Dark Places

You can also find this review on my blog.

3.5 stars
cw: suicidal ideation; pedophilia; animal abuse; animal death

I'd go for months without smoking, and then remember: I need a cigarette. I'm like that, nothing sticks.

I decided to read Dark Places in spite of disliking Gone Girl. I could tell that Gillian Flynn was a good writer regardless of how much I enjoyed that book, and I figured I'd give her another chance. I actually chose this one by selecting, pretty much at random, a book from my to-read shelf that started with D for the A-Z reading challenge. I kind of regret not grabbing Sharp Objects, just because the TV show is newly out, but I'll get to that one later.

I did enjoy this book. I found the story really compelling, I always wanted to know what was going to happen next. I felt like Gillian Flynn did a really great job with the pacing, switching back and forth between past and present at just the right moments. The characters were complex and well-done. I found myself having visceral reactions to the things they did while still feeling sympathy towards them.

My only issue with this is really the ending, which honestly ruined the book a little. Things felt really thrown together and coincidental and just not quite... realistic. I know that a lot of thrillers tend to end kind of wildly, but I think if it had been drawn out a bit more, it wouldn't have felt so jumbled. There's not really anything else I would've changed, though.

Although the end knocked my rating down a bit, I did still like this book and would recommend it to thriller fans – who probably have read it, I may be the only person left who is just getting into Gillian Flynn. I do plan to keep moving through her works, I think she's a talented writer who comes up with some great stories. I hope I like her others even more!