**A Skeptical Reader's Experience with "Dark Places" by Gillian Flynn**

As I sat down to read Gillian Flynn's "Dark Places", I couldn't help but feel a sense of trepidation. The prologue had already left me on edge, and I was worried that the rest of the book would be too scary for my taste. I'm not exactly cut out for spooky things, and the thought of delving into the dark world of crime and trauma that Flynn masterfully weaves throughout her narrative was daunting.

As I began to read, I found myself drawn into the story of Libby Day, a woman who has been haunted by the brutal murder of her family when she was just a child. The writing style is undeniably Gillian Flynn-esque, with its complex sentences and nuanced characterizations. However, I did find that it took me a while to get into the rhythm of the book, partly due to the writing itself being slightly less accessible than some of Flynn's other works.

One aspect of "Dark Places" that I appreciate is its slow-burning tension, which builds throughout the narrative like a ticking time bomb. The author expertly weaves together multiple plot threads and timelines, keeping the reader guessing until the very end. While it's true that this type of storytelling can be disorienting at times, I found myself becoming increasingly invested in Libby's story as she navigated her troubled past.

I was particularly drawn to Flynn's portrayal of Libby herself – a complex, multifaceted character whose motivations and emotions are expertly conveyed through the narrative. Her voice is distinctive and engaging, making it easy to become immersed in her world. At times, I felt that I could almost see myself sitting next to her, listening to her thoughts and feelings as she struggled to come to terms with her family's fate.

**Listening to "Dark Places" Instead of Reading**

As I delved deeper into the book, I realized that I was having a harder time getting past the writing style than I initially thought. The sentences were often long and winding, which made it difficult for me to devour the story at a quick pace. In contrast, listening to the audiobook has been a revelation – I've found myself able to fully immerse myself in Libby's world, with Flynn's masterful narration bringing the characters and plot to life in a way that felt almost visceral.

**The Good Daughter: A Different Story**

I also had the chance to start Gillian Flynn's "The Good Daughter" concurrently with "Dark Places", which proved to be an interesting experience. While both books share some similarities, they also have distinct differences in terms of tone and style. "The Good Daughter" is more of a character study, focusing on Libby's complicated relationship with her daughter, Marianne, as well as her own past traumas.

At times, I felt that Flynn was relying too heavily on the tropes of domestic drama, which made it harder for me to become fully invested in the story. Additionally, the writing style was slightly more dense than what I'm used to, which took some getting used to. Despite these challenges, I did find myself drawn into Marianne's world, and Flynn's expertly crafted narrative kept me guessing until the very end.

**A Dilemma: Editing vs. Writing**

As I wrap up my thoughts on "Dark Places" for now, I'm faced with a dilemma: should I spend more time editing this vlog or get it out as soon as possible? The answer, of course, is that I need to edit – but at the same time, I don't want to rush through the process.

The truth is, I've been feeling a little meh about writing lately, and the prospect of spending hours pouring over my words can be overwhelming. However, I know that this vlog will only get better with time, and that's worth investing in. So, for now, I'll take a deep breath and get back to work.

**The Signing Event: A Fun Twist**

For those who may not have caught wind of it, I'm actually attending a signing event tomorrow featuring Leigh Bardugo! It should be an exciting experience, and I'm hoping to capture some fun footage of the event – who knows what might happen?

As for "Dark Places", I'm glad to report that I've made significant progress on my audiobook listening goals. With only three hours left to go before I reach the halfway point, I'm feeling hopeful about finishing this book and moving forward with my reading schedule.

**A Note from the Reader**

That's all for now – I hope you guys enjoyed this rambling take on "Dark Places". As always, thanks for tuning in, and I'll see you all at the signing event tomorrow!

