Collaboreads1The Collaboreads criteria for October was a thriller published before 2010. Quite a while ago, I had purchased Gillian Flynn’s e-book set. (I had wanted to read Gone Girl and for a few extra dollars, I had Gone Girl, Dark Places, and Sharp Objects.)

I loved Gone Girl. Ok, maybe loved is too strong, but I read it in two days.  It sucked me in. So as soon as I saw the criteria for this month, I knew I would read one of the other books in my Gillian Flynn set. I chose Dark Places, published in 2009.

Y’all, this book. Never before have I so wanted to stop reading right this minute AND finish right this minute so I know what really happened. I never read books like this–Sandra Brown and James Patterson type mysteries, yes. But not this dark, gruesome tale that I got myself sucked into.

RIVETING. What part of this book could you not get enough of?

The storyline sucked me in from the beginning.  As much as I tried to solve the mystery on my own, I just couldn’t do it.  Every chapter threw a new curveball and it was all I could do to keep up.

The Amazon review reads:

Libby Day was seven when her mother and two sisters were murdered in “The Satan Sacrifice of Kinnakee, Kansas.” She survived—and famously testified that her fifteen-year-old brother, Ben, was the killer. Twenty-five years later, the Kill Club—a secret society obsessed with notorious crimes—locates Libby and pumps her for details. They hope to discover proof that may free Ben. Libby hopes to turn a profit off her tragic history: She’ll reconnect with the players from that night and report her findings to the club—for a fee. As Libby’s search takes her from shabby Missouri strip clubs to abandoned Oklahoma tourist towns, the unimaginable truth emerges, and Libby finds herself right back where she started—on the run from a killer.

A quote I found humorous:  “He must be Christian.  He had the patience and optimism of someone who thought Jesus was watching.”

ELEMENTS. How did you relate to/care for the characters? What’s your thought on the plot line?

Flynn talks about murder and death, in all their gory details, with a very detached attitude.  The mystery lured me in and kept me reading, but it was very difficult for me to read through the specifics of the crimes.

ASSOCIATE. What other books, movies, or tv shows remind you of?

I tend to shy away from this genre, so I honestly cannot think of a single thing to compare it to.

Collaboreads: A review of Dark Places by Gillian Flynn.DESIGN.  What did you think of the cover?  

There are several different covers of this novel out there, but this was my favorite.  It’s simple, but ties in greatly to the story.  Locked up secrets, locked up houses, locked up bedrooms, locked up people.

STARS.  

This is hard.  The story was riveting and nail-biting and suspenseful, even if it wasn’t my “type” of book.  I’m going to give it 4 out of 5.

Don’t forget to check out Amber or Rachel’s page for more Collaboreads goodness.