Dark Places

Again, I am way behind and having difficulty remembering. This will hopefully diminish as we get chronologically closer to present day in my reviews.

That said, I do remember that I really enjoy Gillian Flynn. I find it's hard to get hands on books that are well written but don't shy away from difficult issues. You either get decently written books that glaze over unpleasantness, or trashy books that write the stuff for shock value. Obviously there are exceptions to this in really good literature, but in modern fiction it seems to be a rarity.

This book comes from the perspective of the only survivor of a farmhouse family massacre, other than her brother who is doing time for the killings. Her testimony as a child is what put her brother away for life, but as the book continues it becomes clear that her memories perhaps shouldn't be trusted.

I think what makes this book (and Flynn's last) stand out is that the protagonists are both fairly unlikable people. Underemployed, emotionally stunted and in the case of this book, extremely grumpy.

A bit disturbing, but I think that was warranted by the subject matter - 3.5 alcoholic deadbeat dads out of 5.