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enhello welcome back to my channel I know this is sort of a different angle for me but you know what this week's gonna be interesting so as you can see we are daily vlogging for spewpa thon I kind of overestimated the amount of videos that I had planned for this month and I ended up with not as many as I thought so I said you know what instead of doing a weekly vlog for this I'm gonna do a daily vlog I actually think it could be fun because I don't read a whole lot so scary which I'm sure you guys know if you watched my channel I pretty much read romance look read some like young adult contemporary a little bit of young adult fantasy but like that's pretty much it you know I don't get too zesty with things but this week that's gonna change reading things that are spooky I'm gonna show you guys my TBR in a second but I thought that while I prepare my lunches for the week that I could talk to you guys about what I'm reading right now because I did start in on an audiobook while I was at work so basically what I'm reading right now is dark places by Gillian Flynn and she's like I'm gonna be real with you I'm already a thoroughly spooked I thought this was gonna be like a regular thriller but in my opinion it's reading kind of like horror so the book is basically about this girl whose whole family was slaughtered and she is a victim obviously as I'm like her entire family's dead and her brother is the one that apparently perpetrated the crime but she has reached out to by someone who has like a true-crime podcast not podcast but like you know those people that are that jobs obsessed with the true crime well she gets contacted by these people called a club and they're like we come speak and since she doesn't have a job she's the cash she's like yeah sure all all speak and um she figures out that these people that want her to talk are people who think that her brother did not commit the murders she definitely heard things she didn't necessarily witness the murders she was a different room when it happened but that's sort of the premise and it's spooky and you get to hear I heard something outside my door I'm already scared I'm too scared finish it basically she has heard the murders she like heard her brothers voice and she heard gunshots and like axe noises and things like that but she didn't actually witness it so I'm thinking that maybe there might be a murderer still on the loose I don't know much more than that the audiobook is pretty good I'm enjoying it so far I was kind of unsure if I was going to like it because I've attempted this audiobook before and I just like wasn't having it the first time that I listened to it but I'm liking it it's pretty good pepper likes to climb up onto the counters while I'm cooking hmm no he says no if I'm in completely real with you I didn't cook any of this food Hayden is super super sweet and he makes really good food and I asked him if he would meal prep my lunches for the week we're just gonna be super helpful because I can't cook and also who I've got this daily vlogging thing going on obviously so yeah I won't say though on the agenda for this week I don't necessarily just have a spooky but I mean okay they're all spooky but like I don't have just thrillers I also have some like why a fantasy I have strange grace by Tesla gratin on my list of books that I would like to potentially read I also have not even bones by Rebecca Schaeffer which is supposed to be like Dexter meets something fantastical so that's most exciting and since Hayden is not going to be here he has band practice tonight it's gonna be fun time like we are just gonna read all the book and I'm thinking what I'm gonna do is listen to a little bit of dark places as I like play some games cuz that's something I'd like to do to unwind but also I'm gonna start in on physical book I have a ton to read I have I think a Riley Sager I have some Karin slaughter I would have both pretty girls and the good daughters so I'm hope to get to both of those this week I don't know that's gonna happen so I said I would tell you about my TBR later but like I'm telling you my TBR now I'm also very ready to go as you can tell I'm just like very hyped but I'm excited I'm excited about this week I hope you guys are too I'm gonna go ahead and continue to let I bring my food out into containers and then I will meet up with you guys afterwards okay so I am 34 percent done with dark places by Gillian Flynn I ended up playing some games while I listened and I also hung up some curtains we live in an apartment which I'm sure you guys know but I hate vertical blinds I think most people can agree that they're awful so I ended up doing this thing where I like replace them with but still kept them on the vertical blind track I like found a hack online and I'm pretty proud of it I think it looks like pretty good and so while I was doing that kind of like mindless task I listened to more of audiobook I don't know what I can say without spoiling it but I will say that the person that I automatically thought was the murderer I'm pretty sure is not it so that's difficult I didn't think it was the brother and I'm pretty sure we're gonna find out it wasn't the brother but I'm a little worried because I don't know who else could