Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn - REVIEW

Goodreads description for Sharp Objects:

WICKED above her hipbone, GIRL across her heart Words are like a road map to reporter Camille Preaker’s troubled past. Fresh from a brief stay at a psych hospital, Camille’s first assignment from the second-rate daily paper where she works brings her reluctantly back to her hometown to cover the murders of two preteen girls.

NASTY on her kneecap, BABYDOLL on her leg Since she left town eight years ago, Camille has hardly spoken to her neurotic, hypochondriac mother or to the half-sister she barely knows: a beautiful thirteen-year-old with an eerie grip on the town. Now, installed again in her family’s Victorian mansion, Camille is haunted by the childhood tragedy she has spent her whole life trying to cut from her memory.

HARMFUL on her wrist, WHORE on her ankle 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.

With its taut, crafted writing, Sharp Objects is addictive, haunting, and unforgettable.

Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn.

Camille Preaker is a reporter for a small newspaper in Chicago. (How much do I love books with ties to the Midwest, by the way?) Her editor has heard about some strange happenings in her hometown, so he assigns her to the story. Camille hasn't been home in eight years, so she's not too happy about the assignment to say the least. When she finally gets home to Wind Gap, MO, you find out pretty quickly why she's stayed away. Her mother, Adora, is one of the weirdest characters I've ever read. She's cold, cruel, and just plain old unlikable.

Camille's half sister Amma is one of the more disturbing characters in the book. She's only thirteen but the author describes her as being something of a seductress in the town. She's also a pretty big bully but only when she's out of the house. When she's home, she acts quite young and likes to throw tantrums and be babied by Adora.

Camille tries to write the story her editor wants but you find that she's sort of thwarted by the police and has to almost start her own investigation. She also starts a pseudo-romance with the police officer from Kansas City, who is in town to help solve the crime of the girls.

Camille is dealing with quite a lot. Her own demons, her need to cut, her feelings about being back home where she has a lot of bad memories, her mother, and her dead sister, Marion.

As this is Gillian Flynn's first novel and the first one of hers that I've read, I'm going to admit that I was very pleasantly surpirsed. It's extremely dark but I really liked this book. I was creeped out a lot and sufficiently psychologically thrilled. :) I picked up her second novel Dark Places and I plan on reading that quite soon.

I'd recommend Sharp Objects to anyone who likes a slightly disturbing murder mystery. It has a little bit of everything: mystery, horror, family drama, romance, drugs, sex, and suspense. Be aware that you might be a little queasy with some of the descriptions in the book. It's definitely not for one who is faint of heart.