Because what I do remember about Dark Places when I read it the first time is that I really liked it.

So re-reading it would be almost like reading a new book by Gillian Flynn, with an assurance that I would enjoy it. While I have already read that book - I bought it shortly after I was mesmerized by Gone Girl - it’s been a while and I had little to no recollection of the plot.

Which is why when I was unable to find something compelling to read for a few months, I turned to one of her earlier books, Dark Places, which was published in 2009. I loved that book when it came out in 2012 and also enjoyed it thoroughly when I re-read it a few years ago. Set against a deeply unsettling portrait of small town prejudices and intense poverty, her razor-sharp writing will keep the reader hooked right to the very last page.Gillian Flynn is best known for her best-selling novel, Gone Girl, which was subsequently made into a very successful movie with top-of-the-line stars including Rosamund Pike, Ben Affleck, and Neil Patrick Harris. Then two traumatic events take Ben over the edge.In a brilliantly interweaved plot, Gillian Flynn keeps the reader balanced on a knife-edge, constantly reassessing what might have happened.

But Ben does have a girlfriend - a brooding heavy metal fan called Diondra and through her, Ben gets involved with a group of shady characters who use drugs and experiment in the dark arts. His family is extremely poor, and his father Runner is violent, gambles and disappears for months on end. Brilliantly interwoven into Libby's story are the events of Jan 2nd 1985, the day of the murders. And what Libby doesn't know is that most of the members of the Kill Club think her brother Ben is innocent. But this is no ordinary club - the Kill Club is a group of true-crime obsessives who share information on notorious murders and swap gruesome memorabilia. When she is offered $500 to do a guest appearance at a club, she feels she has to accept. But now people have moved on, the money is running out and Libby is desperate. Ever since then she has been drifting, surviving for over twenty years on the proceeds of the 'Libby Day fund'. Libby Day was just seven years old when her Satan-worshipping older brother massacred her entire family while she hid in a cupboard.

Dark places gillian flynn book