have killed this entire family a little scary I'm a little spooked I don't think I did a very good job describing earlier but I think that this feels a little bit more horror ask because it's so gruesome and the details and it's just it just feels gruesome it feels gross um so I'm gonna put a kibosh on that for tonight mostly because I want to get started on a physical book so let's go figure out what we're gonna read I think my physical TBR is in here they do have like I said some more audiobooks and some more physical books yeah so I have four books in front of me that I could read I have the good daughter which I mentioned I have strange grace which I also mentioned and then I also have not even Bones also have dark matter by Blake Crouch I got this one like mega sale at burns Noble for like seven dollars and I definitely want to read this one for the prompt to read a book that would normally read I think that's one of the problems something like that cuz I don't really read things that are like is I don't really read sci-fi and I definitely don't read adult science fiction so I thought this might be interesting but I think tonight I'm kind of leaning towards the good daughter I read a couple of pages of this when I was at work and it was intriguing enough for me to want to pick it up so I think that's what I'm going to start in on tonight I don't know how far I'm gonna get in it because I need to like edit this vlog and get it up but I think I'm gonna do some like time-lapse magic you can get some good cat content from that and kind of update you guys as I read I literally don't know what this is about at all I just know it's a thriller and I know that everybody kind of pipes up Karin slaughter here on the internet so that's fun oh I also didn't tell you guys that this week should be more exciting than most weeks in my life because I'm going to the Leigh bardugo signing tomorrow for ninth house and I might try to fit that into my TBR for the week I don't know I mean let's be realistic I'm not going to get through the books that I just mentioned to you guys probably not going to get through some ebooks that I have or the audiobooks that I have I'm just gonna read kind of like whatever I want in the moment whatever I feel like but I do feel like my reading speed has been quite quick lately so I'm gonna get started on this I'll let you guys know how I feel about it that was the most disturbing prologue I've ever read in my life I'm shocked because I'm pretty sure this is the book that is for less scary between good daughter and pretty girls this is disturbing as Wow Wow and I've read some thrillers in my day I mean not like gruesome ones really but I've read stuff a couple of things I okay so basically how do I describe this this girl's father is an attorney who defends people who are not necessarily good people and their house has burned to the ground and the entire family I said the entire family there's only four of them are staying in a rental property it's like a spooky old farmhouse and one night the father is at home but the girl her sister and her mother it's told from one girl's point of view are home alone and there's a home invasion the mother is shot in the head and it obviously wasn't premeditated but the two girls after the mother is murdered are taken into the woods and shot at least the girl whose point of view we get is shot Wow there's no sexual assault which I guess is good but pretty much every other trailer trigger warning like possible I mean just so gruesome so bloody claustrophobia everything you could possibly think it's just like dig out of her own grave I don't think that's much of a spoiler because it happens in the prologue and it might be it might I think also be in the synopsis of the book I have not read the synopsis in the book but I'm just like what is this book what is this going to be I don't know and I'm scared I'm not cut out for spooky things that's a fact I'm really glad I just found these curtains because now I want to close them and like never leave my house again so that's bucha thoughts doing its job for sure I think honestly if I'm being real with you I kind of want to go back to the Gillian Flynn because it's a little less scary I'm also having a little bit of a hard time getting into this it's definitely good and well-written but it seems like the writing is a little less accessible than Gillian Flynn's it was taking me a while to read over the sentences if that makes sense like it's not difficult reading but it's not as seamless and easy for me so I think I'm just going to to listen to dark places I was hoping that I could listen to the bulk of that tomorrow since I'm going to that signing it would be really good to be able to like listen to that on the way there and all I'm waiting inside of the church cuz the signings gonna be held in the church but maybe I'll just find a different audio book to listen to tomorrow because I like really would like to listen to this one I only have three hours left which like it's technically nine hours which is a lot of the audiobook but I think that's what I'm gonna do because I would like to not have nightmares tonight okay so I am officially 50% into dark places by Gillian Flynn and damn a cliffhanger I am liking this a lot I think I'm going to like this