Dark Places by Gillian Flynn

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The Days were a clan that mighta lived long

But Ben Day's head got screwed on wrong

That boy craved dark Satan's power

So he killed his family in one nasty hour

Little Michelle he strangled in the night

Then chopped up Debby:  a bloody sight

Mother Patty he saved for last

Blew off her head with a shotgun blast 

Baby Libby somehow survived

But to live through that ain't much a life 

(Schoolyard Rhyme, circa 1985)

Red-headed and blue-eyed Libby Day was just seven years old in 1985 when her older brother massacred her entire family while she hid in a cupboard.  Her evidence helped put him away.  Ever since then she has been drifting, surviving for over twenty years on the proceeds of the 'Libby Day fund'.  But now, at thirty one years of age, the money is running out and Libby is desperate.  

When she is offered $500 to do a guest appearance, she feels she has to accept.  But this is no ordinary gathering.  The Kill Club is a group of true-crime obsessives who share information on notorious murders, and they think her brother Ben is innocent.

In a brilliantly interwoven plot set in Kansas City, Missouri, Gillian Flynn keeps the reader balanced on knife-edge, alternating among Libby, as she delves into her family's past, mother Patty, and Ben, a social misfit and Devil worshiper, as he plummets towards destruction.

Is Ben really capable of murder?  That is the question.

About the author:  Gillian Flynn's first novel, Sharp Objects (2006), was the winner of two CWA Dagger Awards and was shortlisted for the CWA Gold Dagger Award, and an Edgar.  Her second, Dark Places (2009), was published to great critical acclaim.  A former writer and critic for Entertainment Weekly, her novels have been published in twenty-eight countries.  She lives in Chicago with her husband and son.  Go to her website for more information and updates.

Gillian Flynn talks about Dark Places:

Rating:  5/5