Dark Places by Gillian Flynn

I have read Gone Girl a while ago and I just adored that book. I thought it was really clever and shocking, with an amazing story and on top of all that - ingenious writing.

Naturally, I decided to pick another one of her novels, and I ended up choosing - Dark Places.

This is a story about Libby Day, whose family (mother and two sisters) was killed back when she was seven years old. Her own testimony put her brother, Ben, behind bars. After 24 years, Libby is sort of mindlessly wandering through life and just basically living off of the money she got from donations. After she starts running out, she starts meeting with this sort of weird "club", composed of people who are fascinated with murder mysteries. They sort of get her questioning everything that happened throughout that night.

I really, really enjoyed this book. Flynn's writing is so atmospheric and eerie, and you are transported into this story, instantly, from the first page, It's gripping and holds your attention throughout. You just want to keep reading, and you don't want to put the book down until you know what is going on. The story is told both from the present day perspective in which we see how Libby is dealing with everything, but also we see the events of the night of the murders. And that day, back in 1985, we see from the perspective of her older brother Ben and her mother Patty. This is a very clever way to tell this story. Because both (or all three) perspectives lead to the culmination and "the reveal". They all sort of intertwine together and it just works perfectly.

Gillian Flynn has a very strong sense of the human nature. She is able to write such flawed characters. I think that this book doesn't really have any really likeable characters. But Flynn is still able to make you feel interested in these characters and care for their destinies. And even if you don't you still want to know what happens.

The only down side to the book was that for me, personally, the "mystery solution" got kind of, sort of obvious about half way into the book. But that didn't ruin the book for me. I still think it was pretty brilliant.

Definitely recommend this to anyone who enjoys a thriller mystery and above anything, to anyone who enjoys really good writing.

Rating: ✯✯✯✯ 

Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn

Well, that was a hell of a ride. From start to finish. I didn't expect this book to be so good. I picked it up because it was getting a lot of buzz. The movie came out and I really wanted to see it, so I wanted to read the book before seeing it. I really actually enjoy these kinds of books, the psychological thrillers/mysteries. I just rarely pick them up for some reason. 

So the plot of this book revolves around a married couple, Nick and Amy Dunne. On the day of their fifth wedding anniversary, Amy disappears. Under suspicious circumstances. That's about as far as I can go with the plot because I don't want to give anything away. The thing I feel I can point out is that we get both of their perspectives, of their marriage and their life together. Which was pretty messed up. Their marriage was awful. And they aren't perfect. I think flawed is also an understatement. But, yeah, they aren't really likable characters, which was actually great. It's a psychological novel so the whole time you're reading, you are in their heads. And it was amazing writing. I was so involved with the story and the characters. I was on the edge the whole time. At some points, I was actually left sitting there, with my mouth wide open, not believing what I was reading. I had to reread some parts just to really let them sink in. I am so excited to read the other books from the author, because I loved the style of the writing. And I love how the story was conceptualized. It was really just great. You're not going to feel good after you finish this book. But you're still going to love it. 

So, I gave this book 5/5 stars on Goodreads and I would recommend it to everyone. As a matter of fact, I already started to.