the storyline and Flynn's ability to take you in one direction then totally throw you off course with something that you would have never thought would happen. I think what I enjoyed most was the darkness and the fact that the story was a different type of thriller that you would read by any other author. I find Flynn's writing to be quite brilliant and creative. I also like how the story travels back and forth in time quite regularly which seems to be a little easier to keep up with than large sections from the past and then another large section from the present! I also enjoy stories when the POV changes and you hear the voices of the other characters.

    I listened to the audio version of this book and thought that the narrators were all superb. I found that it was magnificent to have four different narrators, especially with such a barrage of characters. I find too often that when there is only one narrator and several characters, I easily lose track of who is talking, but that certainly was not the case with this listen. It was a rather long listen, however, it flowed smoothly and didn't seem to take nearly as long as it actually was.

    Overall, I rated this a 4/5 stars and won't hesitate to move along to another Gillian Flynn novel, as I thoroughly enjoyed Dark Places as well as Gone Girl, and enjoyed the fact that even though Flynn used the same type of dark thriller elements for each book, that each one was totally different, separate, and apart from the other so it didn't feel like you were reading a continuation of the other but they were each their own individual stories. Flynn is such a phenomenal writing with such great talents and abilities and I can't wait to see what else may come from this great author!

    1 person found this helpful

  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    A wonderfully creepy novel that follows Libby Day... the only survivor of a family axe-murdering spree that was supposedly perpetrated by her older, teenage brother. Now she's an adult and is starting to wonder about the actual events of that night and wheter or not her childhood memories can be trusted.

    With a wonderfully weird cast of equally damaged supporting characters (including a couple of Chuck Palahniuk-esque muder enthusiasts), this is an even better book than Gillian's impressive debut, Sharp Objects.

    1 person found this helpful

  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you know about the Gone Girl sensation. And honestly, I hope you’ve checked out the book because it is one of my favorites (even the ending, which is controversial).So after loving Gone Girl, I picked up Sharp Objects, Gillian Flynn’s first book. It was good, but not anything I was ecstatic about.But recently I picked up Dark Places by Gillian Flynn, her second novel, and this one did not disappoint.The book opens up with a nursery rhyme. . . about a boy who murders his mother and two sisters, and the “baby” who gets away.For the full review, visit Love at First Book
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Gillian Flynn is now one of my favorite authors. Where does she come up with this stuff?! I listened to the audiobook which I'm kind of wondering if that was a mistake because at one point I almost vomited in my car because of a scene in the book. I like how the book progresses through the day and night of the event in 1985 while 24 years later Libby Day investigates what really happened that night. I have to say I did not see that coming when I got to the end. Gillian is great at knowing how to make so many twists and turns that you never guess what really happened until the end and it is nothing like you would think. What a fantastically written book. If you like murder mysteries with tons of twists and turns, pick this book up. Can't wait to see this as a movie although I disagree with Charlize Theron as Libby. She's too tall. I would say more like Emma Roberts or Ellen Page.
  • Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
    2/5
    Gillian Flynn is the modern day master of the murder mystery, as is evident by her most popular book, Gone Girl. Dark Places, her second novel, follows Libby Day, a woman haunted by her dark past. When Libby was seven years old, her mother and two older sisters were murdered, while she and her brother, Ben, survived. Ben, eventually convicted of the murders, rests behind bars, while Libby spends her days living off a substantial trust. Now in her early 30s, the money has run out. In order to maintain her lifestyle, she finds herself associating with a group willing to pay her for her time—a group that insists her brother is innocent of the crimes. With money as her incentive, Libby sets out to learn more about the murders, and in the process, discovers far more than she bargained for.

    Libby narrates the majority of the book in the present day. Interspersed throughout Libby’s sections are chapters set a few days before the murders, narrated by Patty, Libby’s mother, and her brother, Ben. While this method of storytelling provides a clever way for the reader to piece together the evidence alongside Libby, it also adds an element of frustration. All three characters possess highly distinctive voices, and often I found myself wanting to hear more from one or the other. Likewise, some chapters are so short that they tease more than they provide information pertinent to the story.

