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I’m always excited to discover a new great author, and a couple I’ve read just since posting this blog are back already with new offerings.

First, and, I think even better than her debut (Sharp Objects), is Gillian Flynn’s Dark Places. Flynn is chief TV critic at Entertainment Weekly, but anyone expecting light, commercial fluff from her novels will be shocked and surprised by the distinctly dark and distasteful characters that populate these psychological explorations of family dynamics and fallout. Sharp Objects featured a young woman who had a unique approach to self-mutilation. Dark Places focuses on Libby, who “was seven when her mother and two sisters were murdered in ‘The Satan Sacrifice of Kinnakee, Kansas.’” Libby lived, but became a really screwed up kid, an even more skewed adult, and is now about to lose what little money she had from the incident to survive on, with no apparent plan to move forward as a productive adult. Enter, The Kill Club, a secret society offering to pay her to help investigate the murders and ply her for details that may exonerate her brother, who has been in prison for the crimes all these years, primarily because of her testimony. Crazy stuff. Great reading.

Second, and much more straightforward, is the latest from Chelsea Cain, Evil At Heart. This marks the return of Archie Sheridan, still locked up in the psych ward, his partner Henry Sobel, girl reporter Susan Ward, and blonde bombshell/escaped serial killer, Gretchen Lowell. It’s just good, old-fashioned thriller-fun. Love the characters. Read it in a day. Good stuff.

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