Dark Places by Gillian Flynn

Title: Dark Places

Author: Gillian Flynn

Publisher: Broadway Books 2009

Genre: Thriller

Pages: 349

Rating:  4/5 stars

Reading Challenges: Ebook; 52 Books - W39

Libby Day was seven when her mother and two sisters were murdered in “The Satan Sacrifice of Kinnakee, Kansas.” She survived—and famously testified that her fifteen-year-old brother, Ben, was the killer. Twenty-five years later, the Kill Club—a secret society obsessed with notorious crimes—locates Libby and pumps her for details. They hope to discover proof that may free Ben. Libby hopes to turn a profit off her tragic history: She’ll reconnect with the players from that night and report her findings to the club—for a fee. As Libby’s search takes her from shabby Missouri strip clubs to abandoned Oklahoma tourist towns, the unimaginable truth emerges, and Libby finds herself right back where she started—on the run from a killer.

The last of Gillian Flynn's books and this one made me feel just like the others: icky!  Al three of Flynn's book made me feel sick while reading them. In that respect, her psychological thrillers work. And I hated most of the characters. They were well-written characters, you just don't like any of them. Libby was probably the least hated character of all her books, but I still wanted to smack her around many times throughout the book. This sounds like a very negative review, but it's not. If you're looking for a psychological thriller, Dark Places is the perfect choice.

Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn

Title: Sharp Objects

Author: Gillian Flynn

Publisher: Broadway Books 2006

Genre: Psychological Thriller

Pages: 272

Rating: 2/5 stars

Reading Challenges: Women Authors; Ebook;

Fresh from a brief stay at a psych hospital, reporter Camille Preaker faces a troubling assignment: she must return to her tiny hometown to cover the murders of two preteen girls. For years, Camille has hardly spoken to her neurotic, hypochondriac mother or to the half-sister she barely knows: a beautiful thirteen-year-old with an eerie grip on the town. Now, installed in her old bedroom in her family's Victorian mansion, Camille finds herself identifying with the young victims—a bit too strongly. Dogged by her own demons, she must unravel the psychological puzzle of her own past if she wants to get the story—and survive this homecoming.

Sharp Objects was this month's book club selection.  I found Flynn's other book Gone Girl to be very interesting.  I had heard from many bloggers that this one was also good.  So, we gave it a try.  And I have to say that I was a bit disappointed.  I won't give away the twists and turns, but I will say that I saw most of them coming.  The story was a bit contrived and predictable.  As to the characters, I hated every single one of them. They all seemed fake or caricatures of real people.  At a certain point, I would have loved for everyone to just say what they were thinking.  Instead, characters dance around each other in a very frustrating way.  Even the horrors didn't seem real because of how characters reacted to them.  I just was not impressed at all.  It seems that I am all but done with Flynn's work.  I think I'll move on to something else...

Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn

Title: Gone Girl

Author: Gillian Flynn

Publisher: Crown Publishers 2012

Genre: Thriller

Pages: 419

Rating:  5/5 stars

Reading Challenges: T4MC - F Author; Sub-genre - Horror, Psychological; Women Authors; TBR Pile; Blogger Recommendation

How I Got It: Borrowed from a friend (for informal book club selection)

On a warm summer morning in North Carthage, Missouri, it is Nick and Amy Dunne’s fifth wedding anniversary. Presents are being wrapped and reservations are being made when Nick’s clever and beautiful wife disappears from their rented McMansion on the Mississippi River. Husband-of-the-Year Nick isn’t doing himself any favors with cringe-worthy daydreams about the slope and shape of his wife’s head, but passages from Amy's diary reveal the alpha-girl perfectionist could have put anyone dangerously on edge. Under mounting pressure from the police and the media—as well as Amy’s fiercely doting parents—the town golden boy parades an endless series of lies, deceits, and inappropriate behavior. Nick is oddly evasive, and he’s definitely bitter—but is he really a killer?

There are no supernatural elements to this story, but I feel like it should be reclassified as a horror.  There is something truly wrong with the characters inhabiting the book.  But I must admit that it made for an engaging read.  I love how the reader gets one story for the first half of the book and then everything gets turned upside down for the second half.  It kept me guessing as to the outcome.  The characters are engaging and likable (at least for awhile).  They seem real, until they aren't.  Flynn's style is flawless.  The contrasting chapters from Nick and from Amy each have their own voice.  It really feels as if those two characters are sharing their story with us.  I loved the seamless transitions.  The other book club members have read this and really want to discuss it, but I hadn't read it yet.  So this is our informal book club selection for February.  I can't wait to see what they each thought of it. Great read!

Awesome playlist from Book Riot!