    Every character in Dark Places oozes desperation and depravation. When a reader cannot understand even a small thread of a character’s train of thought, their decisions baffle the mind. Libby’s motives behind investigating the murders reek of selfishness and hypocrisy. I could never quite forgive her, even as she matured throughout the rest of the book. Ben’s chapters are full of so many bizarre and pathetic decisions that I could never quite feel sorry for him. Libby’s mother, Patty, has the most heart-wrenching storyline, but even her decisions are confusing and upsetting. A book full of unlikeable people needs a sliver of rationality to maintain a reader’s interest and to give them the desire to invest in at least one character.

    Highly plot-driven and fast-paced, Flynn does not disappoint with her plot twists. Of all three of her books that I’ve read, Dark Places offers the most outlandish twists, by far. But this is not always a good thing. The drama is often so exaggerated that it borders on unbelievable. Satanic rituals, child molestation, and a hidden pregnancy (just to name a few) add even more spectacle to an already chaotic plot. With so many distractions, even with the additional aid of the chapters set in the past, it is hard to follow, let alone find, the threads of evidence that lead to the murderer.

    If you’re looking for a whodunit mystery that you can solve, Dark Places by Gillian Flynn will not satisfy. The characters and plot are also so over-the-top that relating to the story at all is nigh on impossible. The best I can say about the book is that it certainly surprises, and hey, maybe it will surprise you too.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Libby Day’s family was murdered when she was a child. To be specific, her mother and two sisters were murdered. Libby herself hid and survived. Her brother also survived… but that’s because he was pegged as the murderer. Libby is in her thirties and still puts that night out of her mind. She is contacted by a group who loves studying murders and cases they think aren’t truly solved, and they offer her money for information. Libby can’t turn down the money, but can she contact key people from her past, and can she face her brother in prison, when her testimony is what put him there? She starts doubting her memory the more she finds out, and is determined to discover the truth about her family’s murders.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Libby, Patty, Ben, Diondre, Lyle, interesting characters, but none are the least but likeable. Flynn tells the story from three points of view, in two different times: 1985 and present day. When I completed a chapter I was tempted, alright I did skip over to the next chapter from that character's viewpoint to see what was going to happen. The book is pretty brutal from start to finish, but a real page turner. The movie comes out in September and Gillian Flynn's New York Times best selling book Gone Girl comes out in October.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Complicated plot, crazy people, improbably coincidences but still fantastic. For those who like this sort of thing, this is the sort of thing they (we) like.
  • Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
    2/5
    Ten days after reading this I couldn't really remember it. Not a good sign!
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    The books are better than the movies when it comes to Gillian Flynn. I read Gone Girl before I saw the movie, and hated the movie. I saw Dark Places more than once before reading (listening to) the audio book and still think the action, adventure, and suspense in the novel was better than the movie. Admittedly, I tried to start reading this book more than once and it was off to such a slow start I gave up every time. However, the audio book saved me. I was still on the fence in the first couple of chapters but I was multitasking so I kept going. Once I got over that hump again, it was a very exciting book. But, that slow start is what made me give this book 3 stars instead of 4.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Libby Day was just seven years old in 1985 when her 15-year-old brother went on a Satanic rampage and murdered her mother and two sisters. Nearly 25 years later, she's still suffering from the emotional upheaval. She's never held a job and has lived her entire life off the 1980s equivalent of a GoFundMe campaign. But now the money's run out and she's faced with the prospect of having to make her own way. In desperation she agrees to help a local "kill club" group of serial murder aficionados who are convinced (though she is not) that her brother Ben is innocent. They will pay her to talk to people from her past to try to uncover the real killer.I really liked the setup for the story. Libby isn't what you'd call a likable character but I felt like I understood how she came to be the way she is and to have sympathy for her even while disapproving of some of the choices she made. And Flynn is a skilled writer, handy with a phrase or an observation that advances the characters and story in positive ways. I didn't love the back-and-forth jumps between 1985 and 2009, or the changing points of view between Libby, Ben, and their mother but they were clearly signposted.Having said that, this ultimately fell flat for me, for a variety of reasons. The ultimate reveal was unbelievable and reeked of an author who couldn't make up her mind. As I've noted in other books by Flynn (her debut, Sharp Objects and megaseller Gone Girl) she doesn't seem to know the meaning of the word subtle or where to stop. The family is not just poor, they are completely destitute. Their mother is not just struggling to cope with four children as a single parent; she's reduced to feeding them mustard sandwiches because they have no food and lets them watch TV at all hours of the day and night. One of the suspects Libby tracks down isn't just a drunk loser who is homeless after being kicked out of a group home for recovering alcoholics, he's living in the middle of a Superfund toxic waste dump. The murders weren't just committed with a knife but also a shotgun and an axe.And speaking of that knife, shotgun and axe, the violence here is also extremely graphic. For me that was the least of this book's problems but sensitive readers or animal lovers may want to steer clear for that alone. It's all of a piece with what I wrote earlier — just too much and over the top. I wish Flynn trusted her readers enough to leave some things to their imaginations.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    brilliantly written.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Whoa. This book left me with a very creepy feeling. Dark. So glad that isn't my world. *shudder*
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Damn. This was a well-written book that I enjoyed reading. I mean, it’s all kinds of messed up, but it’s interesting, and I don’t think the outcome is at all obvious. It all makes sense, when you think about it.