more than I don't to say that for sure since I'm not that far the good daughter yet but this is definitely more my sort of story it's very true detective in that they're solving a crime that happened a while ago and while the crime was pretty gruesome I'm liking that it's more about I don't wanna say the human emotion because like that's kind of what these stories are about but it's more about I don't know I'm enjoying hearing the main character discuss her life now and how she was treated after her whole family was slaughtered airing her opinions on her brother hearing why she basically steals things from people now why she doesn't have a job that's interesting to me I like her as a narrator she's very unlikable but very interesting to listen to I'm definitely just very curious who did it because the more twists we find out the more I have a no clue who the killer is I'm getting that I say that it's like I'm getting hints and now the halfway point I'm like hmm but I'm sure there's gonna be more twists and I'm gonna be completely thrown off again so I'm really liking this it's definitely more the kind of thriller that I like I haven't read that many thriller so I think that's part of why this is fun is that I haven't read a ton and I get to kind of experience thrillers figure out what I like what I don't like so I'm enjoying this one the good daughter I don't know how to feel about I think it's going to be even more of an in-depth character study and while in some aspects and some regards that's intriguing I don't know if it's going to be my sort of story I just the way that it's told it's hard to get into I really would like an audiobook of this but I don't think my library has one available and I don't think this is on hoopla should I try to get Scribd for this week I'm not gonna do that I'm not gonna do that but I'm also just not in the mood to read physically which i think is part of it but I'm pretty happy with my progress I'm halfway done with one book I'll probably finish it on my commute tomorrow and then I'll get farther into the good daughter hopefully tomorrow's gonna be funky like I said cuz there's Leigh bardugo signing but hopefully I'll get some leg footage to that tomorrow and it'll be the time I hope you guys are excited to design them for spook Lathon anything could happen the more I think about it the more I'm thinking I might include like a dark smutty romance as well I don't know what category or what challenge that will fulfill but it could be fun it could be a good time so we'll see but I think that's it for tonight I need to edit this vlog I need to get it out I will see you guys tomorrow love you so much and until next timehello welcome back to my channel I know this is sort of a different angle for me but you know what this week's gonna be interesting so as you can see we are daily vlogging for spewpa thon I kind of overestimated the amount of videos that I had planned for this month and I ended up with not as many as I thought so I said you know what instead of doing a weekly vlog for this I'm gonna do a daily vlog I actually think it could be fun because I don't read a whole lot so scary which I'm sure you guys know if you watched my channel I pretty much read romance look read some like young adult contemporary a little bit of young adult fantasy but like that's pretty much it you know I don't get too zesty with things but this week that's gonna change reading things that are spooky I'm gonna show you guys my TBR in a second but I thought that while I prepare my lunches for the week that I could talk to you guys about what I'm reading right now because I did start in on an audiobook while I was at work so basically what I'm reading right now is dark places by Gillian Flynn and she's like I'm gonna be real with you I'm already a thoroughly spooked I thought this was gonna be like a regular thriller but in my opinion it's reading kind of like horror so the book is basically about this girl whose whole family was slaughtered and she is a victim obviously as I'm like her entire family's dead and her brother is the one that apparently perpetrated the crime but she has reached out to by someone who has like a true-crime podcast not podcast but like you know those people that are that jobs obsessed with the true crime well she gets contacted by these people called a club and they're like we come speak and since she doesn't have a job she's the cash she's like yeah sure all all speak and um she figures out that these people that want her to talk are people who think that her brother did not commit the murders she definitely heard things she didn't necessarily witness the murders she was a different room when it happened but that's sort of the premise and it's spooky and you get to hear I heard something outside my door I'm already scared I'm too scared finish it basically she has heard the murders she like heard her brothers voice and she heard gunshots and like axe noises and things like that but she didn't actually witness it so I'm thinking that maybe there might be a murderer still on the loose I don't know much more than that the audiobook is pretty good I'm enjoying it so far I was kind of unsure if I was going to like it because I've attempted this audiobook before and I just like wasn't having it the first time