well, that was a wild ride.

let me begin by saying: the two star rating i'm giving this book has nothing to do with the quality of the writing. gillian flynn's iconic dark style comes to fruition even more in Dark Places, if i may say so, than in what is typically thought of as her masterwork, gone girl.

that being said, i didn't like it.

that's on me, though. this book had mystery, it had round characters, it had gorgeous writing, but it was just too dark for me. i had to read it piecemeal over about 10 days, and even then i was affected by the darkness of it. every single image, every description, every character and every action was nearly grotesque in its description.

my second-favorite aspect of a story (behind characters) is imagery, and this was absolutely teeming with it--to the point that it was too much for me.

so while i didn't like this book, i feel okay with recommending it (as long as you know what you're getting into).