    Libby Day is the sole surviving daughter of the Day family, three members of which were murdered in early January 1985. Her brother was convicted of the crime based partly on her testimony; she (a seven-year-old) testified that she saw him do it. As essentially an orphan (her dad faded in and out of her life) being raised by her aunt, she came into money at 18, thanks to people who had donated to a fund on her behalf when her story was in the news.

    The catalyst for the story in this book is that Libby is out of money now, and has to figure out how to get some. She’s never really worked, and doesn’t want to. She comes across a letter from one of those true crime groups to see if she’d be willing to talk to them, with the understanding that they would pay her. Seeing a way to make some money, she agrees, and the story goes from there.

    Like I said, this was a book that I enjoyed reading. It was a book that made me choose the elliptical over a run (because I can read on a machine), and the bus over a ride from a friend because that meant 30 uninterrupted minutes with the book. I also read and enjoyed Gone Girl, and I appreciate that Ms. Flynn creates characters that aren’t awesome, and that are sort of (really) flawed. It’s interesting.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Creepy, foreboding, but so well written ... what the reader first thinks will be a slog through the travails of a disturbed, unhappy woman who lived through an unspeakable tragedy as a little girl- slowly spools its threads, becoming a murder mystery re-visited through key characters. I found the characters, including the protagonist, to be so miserable in their poverty, missed chances, lack of drive and struggling relationships to be depressing, and yet so real, so compelling, one cannot look away. Graphic in its scenes of violence, lurid sexual details, unblinking descriptions of mid-Western meanness & dour neighbors, a small farming town so easily caught up in the weird rumors of Satanic worship/cult theories of the time, and simmering, unresolved despair all stirred up into one heck of a "who really killed the Day family??" Gillian Flynn is that rare writer who fixes her narrative gaze fiercely on the worst in us, insists we readers come along for the ride, & through precise character depictions & careful "revealing" -such sly editing finesse!- leaves us readers breathless, wanting more.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Dark...creepy...the usual Gillian Flynn. Her books are like a car accident that you can't look away from. The main character, Libby, is unique and somewhat disturbed. This is not surprising considering she has lost most of her family in a murder that occurred when she was only seven. She's not very likable. That's what I like about her...that Flynn doesn't try to make her likable. You root for Libby because she deserves to be rooted for after everything that she's been through.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Consistent.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Just like Gone Girl, Dark Places had me on the edge of my seat wanting to sit in my car and continue to listen. A classic whodunnit with multiple narrators and a good mix of present day and past day storyline that eventually meets in the middle and creates a chilling and complex story of murder and deceit. Great story and great narrators. Portions of the story were a bit on the gruesome side and there were times when I felt a little queasy listening to the detailed description of the murders but in the end this didn't deter me from wanting to continue on and find out what really happened that day in 1985.Can't wait to see the movie and to read Sharp Objects!
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Knowing how she writes from reading her other two books, I thought I had this figured out. but... NOPE. what an ending!
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    This is the story of the Day family. The dad Runner is no longer living with his wife Patty, who is raising four children alone. The youngest, seven-year-old Libby, was hiding undetected in a closet while her mother Patty and two sisters, Michelle and Debby, were being killed. Her brother Ben had been convicted of the murder, but Libby was convinced by a member of the Kill Club (a society that investigates murders to promote justice after a conviction) that Ben may have been wrongly incarcerated. (Are there really such clubs?) She reluctantly meets with Kill Club member Lyle to get more information. Then she proceeds to investigate more thoroughly what happened on the day of the murder. This book took me a while to get into because it's a whopping 532-page paperback. In addition, the chapters each focus on a different character, and the timing keeps moving back and forth from past to present. I'm surprised that I stuck it out with this novel, but I have enjoyed two previous works by Gillian Flynn so I thought the same might be true for this book.As I continued through the book, I began to detest all of the characters whom I found needy and creepy. Again, this is not the type of book I usually find easily readable. However, somewhere in the middle of the book, I began to get more interested in the story as the plot became more twisty. I really did want to find out what happened at the murder scene. I read compulsively through the last half of the book and was somewhat disappointed to find out who the actual murderer was. You'll have to read the book to find out why!
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    When Libby was seven, her mother and sisters were murdered by her brother, Ben. Libby's seven-year-old testimony put Ben in prison for the rest of his life, and Libby was bounced around from family member to family member for years, damaged.

