Review: Sharp Objects

Title: Sharp Objects (audio)

Author: Gillian Flynn

Publisher: Random House Audio

Publication Date: Sept 26, 2006

Reviewer: Annie

Summary (from Amazon): 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.

Review: This book centers on Camille who is a crime reporter, and some recent disappearances and murders in her very small hometown have given her current employer reason to send her back there and investigate.  She is thrown back into her life there with a strained relationship with her mom and her half sister.  Seeing old friends who have gotten married and started families, and trying to piece together these weird crimes.

There are a lot of reasons I would recommend this book but the main one is simple: this is a great book.  The mystery surrounding the plot keeps you very interested.  While discovering little bits here and there about Camille's past keep adding twists and turns.  This was a very dark book, so be ready for that.  I did think it kept getting darker as you learned more about each and every character.  But somehow you just had to know what was happening in this messed up town, and who was behind the murders.  Although I couldn't personally relate to any of the characters, I still found most of them fascinating. I would highly recommend this book!

~ Annie