In Dark Places, Gillian Flynn’s follow-up to her harrowing
Sharp Objects, she gives us another highly dysfunctional woman and family. And
in many ways an even stronger book than her first, but its way overlong and
pulls a bizarre twist ending that sort of defies believability.
The story fluctuates between present and the past. Libby Day
is a 31 year-old woman, who at the age of seven survived an attack on her house
that left her Mother Patty, sisters Debby and Michelle, dead. Her older brother,
Ben, a sullen, depressive teenager at the time, is convicted of their murders
and sent to prison for the rest of his life. In the present, Libby has reached a
point –now 24 years later- where interest in her family’s death has waned. She’s
become petulant, mean (which she admits in the opening paragraph) and has never
gotten over her sticky-finger problem (which is good, as that plays out in the
end). She is also nearly broke, having gone through the $300,000 that was
donated to her after the tragic murders. But happenstance (and only in novels,
TV and films does this happen) comes in the form of man called Lyle, who is a
huge fan of true crime stories and belongs to a group called the Kill Club,
basically an underground convention for folks who watch way too much real crime
shows and books, and who believe Ben is innocent of the crime. He offers her
money in hopes she’ll attend a gathering of folks whom believe in her brothers innocence
if she can provide information (and family mementos) to understand what led up
to the murders, including getting in contact with her father, Runner, who has
vanished.
The other part of the book is a detailed look into the day
of Libby’s family murders. Here we see Patty as a single mother of four, losing
her family farm to foreclosure, trying (and yet not) to feed her kids, keep the
peace between all of them (which she fails at miserably) and keep former
husband Runner Day away from them. But like a bad penny, he reappears at the
worst time, and Ben, in need of a father figure, finds his lost parent not that
helpful, which forces the 15 year-old into a world he is not prepared to deal
with.
Much like Sharp Objects, the premise of Dark Places is
hardly original –I would venture to say its premise comes from a much earlier
time in history, in particularly the nior books of the 1950s and 60s where authors
fictionalized real events (like Truman Captoe’s In Cold Blood). But Flynn is a
strong writer, with a great prose style and a desire, and appears not to care that she's not to made
anyone of her characters remotely likable. And Libby, much like Camille in Sharp
Objects, has a distant personality and Flynn seems to take pleasure in knowing
her readers will find it quite difficult to like this main protagonist.
It’s an emotionally draining novel as well. Nothing seems to
go right for anyone. While the Day family seems particularly cursed (to a point
I felt, at times, was a bit ridiculous), the folks caught in their wake all
have personal demons and destructive personalities. Also, I feel the darkness that Flynn want's to evoke goes on way too long and made me ponder just how much more shit she was going to pile onto all of her characters, but in particular brother Ben and mother Patty. I could've done with less.
While Flynn did set up early the possibility that Ben was
not the killer, the reveal was silly, and really out of nowhere (again, shades of Agatha Christie). And then there
is the issue with coincidence that really pissed me off (though again, only in
novels, TV and movies would this happen). Though, in some reflection, perhaps
the mystery aspect was not important. Perhaps it was just a cover for readers
who want to feel good about themselves that they don’t lead such a horrible
life.
I still want to read Gone Girl, but I think I’ll wait a
bit. Back to back nihilistic novels about broken people have made me feel a bit
depleted.