    But, twenty four years later, she receives an invitation to a "Kill Club," where the members (or crime solvers) believe that she lied and Ben is wrongly imprisoned... Libby sets out on a journey to find out the truth from twenty four years ago, and all is not what it seemed...there was far more to the story than anyone knew...

  • Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
    2/5
    This book was crazy. It was weird how characters popped up at the end. If this is the author's imagination at work, she is twisted.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    I really enjoyed reading this book. It was frustrating how it kept switching back and forth from the past to the present, but only because I wanted to know what happened next. It was definitely difficult to put this book down.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Kept me intrigued until the end, but the ending left me feeling empty. In libby's own words, in the end i was "holding two ends of fabric and didn't know what to do next"
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Another great book from the writer of Gone Girl. This isn't a classic crime story either. The sole survivor of a killed family tries to find out what really happened on that night twenty five years ago when she was only seven years old.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Not terrible, but not terribly gripping either. It is hard to be invested in a mystery/thriller when you don't really care about the main character, secondary characters, or minor characters. Still, you can sit down and plow through it in an evening.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Libby Day's two older sisters, Michelle and Debby, and her mother, Patty, were murdered in their home. The murder was known as "The Satan Sacrifice" - a Satanic bloodbath with hateful words smeared on the walls. Libby was only seven-years-old when she testified that her fifteen-year-old brother Ben was the one who killed them. Twenty-five years have passed without Libby ever visiting Ben. A member of a secret society obsessed with notorious crimes contacts Libby in hopes of finding proof that will set Ben free. Libby only wants money, so she'll talk to the suspects from that night for a fee. As the truth comes out, she finds herself on the run from a killer. Again.

    This book was raw and gritty. The characters were well-developed. I couldn't wait to find out what happened to the Day's that night and feared that with all the build up I would be disappointed. But I wasn't! I liked looking back at that day, as told by Ben and Patty, and seeing how all these little things went wrong and added to their frustration and desperation. A very dark and interesting read.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Thank you, Gillian Flynn. You just blew my mind again! Dark, indeed. An excellent mystery.
  • Rating: 1 out of 5 stars
    1/5
    I can count on one hand the books that I have given only one star to. I would give this work a minus one star if it were possible.

    The Day family trips from one horrific event to the next with every single family member making terribly ill-advised decisions throughout left me exhausted. Is it really possible for all of them to be that inept and foolish? I grew so frustrated with the whole lot of them that their final days were largely inconsequential to me. Frankly I suspect death was welcome for all - which isn't a spoiler as not everyone dies, although virtually all of them wished to at some point. I read to the end but resent the terrible waste of my reading time. No story should be void of sympathetic characters and this one is, with the exception of one person - Debby. I could not have cared less about any of the rest of them, all receiving just what they deserved.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    The structure was effective in building suspense, as was Flynn's technique of dropping little clues or maybe-clues. "Oh! A men's dress shoe! Oh! A possible motive!" And the setting was done well, capturing both the good and the bad of a close-knit community and providing a realistic view of the geography of Kansas (it's not just "flat," you know).But the ending left me unsatisfied. Libby seems to change too much too fast, Lyle doesn't seem like a real person, and I never could figure out what the heck Ben's motive was for anything. Maybe I've just read too many of Flynn's novels, but the inept and/or evil women are really kind of getting to me. At least this one has Aunt Diane.