Sharp Objects

Author: Gillian Flynn
Rating: 5 Stars
SPOILERS IN REVIEW

Bottom line: Some families are very, VERY screwed up.

So this is the first Gillian Flynn book I read. I heard all about Gone Girl but this book's journalism plot got my attention. A reporter returns to her hometown to report on a possible serial killer to keep her newspaper readership afloat. The possible serial killer is murdering little girls. The struggling reporter,Camille Preaker, has some serious skeletons in the closet. I mean actual skeletons. She also self harms and drinks to forget her troubled past.

I became hooked from page one. Most the story takes place in her Southern hometown. We meet her eccentric rich family. I loved reading about how Camille struggled to find sources and interviewed them. Although her ethics can definitely be questioned when she gets involved with not one but two men connected to the investigation. Camille can thank her past for her instability because like I opened with, her family is beyond screwed up.

Readers find out her mother is not only a huge pill popper but she purposely drugged her children, resulting in serious illness and death. Camille escaped her mother's clutches but her younger sister was not so lucky. Camille starts to see scary similarities between her sister's death and the murders. This does not include her other half-sister, who is very much alive, but stuck with her crazy mother.
I won't spoil the twist or ending, but the deeper Camille investigates her hometown's murder the deeper we see her go off the deep end. The ending quickly wraps up too quickly but seemed realistic considering everything Camille goes through. I know everyone is too busy panting over Gone Girl but read this one first if you can! It's still trippy and disturbing I promise.