Book review: Dark places

"I was not a lovable child, and I'd grown into a deeply unlovable adult. Draw a picture of my soul, and it'd be a scribble with fangs."

Libby Day was the only member of her family who survived when the rest were massacred and strangled in 1985. She was the only witness, too and based on her testimony, her brother Ben was the one accused of the murders. Decades later and after a difficult upbringing, Libby is a "broken", hardly normal adult; she still tries to forget this traumatic incident and to avoid going back to those "dark places" in her mind.

However, the money people had donated to her all these years are about to run out and she does not want to begin a conventional life to earn her living. The Kill Club approach her; its members have an obsession with famous crimes and a group of people are fascinated by the slaughter of Libby's mother and sisters. They, also, believe that Ben was not the one who killed his family. They agree to pay Libby to visit the people who played a role in the story in order to find out what really happened.

The story alternates between the present and 1985, and among three characters; Ben, Libby and their mother offer their perspective of the accounts that led to the crime. The end of the story and the answer to "who did it" could not be more surprising. Gillian Flynn offers an exquisite thriller with the ability to keep the reader till the final page and very well developed characters. All of them have issues, all do horrible, unforgivable things. The story touches issues like drugs, underage sex, Satanic worship, bullying; but it is full of suspense, well-paced, beautifully wrought.

It is a fantastic, freaking, gripping, Southern gothic, twisted, fascinatingly insane novel. Get yourself hooked.

+ well written, gripping, well developed/realistic characters

- violence, language, disturbing

(written by FK for Walkley Library)

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Book review: Child 44

I decided to have a look on "Child 44" by Tom Rob Smith when I saw the advertisement for the film, which is based on this book, on the tram. The "best-selling" phrase caught my eye. And after I had an idea what it's about and read reviews on the Internet, I placed a reservation at the library.

The book covers the last years of Stalin's regime in Russia in the early '50s and a bit of the period after his succession by Khrushchev. Apart from the political, moral and social issues it raises due to the totalitarianism of that era, it is a thriller that keeps readers' interest till the last page.  

The setting could be compared to a paranoid, totalitarian dystopia: no one is safe. Stalin's enemies are the enemies of the State. The uneasiness of a dictator to solidify his regime leads millions to their devastation, humiliation, death or exile to the other side of the Soviet Union. The State does horrible things to people; they live in a nightmarish world of mistrust where it is a matter of luck not to be accused of treason. The political system has to survive at all costs and the individual is sacrificed for the common good. Moreover, crime is a notion and practice that simply does not exist. Crime is a product of the West and in Stalinist Russia it has no place among the people that are committed to work for, produce for and consume what the State has decided. All needs are met by the Nation.

So, when a series of hideous murders start to occur the authorities do not believe there is a serial killer who travels all over the country and goes after children. Leo Demidov, a secret MGB agent, is reluctant to do any investigations when the four-year-old child of one of his colleagues is found gutted next to the railway lines. However, the regime does not trust anyone; when Leo refuses to turn his own wife in when she is accused of being a spy, he becomes dispensable for the State, an enemy like those he used to arrest and torture. He and his family are deprived of all privileges and he is sent with Raisa in a remote province to work for the militia as a low rank officer. From there the story proceeds with a fast pace towards the solution of the mystery: who is the killer, why he kills children in such an appalling way, how Leo finds him and in what way his past is intertwined with the present. 

It is a fascinating story, grim and dark. It may be disturbing to those who have a sensitivity around crimes against children and animals. However, it is a book that will not let you down; a perfect companion for that (boring) hour of commuting. 

+ good plot, strong characters, thought-provoking 

- screenplay-like story, weak ending, violence against children



(written by FK for Walkley Library)