Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn

What it's About:

Camille is a reporter who cuts herself to deal with her painful past.  When one young girl is killed and another goes missing in Camille's hometown, her editor sends her to cover the story.

Camille reluctantly returns to her mother's house where she is forced to deal with her difficult past head-on while trying to solve the most serious crime her hometown has experienced.

 What I Thought:
In Sharp Objects, Gillian Flynn has created a whole gang of damaged, faulted people.  I have often wondered how an author finds such damaged creatures in her imagination.  Maybe the characters write themselves, pouring their torture onto the pages one word at a time.  From Camille, a girl who carves words into her skin, to a mother who inflicts illness on her own children.  Even Alan, the main character's stepfather, who is described as a prim southern gentleman but is portrayed slurping down sardines and eating sickly green pudding.  Gillian Flynn describes each character with care, creating a vivid image of each individual's pain and devastation.

Camille is far from a perfect protagonist.  Reading her story is like watching a train wreck; you don't want to see how low her life can take her, yet at the same time, you can't take your eyes off her.   She is so eager to please and is destroying herself in the process.  I wanted to yell at her, shake her awake, knock some sense into her.  I could see the final destruction coming for her before she was ever willing to admit how bad things really were.

The twist at the end of the book was well-planned and well-written.  Enough clues were presented, enough breadcrumbs dropped, to lead the reader to the murderer while also keeping the killer's identity hidden until the last possible moment.

I loved this book; I loved everything about it.  The characters, the plot, the writing, the plot twists and turns, every detail was perfect.  The mood was carefully crafted.  I was enthralled by this book and I highly recommend it.