Dark Places

Dark Places Plot Summary

Here I am, back in the saddle, the urge seems to come in waves.   I have started and discarded several books the past months but none have been worth finishing much less writing about.   I think I was hoping that if I gave it some time I might choose better books.  This is the first book I have liked enough to finish (out of at least 4) all the way through.

    So the title is not lying this is a pretty dark book.  Do not get this looking for a healing story with a happy ending, or if you yourself are in a dark place, this will just make it worse.  Dark Places is a fictional, dramatic, mystery that I twistedly enjoyed.  I have noticed that I like the fictional crime style much more than the dry facts presented in the true crime books (which is one type of book that was discarded).  The author's writing style was frustrating, but very effective at the same time.  Each chapter was written from one of the main character's perspectives at different places in time.  It was frustrating in that you would be invested in a character's part of the story and want to know what happened next, but then the chapter would end and wouldn't pick back up for 3 more chapters! AARRGG!!  This of course leads to the inability to put the book down and promising yourself just one more chapter until the wee hours of the morning.

  The chapters all lead up to one time/event that changed main characters whole life.  The murder of a girls entire family, the conviction of her brother for the crime, the question as to whether he actually committed the crime, and her twisted issues in life are the core of this book.  I actually felt bad for the pathetic main character.  Could you imagine being depressed for 25 years?  Not able to function in society/to get a job/have drive to do anything?  The mystery is what really happened to the family that night.  There is a club of nerds that follow gruesome unsolved/controversial crimes and try to solve the cases where the police failed.  The main character is so desperate for money that she takes money from this club in exchange for investigating her own family's murder.  The main character helping out with the club's investigation forced her to deal with what really happened in her early childhood.  It took the main character 26 years to over come her selfishness and trauma and realize what really happened the night her family died.  Talk about avoidance.  While frustrating I did enjoy having the yo-yo chapters it encouraged the urge to figure out what really happened and who dun it before the book ended.  I did have it mostly figured out before the end, but not exactly in the right way.  Not overly predictable thank hay-zeus who wants that?  I'd say read it if you've got some time and anti-depressants    

Good Dark Mystery

Rating~~2