Book Review: Dark Places by Gillian Flynn
I decided to pick this book up this July because I was in the mood for a mystery/thriller. I never had the pleasure of reading Gone Girl but I loved the movie SO MUCH. Gillian Flynn is a mastermind when it comes to unexpected plot twists.
Book Description from Goodreads:
Libby Day was just seven years old when her evidence put her fifteen-year-old brother behind bars.
Since then, she has been drifting. But when she is contacted by a group who are convinced of Ben's innocence, Libby starts to ask questions she never dared to before. Was the voice she heard her brother's? Ben was a misfit in their small town, but was he capable of murder? Are there secrets to uncover at the family farm or is Libby deluding herself because she wants her brother back?
She begins to realise that everyone in her family had something to hide that day... especially Ben. Now, twenty-four years later, the truth is going to be even harder to find.
Who did massacre the Day family?
This book is about the murder of Libby’s family. When she’s just a child, she hears the murder happen and believes her brother was the one that did it. Now at age 24, she is living alone and running out of money. This leads her to a group of amateur detectives that believe her brother is innocent and will compensate her to help them with the investigation.
We learn in the book that the family is under a lot of stress. Her father leaves the family and does not contribute. He comes in and out of their lives inconsistently whenever he needs money. He is abusive to her mother and abuses drugs and alcohol. Libby’s mother is struggling to provide for the family and is just barely making it. In huge debt from buying the family farm and not making any profit, she is depressed and barely keeping it together. The weight of all the stress her mom is carrying impacts the relationship she has with her children. She acknowledges not showing them enough affection and barely telling them she loves them. Her brother Ben has a lot of responsibility - to make up for what his dad isn’t doing, which makes him angry and resentful towards his parents. This leads to him getting involved with all kinds of risky behavior.
Libby has an assortment of problems after losing her family. As a child she has a violent and unpredictable temper. She is often depressed and in and out of the mental health system. Libby has no friends, family or support system, other than charitable donations. She doesn’t know how to connect with people because she doesn’t trust them. She steals things she likes and things she needs. She’s also quite fearless, unapologetic, and clever. Her ability to understand people like herself eventually leads to her finding the truth.
I really enjoyed this book! It’s captivating with twists and turns. You also can’t help but feel for the characters and their suffering. Libby’s story gives us an example of how trauma effects children and adults. In her case, she becomes numb, difficult to connect with, and developmentally stunted. She even talks about this in the book at some point, saying that she never learned how to be an adult. But she also has these survivor qualities - courage, intelligence, and grit.
I gave it 5/5 stars.