Reviews

The Novels of Gillian Flynn by Gillian Flynn

ingo_lembcke's review against another edition

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4.0

Started July 23rd 2014 with Dark Places as Sharp Objects might be the BOTM August 2014 read of the Goodreads-Group Psychological Thrillers.
Hopefully I will have finished Dark Places until then.
Well, Sharp Objects did not become the BOTM read.
But I finished Dark Places July 30th, 2014. Nearly tl;dr. The different POVs where expertly concluded, with me guessing the whole time what might have happened at the night of the massacre - and guessing wrong (mostly). The twists up to the conclusion where pure genius.
Solid 4 stars, highly recommended.
But why only 4 stars? It could and should have been shorter, for me about 20 %. The descriptions of places, animals and plants where sometimes ok, but sometimes too long and too many for me to be satisfying or needed. The suspense was decreased for me and I sometimes had to push myself to not abandon the book or take a break by reading a different book in between.

As this is combined with the other books I will hold off with rating till I have read the first book ( Sharp Objects ) which is much shorter, luckily.
But it might be a while until I read it.
#-> Link reminder edt. out https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/1732682-review-link-up BOTM of Dark Places < -

theduchess93's review against another edition

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3.0

I only read Sharp Objects in this -- I didn't realize it also had Dark Places in it until I had to return it, so this review is just for the former. It was definitely attention-grabbing, but more in a sensationalist way than because of anything substantive or truly interesting. I had also read repeatedly that Flynn's work is very feminist in its tone and approach, but if this book is any indication, that is really super not correct. Aside from the weird undertones of sexism from the protagonist (which, sure, maybe it's just internalized from her childhood, I could buy that), there's this pervasive message of "men aren't the only people who are bad! Women are also bad! Look how bad women are!" I was really disappointed at how this was handled. I think the typical assumption that a woman couldn't be the killer/villain/etc is definitely a rich vein to explore, but ignoring all of the shit that the men around them do just to highlight that WOMEN ARE BAD TOO left a really bad taste in my mouth.

mlemma's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.75

black0star's review against another edition

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4.0

I'm too mind-blown and exhausted to read Dark Places, but I am definitely buying copies of Sharp Objects, Dark Places, and Gone Girl. Amazing, amazing, mystery and twists.

jennyrbaker's review against another edition

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3.0

Sharp Objects - 3 stars
Dark Places - 4 stars

lmbowler31's review against another edition

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5.0

Suspenseful!

Really enjoyed this book and by the end, I couldn’t read fast enough to figure out who did it! I love Gillian Flynn’s style with the time period and point of view changing constantly. ...just as in real life, there’s more than one side to the story!

jenlynlyn's review against another edition

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4.0

All three books were fast paced and filled with evil that is unimaginable. I appreciated that they weren't formulaic in that by the third, there were still surprises. One thing that really aggravated me were a couple of glaring (to me) mistakes that probably someone not from Missouri wouldn't notice: in Dark Places, one character in Kansas City told another to "drive west on I70 to Columbia"... That would be a drive east. Then in Sharp Objects, the FBI guy was brought in from Kansas City; if you're in the boot heel, they'd bring someone from StL, not KC. Those kind of stuck in my brain for some reason (maybe because I have editing in my veins) and niggled at me throughout.
Sharp Objects was my favorite. Gone Girl left me going "wha...??! That's IT?!" at the end.

si0bhan's review against another edition

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4.0

Gillian Flynn shot into our lives through Gone Girl. It took me forever but in the end, I did jump on the bandwagon. I enjoyed it… right up until the end. The ending to the book was a disappointment for me. Wanting to see if her two other books would have a more satisfying ending I picked them up when I found them on offer. Unfortunately, these books had the same effect upon me.

In short, I find Gillian Flynn wonderful right up until the end. As it stand, though, she has yet to write an ending I’m completely pleased with. It’s unfortunate, really.

emilychu23's review against another edition

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4.0

4 STARS Super well written, and so disturbing!

star_laufeyson's review against another edition

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4.0

Escalofriante