LoveReading Says
Shortlisted for the CWA Ian Fleming Steel Dagger 2009.
Since last years Sharp Objects came out we have been eagerly awaiting the new book from Gillian Flynn and we have not been disappointed. This is a thriller with a very dark edge, sinister and gripping. Was Libby’s brother, Ben, really responsible for the murder of their parents and will the truth be more painful to bear? A compelling read.
CWA Judges’ comments: 'Exceptionally good, mystery thriller that surprises to the end. The central character is beautifully drawn and the structure of the book - the two time scales working towards a single crescendo - is skilfully handled.'
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Dark Places Synopsis
Libby Day was just seven years old when her older brother massacred her 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 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. It is 2 January 1985 - the day of the murders. Ben is a social misfit, ground down by the small-town farming community in which he lives. His family is extremely poor, and his father Runner is violent, gambles and disappears for months on end. But Ben does have a girlfriend - a brooding heavy metal fan called Diondra. Through her, Ben becomes involved with drugs and the dark arts. When the town suddenly turns against him, his thoughts turn black. But is he capable of murder?In a brilliantly interwoven plot, Gillian Flynn keeps the reader balanced on a knife-edge, as Libby delves into her family's past and Ben spirals towards destruction.
About This Edition
| ISBN: |
9780753827031 |
| Publication date: |
10th June 2010 |
| Author: |
Gillian Flynn |
| Publisher: |
Phoenix (an Imprint of The Orion Publishing Group) |
| Format: |
Paperback |
| Pagination: |
424 pages |
| Primary Genre |
Thriller and Suspense
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| Other Genres: |
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| Recommendations: |
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About Gillian Flynn
Gillian Flynn was born in Kansas City, Missouri to two community-college professors—her mother taught reading; her father, film. For college, she headed to the University of Kansas (go Jayhawks), where she received her undergraduate degrees in English and journalism.
After a two-year stint writing about human resources for a trade magazine in California (ask her anything about work-life benefits or employment law), Flynn moved to Chicago. There she earned her master’s degree in journalism from Northwestern University and discovered that she was way too wimpy to make it as a crime reporter.
On the other hand, she was a movie geek with a journalism degree—so she moved to New York City and joined Entertainment Weekly magazine, where she wrote happily for 10 years, visiting film sets around the world (to New Zealand for The Lord of the Rings, to Prague for The Brothers Grimm, to somewhere off the highway in Florida for Jackass: The Movie). During her last four years at EW, Flynn was the TV critic (all-time best TV show: The Wire).
Flynn’s debut novel, the literary mystery Sharp Objects, was an Edgar Award finalist and the winner of two of Britain’s Dagger Awards—the first book ever to win multiple Daggers in one year. It has been published in more than 20 countries. Movie rights have been sold; Flynn is currently writing the screenplay adaptation.
Flynn lives in Chicago with her husband, Brett Nolan, and a giant black cat named Roy.
More About Gillian Flynn