that I listened to it but I'm liking it it's pretty good pepper likes to climb up onto the counters while I'm cooking hmm no he says no if I'm in completely real with you I didn't cook any of this food Hayden is super super sweet and he makes really good food and I asked him if he would meal prep my lunches for the week we're just gonna be super helpful because I can't cook and also who I've got this daily vlogging thing going on obviously so yeah I won't say though on the agenda for this week I don't necessarily just have a spooky but I mean okay they're all spooky but like I don't have just thrillers I also have some like why a fantasy I have strange grace by Tesla gratin on my list of books that I would like to potentially read I also have not even bones by Rebecca Schaeffer which is supposed to be like Dexter meets something fantastical so that's most exciting and since Hayden is not going to be here he has band practice tonight it's gonna be fun time like we are just gonna read all the book and I'm thinking what I'm gonna do is listen to a little bit of dark places as I like play some games cuz that's something I'd like to do to unwind but also I'm gonna start in on physical book I have a ton to read I have I think a Riley Sager I have some Karin slaughter I would have both pretty girls and the good daughters so I'm hope to get to both of those this week I don't know that's gonna happen so I said I would tell you about my TBR later but like I'm telling you my TBR now I'm also very ready to go as you can tell I'm just like very hyped but I'm excited I'm excited about this week I hope you guys are too I'm gonna go ahead and continue to let I bring my food out into containers and then I will meet up with you guys afterwards okay so I am 34 percent done with dark places by Gillian Flynn I ended up playing some games while I listened and I also hung up some curtains we live in an apartment which I'm sure you guys know but I hate vertical blinds I think most people can agree that they're awful so I ended up doing this thing where I like replace them with but still kept them on the vertical blind track I like found a hack online and I'm pretty proud of it I think it looks like pretty good and so while I was doing that kind of like mindless task I listened to more of audiobook I don't know what I can say without spoiling it but I will say that the person that I automatically thought was the murderer I'm pretty sure is not it so that's difficult I didn't think it was the brother and I'm pretty sure we're gonna find out it wasn't the brother but I'm a little worried because I don't know who else could have killed this entire family a little scary I'm a little spooked I don't think I did a very good job describing earlier but I think that this feels a little bit more horror ask because it's so gruesome and the details and it's just it just feels gruesome it feels gross um so I'm gonna put a kibosh on that for tonight mostly because I want to get started on a physical book so let's go figure out what we're gonna read I think my physical TBR is in here they do have like I said some more audiobooks and some more physical books yeah so I have four books in front of me that I could read I have the good daughter which I mentioned I have strange grace which I also mentioned and then I also have not even Bones also have dark matter by Blake Crouch I got this one like mega sale at burns Noble for like seven dollars and I definitely want to read this one for the prompt to read a book that would normally read I think that's one of the problems something like that cuz I don't really read things that are like is I don't really read sci-fi and I definitely don't read adult science fiction so I thought this might be interesting but I think tonight I'm kind of leaning towards the good daughter I read a couple of pages of this when I was at work and it was intriguing enough for me to want to pick it up so I think that's what I'm going to start in on tonight I don't know how far I'm gonna get in it because I need to like edit this vlog and get it up but I think I'm gonna do some like time-lapse magic you can get some good cat content from that and kind of update you guys as I read I literally don't know what this is about at all I just know it's a thriller and I know that everybody kind of pipes up Karin slaughter here on the internet so that's fun oh I also didn't tell you guys that this week should be more exciting than most weeks in my life because I'm going to the Leigh bardugo signing tomorrow for ninth house and I might try to fit that into my TBR for the week I don't know I mean let's be realistic I'm not going to get through the books that I just mentioned to you guys probably not going to get through some ebooks that I have or the audiobooks that I have I'm just gonna read kind of like whatever I want in the moment whatever I feel like but I do feel like my reading speed has been quite quick lately so I'm gonna get started on this I'll let you guys know how I feel about it that was the most disturbing prologue I've ever read in my life I'm shocked because I'm pretty sure this is the book that is for less scary between good daughter and pretty girls this is disturbing as Wow Wow and I've read some thrillers in my day I mean not like gruesome ones really but