SHARP OBJECTS Paperback – 17 September 2007

“All happy families are alike; each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.”----Leo TolstoyGillian Flynn, an American bestselling author, has penned a terrific and extremely disturbing psycho debut thriller, Sharp Objects that is centered around a virulent family set in a small Missourian town, where a young journalist returns back home to report about the killings of two little girls, but the ghosts from her past start to knock at her door while on the background her twisted and complex mother and her half sister makes it equally difficult to carry on with her job. And Flynn manages to make this book shine bright through the dullness and cracks of a woman's life and by victimizing women, in general.Synopsis: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.Let's talk about Camille Preaker. Right in the very beginning of the story, it will give the readers a notion about this charming, independent, smart, career-minded woman with a not-so-happening life yet someone with a steady income working for a second grade newspaper in Chicago. And soon Camille is assigned on a reporting job by her boss back to her hometown in Missouri where the brutal murders of two little girls with all their teeth wrenched out. Camille is reluctant in the beginning, as she needs to face her "mother", who is extremely complicated down to her bone and Camille never found that tender love from her own mother, and after the death of her sister, it finally dissolved any chance of reconciliation between this already broken pair of mother daughter bond. Pretty soon, a horrific fact about this perfect yet heart broken protagonist shatters that good girl image from the minds of the readers. Camille inflicts pain on her body with her emotional pain by engraving words that made her psychologically disturbed, all throughout her torso. Now that Camille is back in her wretched childhood home, either she needs to maintain a good relationship with her mother and her half sister, who is unusually mature than her tender age and is a sexually charged up young teenager, or escape the brutality of her unforgettable past. As she gets on with the job of reporting about the two murders, she not only falls for the detective on charge of this case, but also finds an uncanny resemblance to the attitude of the two murdered young girls. Can Camille find out the truth behind the deaths of the two little girls?Honestly speaking, I never before have heard the name of this author, until the craze of Gone Girl that sky-rocketed the sales of Flynn's previous novels. So I had to pick up a copy of the author's previous novels too, as Gone Girl surprised me in a lot of positive ways. If Gone Girl depicted the dark side and victimization of a sweet, romantic marital bond, and Dark Places depicted the twisted mentality of a middle-class farm family, then Sharp Objects depicts the complex and fractured lines that lie deep within the relationship of a psychologically challenged mother and daughter. The one think that makes this author stand out among other bestselling crime fiction/thriller authors is the fact that she devises a story based on an everyday or common relationship and turn it into something dark, Gothic and violent, all the while, screaming out the message that "violence can be found even among the sweetest and innocent relationships".The author has used "women" is general to project them as the victims of the society, then using those victims, the author has concocted a gripping and bone-chilling thriller, where the "women" can across as a violent, extremely manipulative and sadistic beings. So before crossing your own mother or sister, you will be forced to think twice, after reading this book. The spookiness is so real that while reading I Felt the chill deep down into my spines. Hence grab this book only if you are ready to handle darkness, mind games, and complex nature of a mother-daughter relationship with an eerie taste of raw violence.I instantly became mesmerized by Flynn's elegant use of the retrospective voice, which is always questioning its very own accuracy, and exploring the nature of memory, of the narratives that we tell ourselves about ourselves, and others and that will make a direct impact on our minds. Flynn's writing style never disappoints me as her articulate and emotionally strong prose lets me lose myself in its flow. The pacing seems to be quite fast, as the author unravels the hints and twists one after another that felt to me like some sudden blow on my mind.The twists and turns of this book are tightly drawn right from the very start, which often diverts from the main story line of the two murdered girls to the life of the central character and those around her. But then again, these diversion are necessary to let the readers get into the mind of the protagonist and those around her. Flynn's strongest quality lies in characterization who can create completely unlovable and unlikable characters and can eventually make us sympathize with them.The main character, Camille, too is a brilliant example of Flynn's strongest quality, where she first projects her as a pretty perfect young woman, then goes back to reveal the darkest truth about her nature of being a cutter, and as the author starts revealing about her equally twisted past, that will finally make the readers' hearts to be filled with sympathy for this character. Camille's mother is highly distasteful right from the very first page and I could not find any logic behind her weird and dark demeanor and nature of showering her motherly love over her daughters. The supporting characters, like the sister is also well developed and all the while I was reading the book, I felt like each and every female characters from the sister's friends to the dead girl's brother's girlfriend to the mother, everyone is psychologically flawed to the very depth of their soul, and even though I can feel the darkness from their demeanor yet somehow I could not look away from the raw visual imagery that the author strikingly portrayed through each and every scenes.In a nutshell, this is a highly absorbing book that did not once let me turn my head away from the story despite of the book's bone-chilling and spooky aura.

I was warned that the story might be depressing and unleash a wave of negative thoughts inside me. To proceed with caution with this book. To hell with it, it is one of the really engrossing crime thrillers I have read in a while. Yes, the author misleads you till the end. Yes, she does get conventional and cliched in the cop-journalist romance and journalist-victim sex, and in describing the out-of-hand American teen's regular life plagued with ecstasy and vodka, but apart from the first two, the last one stands totally justified. The description of human angst and the murkier side of the human mind was excellent, but a bit too paced to actually sink deep in. The plot, the characters, the vivid description of the town as piss-yellow etc. was a work well done, given that it was a debut novel. However, the whodunnit element was a bit below average, given that after all, it was a murder mystery. It seemed pretty obvious, halfway through, as to who could have been behind those murders. Nevertheless, the progression of the characters and the plot, i.e. the "how" and the "why" aspects of the narration supremely overshadowed the "who" and "what" aspects. Well done, with the debut, Gillian Flynn!I now wait for this book to be screened soon! As a movie, a mini-series, whatever! But it's going to be one hell of a rainy weekend watch at home!!

This book was a mixed bag for me. I wanted to read this book because of the fact, that I wanted to catch the TV series which was made.The aspects of the book that I clearly enjoyed were:1. Flynn's writing: it is pretty readable and it is a breeze to get through this book. Some of the quotes still stuck, after finishing the book.2. The pacing was done really well3. The beginning of the book was gripping, and the overall mystery seemed very enjoyable to read.The aspects of the book that I didn't enjoy were:1. The main character at times, looked really foolish/ out of her depth. Maybe, for the most part for being so, however, that reason really felt blank after a time.2. The ending felt a bit rushed, and suffers hugely due to the editing issues, understandable since this was her first novel.The product was well delivered, the printing was good, the paper quality and font size were decent as well.

This book is just Amaaaaaaaaaziiing!!!!!!!!One of the best thrillers I have ever read in my entire life!!!!what more to expect from GILLIAN FLYNN!!!Also the book was delivered very perfectly without any single damage thanks to Amazon!!!You can buy it without any hesitation!!!!Just buy it and you won't regret!!!!!!!

Suspense kept the pages turning and it was worth it at the end. Book packaging was also neat and good!

I will be honest I'm one of those who were directed to Gillian Flynn through gone girl,the movie not the book.But I'm glad I came across her .This is my first book by Gillian and it is astounding and magnificent.I loved it.Just loved it.The pace is quite intense and a bit slow but I liked it.It has some shades of depression too basically reflected through the narrator.One of the reviews on the front page of the book said something about double ending and Gillian midirecting the reader,not to spoil it for anyone but damn was that true.I accidentally peaked at the first word of the last chapter.Just one word and thought I had it all figured out but I could not have been more wrong.It is an excellent thriller and I hope others have good time reading it as I did.I will be reading dark places which is currently in my possession and ordering the grownup.Also thank you Amazon for a great read.

Good print quality and book coverThe cover was different from what was advertised