Oh, man!

So I literally just finished reading Gillian Flynn's latest, Dark Places, and man was it amazing! Fair warning to you readers, it is super dark. Flynn is not afraid to expose the darkest thoughts of her characters and in a book where devil worshipping plays a big part in the plot, well... yeah, it's dark (as the title would imply)!

Dark Places begins almost 25 years after Libby Day's family was murdered. When Libby was seven, her brother was convicted of murdering her mother and two sisters. Libby was the only survivor and it was she who testified against her own brother. Libby has been living off of funds donated by concerned citizens after the crime. Unfortunately milking her situation isn't really possible at her age. Until she's contacted by a group called the Kill Club. The Club is obsessed with true crime and Libby's family has it's own fan group, most of whom are convinced that Libby's brother is innocent of the crime he is serving a life sentence for. Libby agrees to poke around in the case as long as the Club is willing to front her the cash. As she digs deeper into the mystery, however, even she begins to question her testimony. 

I love it. Maybe that's a little twisted, but this is a great spin on a classic cold case mystery. Libby is not the most likable lead in the beginning, but eventually her brutal honesty grew on me. She understands that she's not a good person, she understands that her motivations are quite selfish, and in spite of that, I found myself rooting for this character who had lost so much. 

I have been anticipating this novel ever since Flynn's spectacular debut, Sharp Objects, and I've got to say, she didn't let me down. Flynn delivered 100%. 

Again, this is a dark and twisted read. I would compare it to Laura Benedict's recent Calling Mister Lonely Hearts as far as murky twisty-ness is concerned, and of course, readers who liked Sharp Objects are going to love this new release just as much (in my opinion). 

Anyways, I'm caught in the black hole of youtube at the moment (watching My Chemical Romance videos and trying to wade through fan produced schtuff for the real thing -- I'm late coming to the game, what can I say?). I sincerely hope I am not the only (i.e. OLDEST) fan to recognize Lukas Haas in the "Welcome to the Black Parade" video -- hrm, reader that I am, the video reminds me a bit of a Stephen King story ("Little Sister of Eluria" specifically) and omg, Gerard Way totally makes me say things like OMG! Ok, done with my groupie stuff. They make a good soundtrack to Flynn's books, though.