Book info

• Title Sharp Objects
• Author Gillian Flynn
• Year 2006
• Genre Mystery

When two girls are abducted and killed in Missouri, journalist Camille Preaker is sent back to her home town to report on the crimes. Long-haunted by a childhood tragedy and estranged from her mother for years, Camille suddenly finds herself installed once again in her family's mansion, reacquainting herself with her distant mother and the half-sister she barely knows - a precocious 13-year-old who holds a disquieting grip on the town. As Camille works to uncover the truth about these violent crimes, she finds herself identifying with the young victims - a bit too strongly. Clues keep leading to dead ends, forcing Camille to unravel the psychological puzzle of her own past to get at the story. Dogged by her own demons, Camille will have to confront what happened to her years before if she wants to survive this homecoming.

Thoughts

The world is currently going mad over Gone Girl, but I happened to have this Gillian Flynn book hanging around instead. I’ve not read her work before and this was her debut novel, so for the both of us it was a first! I thought it was so well written, it really drew you in with evocative prose and snappy dialogue. Each paragraph made you feel exactly what those involved were feeling, particularly the sticky, prickly, sickly feeling that grew and grew towards the end.

It’s a dark story, both in terms of the murders that are being investigated, the perpetrator that it ends up being, and the protagonist herself. All have their own dark secrets that are gradually discovered by the reader, more often than not leading to more questions raised than have been answered.

But it’s a fantastic read, and if Gone Girl is in a similar vein then I can see why there’s such a furore surrounding it, and I’m certainly going to add it to my reading list.

Rating: 5 / 5