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Product Description
Amazon.co.uk
Gillian Flynn is TV critic for US magazine Entertainment Weekly, but after the highly impressive thriller debut that is Sharp Objects, she may have to re-think the day job – particularly as such masters of the thriller as Harlan Coben and Stephen King are falling over each other to praise her novel.
Flynn’s conflicted heroine is journalist Camille Parker, who is holding down a job on a low-rent newspaper, convinced that she’s inspiring only feeling of disappointment in her editor, who has nursed unfulfilled hopes for her journalistic career. Camille, from a small town called Wind Gap in Missouri, sees herself as white trash, but actually hails from a moneyed family. To maintain her sanity, she has escaped from the town and her highly-strung, hypochondriac mother. But bad news beckons: she is summoned by her editor, who suggests she return to her home town to cover the abduction and murder of two young girls. Despite all her reservations (not least for her own mental equilibrium), she feels she must go, returning to the impressive Victorian mansion that was her home. She is quickly back in dangerous territory with her demanding mother – and reminding herself how she fell into a dark cycle of self-harm. Another problem is her Lolita-ish half-sister, a precocious teenager with a following of alienated girlfriends and some dark secrets of her own. Back in this destabilising territory, Camille is reminded of the childhood tragedy that left a mark on her. Looking into the deaths of the murdered girls, she starts to make big mistakes: going to bed with the investigator assigned to the case, and, worse, getting involved with the prime suspect, a disturbed teenager.
This heady brew of Southern gothic is dispatched with an assurance that totally belies the fact that this is a debut novel – and, what’s more, will have most readers hungry for more of Gillian Flynn’s individual brand of sexually-charged menace. --Barry Forshaw --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Review
"fizzes with colour and tension...a brilliant debut" GUARDIAN "A compellnig story, absolutely unputdownable" TELEGRAPH & ARGUS
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
While the story is interesting enough to keep you reading to the end, none of the characters is very believable, and you can guess who did what half way through the book. There are some very sharp observations and writing here and there, but overall the book is disappointing. That said, her second book, Dark Places, is a brilliant book, with all the good sides of this one and none of the defects, so I'd recommend that one instead if you like a really good, unusual thriller.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
A child vanishes and reporter Camille Preaker is sent to her home town to investigate. She goes reluctantly and it's not long before we find out why. A vicious, bitchy kid sister, cold mother and zombie like stepfather await her. This must be one of the most dysfunctional families in literature. The child turns up dead, all her teeth missing like another child the previous year. The small town of Windy Gap appears to be home to a serial killer. Camille herself is a deeply disturbed young woman with her body almost totally mutilated by cuts she has made herself. Shw links up with the detective investigating the case and together they find out who the murderer is. Like others who have reviewed the book, I guessed quite early on who the murderer was, but in a way that isn't relevant. The quality of the writing surpasses any plot defects. My liver protested at the amount of booze and drugs consumed by Camille. My one complaint would be that there is nobody and I mean nobody (well maybe the nurse on p294) likeable in this story. It is peopled by such grotesques that I never want to go anywhere near small town America.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
It's becoming harder for authors to find an original plotline and even harder not to give their chief protagonist as murky past or, even worse, a very troubled past. This one is no exception.
In place of a troubled detective we have a troubled smalltime crime reporter from Chicago sent down south to investigate a couple of child murders in her home town.
There are so many clues set out in this book that you have trouble not stumbling over them. Some of the characters are acutely drawn, especially those from the 'old' country, still clinging to an age which has passed them by. But the modern day people, especially the youngsters, seem out of kilter. Maybe it's me not having had a sheltered upbringing but I just couldn't relate to the activities of these juveniles.
Camille Preaker, the cub reporter, is no gung-ho heroine but her quietly intrusive questioning ellicits all sorts of information from the peers of her school days, most of which leads to her, albeit slowly, to conclude just who did kill the girls. There's some love (?) interest on the side - obviously a detective - and an ending which rather abruptly brings the matter to the conclusion of it all.
I can't say I was thrilled but it is a book with a different, if annoying, character as the main player but whether I could read another 300 pages about her is another matter. I'll have a rethink when the author's next book comes into view.
In place of a troubled detective we have a troubled smalltime crime reporter from Chicago sent down south to investigate a couple of child murders in her home town.
There are so many clues set out in this book that you have trouble not stumbling over them. Some of the characters are acutely drawn, especially those from the 'old' country, still clinging to an age which has passed them by. But the modern day people, especially the youngsters, seem out of kilter. Maybe it's me not having had a sheltered upbringing but I just couldn't relate to the activities of these juveniles.
Camille Preaker, the cub reporter, is no gung-ho heroine but her quietly intrusive questioning ellicits all sorts of information from the peers of her school days, most of which leads to her, albeit slowly, to conclude just who did kill the girls. There's some love (?) interest on the side - obviously a detective - and an ending which rather abruptly brings the matter to the conclusion of it all.
I can't say I was thrilled but it is a book with a different, if annoying, character as the main player but whether I could read another 300 pages about her is another matter. I'll have a rethink when the author's next book comes into view.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Has a certain something
I read a lot and often get bored with books so stop reading well before the end. As other reviewers have indicated, Sharp Objects has some problems with plot and the characters are... Read more
Published 24 days ago by J Corbin
Prognosis doubtful...
Camille is sent by her newspaper boss to her home town in Wind Gap, Missouri, to find out whether there is a story in the disappearance of two 5 year-old girls in the last year -... Read more
Published 2 months ago by Eileen Shaw
Claustrophobic and Edgy...An accomplished debut novel.
From a rich, sterile and emotionless upbringing, it's no wonder Camille is damaged. As she strives to normalise her life away from her family, she learns she has to go back to the... Read more
Published 6 months ago by Paul Hansper-Cowgill
Unsettling
I chose to read this book as it won a CWA Dagger when it came out - always a good sign. I wasn't disappointed. Ms. Flynn can write, and she can keep you engrossed. Read more
Published 8 months ago by liveenl
twisted in more ways than one
Too many novels either deliver an interesting plot or solid writing--so few do both. Flynn is that rare breed of author who knows how to please at sentence level while tantalizing... Read more
Published 10 months ago by jraya
Great book - no plot
The only reason I give this book at shortfall on full stars is because of the plot. I was fully engaged and loved the style of writing - very impressive. Read more
Published 10 months ago by Josey Wales
Annie B
A well written and compelling story but the subject matter left me feeling so profoundly sad and appalled that I have not yet made a start on 'Dark Places', her next novel. Read more
Published 14 months ago by Mrs. A. Britton
Compulsive
Every so often a book comes along that you cam really enjoy for all the wrong reasons. Sharp Objects is wonderfully taboo and surprisingly dark. Read more
Published 17 months ago by Mr. G. Battle
Horrible book
I am amazed at the good reviews. i thought it was a horrible, thoroughly sick book. Ideas such as children stabbing out other kids' eyes with scissors, child victims having their... Read more
Published 19 months ago by Karen
revealing the real monster in the closet
I have read several of the reviews here and agree with many that this is a stunning and disturbing debut novel. Read more
Published on 27 April 2010 by David Spanswick
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