Book: Dark Places by Gillian Flynn

If you haven't read Gone Girl then what have you been doing?! Dark Places was written three years earlier than Gone Girl and didn't have quite the same grip on me as Gone Girl did (I left Gone Girl at a friend's house in the middle of reading it and I could barely sleep!)

Dark Places follows the character of Libby Day who is trying to discover whether her brother actually committed the murders of the rest of her family that he was imprisoned for years earlier. The story line is gripping, but I wouldn't say that I couldn't put it down. It had a similar shock factor to it as Gone Girl, but on a smaller scale. I think if I had read this book before Gone Girl I would have enjoyed it more as I wouldn't have been comparing it so much!

The characters are interesting because none of them are particularly good people, but I really liked this because it just showed human nature. The main character was selfish, lazy and to some extent quite greedy (the only reason she began searching for the truth about the murders in the first place is because she was offered money to do so), but it didn't stop me from liking her because she seemed very real. There were also points where I felt empathy with her brother because he made juvenile mistakes like anyone would.

It was really well written, I marvel at how Gillian Flynn writes such complicated story lines from different character's perspectives, in different decades and still manages to weave it all together coherently so it is easy to follow for the reader.

I would definitely recommend this book, although try not to compare it to Gone Girl like I did or you might be disappointed! I didn't know until I did some research that it's been made into a film so that's on my to-see list!