After reading Gone Girl I was curious to read other works by Gillian Flynn. I began with Dark Places. The story was captivating, I could hardly bear to put it down.
Discussion Notes:
* The character development was very intricate. Once again she used the perspectives of different characters to tell the story. Flynn also switches from past to present seamlessly.
* Although the basis of the story is a murder mystery, it delves much further into the life of an impoverished family and the twists and turns of the story set the book aside from other’s in its genre.
* It was interesting that the mystery was solved by the main character Libby Day whose whole family was murdered and not by a police officer, detective or a reporter as many other murder novels are. Because Libby had so much invested in finding out who murdered her so did the reader.
* The ending of the book was plausible and had an interesting twist. A theme throughout the whole story was sacrifice. Ben sacrificed his mother and sister’s for his new family (Diondra & baby), Patty sacrificed her life for her family (paying Calvin to kill her) and of course the references to Devil worshipping.
* The story had so many layers; the Day family and how they lived, Ben not fitting in & being accused of child molestation, the crime group and Libby’s relationship with Lyle, Diondra & Trey and of course the absentee father Runner. Flynn weaved them perfectly.
I am really enjoying reading Gillian Flynn’s work. I think she will become one of my new favourite authors.
