{"id":112,"date":"2017-07-31T23:43:00","date_gmt":"2017-07-31T23:43:00","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"2018-01-03T00:26:16","modified_gmt":"2018-01-03T00:26:16","slug":"dark-places-by-gillian-flynn-usa-2009","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/diane.eklund.abolins.net\/blog\/dark-places-by-gillian-flynn-usa-2009\/","title":{"rendered":"Dark Places by Gillian Flynn, USA, 2009"},"content":{"rendered":"

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<\/a> The very first chapter makes it obvious that this is going to be a confronting book. It is the twenty-first century, and we learn that three people were brutally murdered twenty-five years previously in a small farmhouse in Kansas in the 1980s and that the fifteen-year-old son, Ben, was charged with their murders. The only other survivor of the massacre, Libby, becomes the main narrator.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Libby\u2019s narration is a combination of her thoughts and, bit by bit, her attempts to find out what actually happened that night when she was only seven. She has always believed that Ben was guilty, but there are people who believe he is innocent and would do anything at all to have him released from prison.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
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Is Ben innocent or <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span>is he guilty?<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
\u00a0<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\u00a0Photo of Gillian Flynn from <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/i>The Telegraph<\/span><\/a> <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/i><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
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The story that unravels in chapters alternating between 1985 and the present day is full of leads all seemingly pointing in different directions. Possible scenarios are built up and then destroyed as more information becomes available; at all times the depressing gloom emanating from the small impoverished town and more particularly from the family itself drips from the pages. This is definitely not a happy book.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
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It is, however, particularly well written, and the way<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span>Flynn divides the story between the past and the present is cleverly managed. At no time is there any confusion between the two time periods.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
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In the end, the reader is most probably left with a sense of despair regarding present-day society. It is definitely a book that makes you think about many different issues (not just murder), and a story that will remain with you even after you have turned the last page and closed the book.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
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  The very first chapter makes it obvious that this is going to be a confronting book. It is the twenty-first century, and we learn that three people were brutally murdered twenty-five years previously in a small farmhouse in Kansas in the 1980s and that the fifteen-year-old son, Ben, was charged with their murders. The … <\/p>\n

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