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Well. I can't really say that I liked this book. None of the characters are likable, including the main character. Libby Day's family was killed by her brother when she was 7. By the time she hits 30, she's still 7 inside, her inner growth stunted by the tragedy. She can barely take care of herself, has never had a job, and suddenly the money that strangers donated out of charity over the years is down to about $900. To replenish her bank account, Libby grudgingly agrees to pimp herself out to a group of people obsessed with the Day murders and with proving that her brother isn't really guilty. Along the way, she starts to have doubts herself and the real story unfolds between her present-day sleuthing and flashbacks to her mother's and brother's point-of-view from the day of the killings.

As I said, no one is likable. I wanted to slap everyone, and I found it impossible to feel any sympathy towards Libby despite her trauma. Gillian Flynn is disturbingly good at creating characters who are beyond messed up and irritating, to the point where you start to wonder what sort of inner darkness she harbors (on the contrary, her Author's Notes always make her sound very well adjusted. At the end of this book, she charmingly promises her mom that she will someday write a book where the mother is neither evil nor killed). Nothing about the dark story that's filled with hopelessness and screw-ups made me feel good about reading it. To use a well-worn phrase, it was almost like a train wreck.

I will hasten to add though, a very well-written train wreck, one with fabulous pacing that rushes along at a breakneck speed and refuses to let you take a breather. It gripped me, kept me guessing, and totally sucked me in with the great voice that Flynn gave the unlikable Libby. I almost felt like I WAS Libby, and it reminded me of the single-minded focus that Tana French's books inspired, where I had to almost physically extract myself from the book once I was finished. I think I liked French's books much better, but I'm very glad to keep coming across such talented women in the mystery genre.

Not a beach book. Not a feel-good story of the year. But damn highly recommended.