Dark Places

Libby Day was seven years old when her older brother, Ben, was convicted of murdering their mother and two sisters in a 1985 ritual killing. Decades later, Libby is an isolated adult living off a dwindling trust fund created by public donations. When a group of crime enthusiasts known as the Kill Club offers her money to reinvestigate the massacre, she begins to doubt Ben’s guilt. The narrative shifts between Libby’s current search for her debt-ridden father and the hours leading up to the murders on the family’s failing Kansas farm. She confronts long-buried evidence regarding satanic panic, teenage desperation, and the reality of what happened in the dark that night.

Readers of gritty crime fiction choose this book for its unsympathetic protagonist and its focus on the cyclical nature of poverty. It appeals to those interested in the fallout of the 1980s satanic hysteria and the psychological impact of childhood trauma. The audience walks away with a grim understanding of how urban legends and financial ruin can destroy a family. It serves anyone who prefers a cynical, grounded mystery where the solution is as bleak as the inciting incident.