Dark Places by Gillian Flynn : Bad Blood.

"It was miserable, wet-bone March and I was lying in bed thinking about killing myself, a hobby of mine. Indulgent afternoon daydreaming: A shotgun, my mouth, a bang and my head jerking once, twice, blood on the wall."

A slow and effective burn, Dark Places was the second novel I read from Flynn. It is not my favorite but that does not mean it's not good. It may not be as shocking as Gone Girl or as twisted as Sharp Objects, however, its structure and final act are worth of attention and praise.

PLOT
Libby Day recounts her everyday life, struggling to keep going. She is the survivor of an infamous massacre perpetrated by her brother, Ben Day, where her family was violently murdered. She barely escaped alive and the tragedy still haunts her, and she believes that this excuses her to become a parasite of society. We quickly realize that even though a victim in essence, she is no innocent woman and has been spoiled by pity and conmiseration. She wants people to take care of her, she lives of charity and is dependent on the event that finished with her family to get money.

She joins a club that is interested in her family's massacre and all the details she is willing to provide for money. However, this club opens her eyes to a possibility she had never considered: her brother was not guilty of it.

As this realization comes to terms, we come back to the day of the tragedy, Jan 2, 1985 hours before Patty (Libby's mother) and her daughters were violently killed. The day was not as average as one would think. Patty is a struggling mother of three constantly worrying over money and she lives with the unbearable shadow of economic ruin. The day of the murder, she discovers Ben might be accused of molesting a little girl. This discovery devastastes her as she is decided to discover the truth and defend her son.

Meanwhile, Ben is with Crystal, a rich girl who seems to be his girlfriend. Ben is a rebel. In the present, his actions are excused on the fact that he belonged to a satanic cult while we find out that actually it was his girlfriend and a friend of hers that were involved in this supposed band. Ben is insecure and constantly undermined given his economical position. Even Crystal constantly emasculates him out of fun. He is completely unaware of his accusations as a child molester as Patty fights this battle by herself.

The first act of the novel is difficult to go through as we are introduced to Libby and very few hints on what exactly happened the day of the massacre, but as the novel progresses, the action is more and more complex adding new layers to a slaughter that may not have been as incidental as expected.

STRUCTURE
Libby narrates her own point of view of the story in the present, more than 20 years after her family was slaughtered.

The second and third components of the story are narrated by a third person narrator that focuses on Patty and Ben's accounts of the events of the killing, hours before it took place, providing us plenty of red herrings and explanations on the final results.

THEMES
Poverty is the main theme of the novel. Patty is a hard-working mother, mortified by her debts and a family to feed.

The struggle to find acceptance is another important topic that is portrayed through Ben's insecurities and relationship with Crystal.

Family is an important subject that is addressed in the novel, on what we do to protect them to the point of sacrificing to bring bacon home and some peace of mind.

ABOUT THE ENDING:
It is finally revealed that Patty Day was the one in charge of the murder of one of her three daughters and herself. Ben is not responsible for either. It was his girlfriend, Crystal who killed one of his sisters to bury a secret she wished to keep to themselves. Libby survives, not by chance, as she always believed, but because her brother protected her with the few resources he had handy.

It is a bittersweet ending to a complex story about a family affected by poverty and misunderstandings that eventually became their undoing.

CHARACTER: 8/10
PLOT DEVELOPMENT: 7/10
THEMES: 8/10

GRADE: Good