I've read stuff a couple of things I okay so basically how do I describe this this girl's father is an attorney who defends people who are not necessarily good people and their house has burned to the ground and the entire family I said the entire family there's only four of them are staying in a rental property it's like a spooky old farmhouse and one night the father is at home but the girl her sister and her mother it's told from one girl's point of view are home alone and there's a home invasion the mother is shot in the head and it obviously wasn't premeditated but the two girls after the mother is murdered are taken into the woods and shot at least the girl whose point of view we get is shot Wow there's no sexual assault which I guess is good but pretty much every other trailer trigger warning like possible I mean just so gruesome so bloody claustrophobia everything you could possibly think it's just like dig out of her own grave I don't think that's much of a spoiler because it happens in the prologue and it might be it might I think also be in the synopsis of the book I have not read the synopsis in the book but I'm just like what is this book what is this going to be I don't know and I'm scared I'm not cut out for spooky things that's a fact I'm really glad I just found these curtains because now I want to close them and like never leave my house again so that's bucha thoughts doing its job for sure I think honestly if I'm being real with you I kind of want to go back to the Gillian Flynn because it's a little less scary I'm also having a little bit of a hard time getting into this it's definitely good and well-written but it seems like the writing is a little less accessible than Gillian Flynn's it was taking me a while to read over the sentences if that makes sense like it's not difficult reading but it's not as seamless and easy for me so I think I'm just going to to listen to dark places I was hoping that I could listen to the bulk of that tomorrow since I'm going to that signing it would be really good to be able to like listen to that on the way there and all I'm waiting inside of the church cuz the signings gonna be held in the church but maybe I'll just find a different audio book to listen to tomorrow because I like really would like to listen to this one I only have three hours left which like it's technically nine hours which is a lot of the audiobook but I think that's what I'm gonna do because I would like to not have nightmares tonight okay so I am officially 50% into dark places by Gillian Flynn and damn a cliffhanger I am liking this a lot I think I'm going to like this more than I don't to say that for sure since I'm not that far the good daughter yet but this is definitely more my sort of story it's very true detective in that they're solving a crime that happened a while ago and while the crime was pretty gruesome I'm liking that it's more about I don't wanna say the human emotion because like that's kind of what these stories are about but it's more about I don't know I'm enjoying hearing the main character discuss her life now and how she was treated after her whole family was slaughtered airing her opinions on her brother hearing why she basically steals things from people now why she doesn't have a job that's interesting to me I like her as a narrator she's very unlikable but very interesting to listen to I'm definitely just very curious who did it because the more twists we find out the more I have a no clue who the killer is I'm getting that I say that it's like I'm getting hints and now the halfway point I'm like hmm but I'm sure there's gonna be more twists and I'm gonna be completely thrown off again so I'm really liking this it's definitely more the kind of thriller that I like I haven't read that many thriller so I think that's part of why this is fun is that I haven't read a ton and I get to kind of experience thrillers figure out what I like what I don't like so I'm enjoying this one the good daughter I don't know how to feel about I think it's going to be even more of an in-depth character study and while in some aspects and some regards that's intriguing I don't know if it's going to be my sort of story I just the way that it's told it's hard to get into I really would like an audiobook of this but I don't think my library has one available and I don't think this is on hoopla should I try to get Scribd for this week I'm not gonna do that I'm not gonna do that but I'm also just not in the mood to read physically which i think is part of it but I'm pretty happy with my progress I'm halfway done with one book I'll probably finish it on my commute tomorrow and then I'll get farther into the good daughter hopefully tomorrow's gonna be funky like I said cuz there's Leigh bardugo signing but hopefully I'll get some leg footage to that tomorrow and it'll be the time I hope you guys are excited to design them for spook Lathon anything could happen the more I think about it the more I'm thinking I might include like a dark smutty romance as well I don't know what category or what challenge that will fulfill but it could be fun it could be a good time so we'll see but I think that's it for tonight I need to edit this vlog I need to get it out I will see you guys tomorrow love you so much and until next time\n"