Dark Places, Gillian Flynn
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Dark Places

Bestseller

Author: Gillian Flynn

Unabridged: 13 hr 44 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 05/05/2009


Synopsis

I have a meanness inside me, real as an organ.


Libby Day was seven when her mother and two sisters were murdered in “The Satan Sacrifice of Kinnakee, Kansas.” As her family lay dying, little Libby fled their tiny farmhouse into the freezing January snow. She lost some fingers and toes, but she survived–and famously testified that her fifteen-year-old brother, Ben, was the killer. Twenty-five years later, Ben sits in prison, and troubled Libby lives off the dregs of a trust created by well-wishers who’ve long forgotten her.

The Kill Club is a macabre secret society obsessed with notorious crimes. When they locate Libby and pump her for details–proof they hope may free Ben–Libby hatches a plan to profit off her tragic history. For a fee, she’ll reconnect with the players from that night and report her findings to the club . . . and maybe she’ll admit her testimony wasn’t so solid after all.

As Libby’s search takes her from shabby Missouri strip clubs to abandoned Oklahoma tourist towns, the narrative flashes back to January 2, 1985. The events of that day are relayed through the eyes of Libby’s doomed family members–including Ben, a loner whose rage over his shiftless father and their failing farm have driven him into a disturbing friendship with the new girl in town. Piece by piece, the unimaginable truth emerges, and Libby finds herself right back where she started–on the run from a killer.

Author Bio

Missouri born author, Gillian Schiller Flynn, was raised in Kansas City by parents who were both professors at a local community college. She is said to have been painfully shy as a child, and found an escape mechanism in reading and writing.

After earning her degrees at the University of Kansas and Northwestern University, Flynn did freelance writing for U.S. News and World Report, then was hired by Entertainment Weekly. She was laid off from that position in 2008, but has nevertheless been quoted as saying that she could not have written a novel had it not been for being a journalist first. It taught her that, when writing, you cannot wait for something spiritual to move you......you just have to start writing and get it done

A recurring frustration for Author Flynn has been the notion held by many readers and critics alike, that women in general must always be good, nurturing people. She said readers sometimes still have trouble with a female character just being "pragmatically evil, bad, and selfish". While she was working for Entertainment Weekly, she was also writing novels during her own free time. Among her three novels are Sharp Objects, Dark Places, and Gone Girl. Each of the three have had their own great success, but most popular has been Gone Girl, which was adapted to film by Flynn after the rights were sold to Twentieth Century Fox for $1.5 million, and was released in October of 2014 to critical acclaim. The awards list seems never-ending for all three novels.

Reviews

AudiobooksNow review by Amy on 2016-07-31 11:34:16

I havent been able to put this down since I started it. Sad to see there are only 2 other books on here by this author. Definitely recommend reading this one!