Full disclosure: I have not read “Gone Girl.” I realize I may be the only woman in America who has not read that book but these things happen. Knowing that everyone has read that book, I decided to play it coy and read a different Gillian Flynn book first.
Enter “Dark Places.”
The story of Libby Day, the only survivor of a massacre that cost her two sisters, a mother, and a brother – although he ends up in jail for the crime, “Dark Places” is exactly what I’d expect from a non-fictional person enduring the things Libby Day endures. From being shuttled from one family/friend to another as a child, to being the reluctant media darling, to being the forgotten adult… I haven’t been through what Flynn puts Libby through in this novel but I related to her.
Libby is snarky and sassy at the same time she’s depressed and reclusive. She’s human. It’s good, really good.
The supporting characters have believable personalities that are different from one another and complex on their own.
But Libby is the focus and the anchor of the book, she’s the reason you keep reading. She’s the reason I kept reading. There’s nothing pretty about Libby or her life but she’s who I would want to be if I had to live her life… which I hope I never do.
