Sarah's Fourth Book Post

Sarah Jory

Directed Studies

Book Post #4

Dark Places

This is another book by Gillian Flynn and I have to say it was not my favorite.  Dark Places was about a family that goes through a horrible tragedy and only one daughter and one son survives out of the six member, single parent household.  When I started reading Dark Places I had the idea it would be as intriguing as Gone Girl, since the two novels were written by the same author.  However, I was wrong.  Dark Places was much “darker” than Gone Girl and I did not think that was possible.  

I did like the style, however, that the novel was written in.  It is just like Gone Girl in that way.  Gillian Flynn goes back and forth switching the narration from past to present.  It keeps me, as a reader, on my toes.  The book would flash in and out of the son as a boy and back to the daughter telling the story from the present, as an adult.  Libby Day, the daughter is not a very strong protagonist.  When she is telling the story everything seemed dull and distant.  It was a contrast to the flashbacks to the past in her brother, Ben Day’s perspective.  He told his story in a much more detailed way that kept me interested in the novel.

Ben Day was accused of murdering his family but sparing his sister, Libby Day.  She was six at the time and pointed her finger at her thirteen year old brother when she was being questioned at the trial.  So, Ben went to jail for a life sentence because of his child sister’s accusation.  However, throughout a series of twists and turns I discovered Libby Day was hiding in her closet at the time of the murder, she has no idea who killed her family.  Her lawyer had coaxed her into believing that Ben had committed the murders because it was the easiest way out of the trial. The book leads you down the path of realizing Ben did not commit the murders but Libby’s estranged father might have.  It was a very interesting story but it was too vulgar for me.  

The story was about mainly a twisted and awful family dynamic.  But I was so interested in who committed the murder I kept reading to find out.  However, the book ending is not clear and Libby gets no real resolution.  It left me unsettled.  I believe that Runner Day, her father committed the murders.  If there is a sequel I will read it to find out.  Poor Libby has no resolution.  She does not get married, find the murdered, or find a sustainable source of income.  The book was unsettling for me so I hope there is a sequel.