Problems always start long before you really, really see them.”

Genre: Fiction, Thriller

Pages: 254

Published: September 26, 2006

Rate: 3.5 ⭐⭐⭐

Goodreads Synopsis
Fresh from a brief stay at a psych hospital, reporter Camille Preaker faces a troubling assignment: she must return to her tiny hometown to cover the murders of two preteen girls. For years, 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 in her old bedroom in her family’s Victorian mansion, Camille finds herself identifying with the young victims—a bit too strongly. Dogged by her own demons, she must unravel the psychological puzzle of her own past if she wants to get the story—and survive this homecoming.

TW: Rape, Self Harm (cutting)

My Take

My first Gillian Flynn and I have to say, I wasn’t really that impressed.
What I liked: The writing and the language. It’s so simple and easy to read and understand. Not in a ‘dumb it down way.’ Another thing I liked is the complex characters. Normally I get annoyed by them but I love how Flynn brings her characters to life in vivid descriptions that I felt like I knew them. Especially Camille, the protagonist. Sharp Objects is one dark book and these characters do everything in extremes. Gillian Flynn does not shy away from nasty, gory details; from the deaths to the sexual encounters.

What I didn’t like – for a thriller, the book was so slow paced. Not to mention the suspense build up only for it to end up flat. There were a few plot holes that may have ruined the book for me, not enough to ruin the story though. I feel like some scenes were put in just for shock value, they didn’t really add to the story.

“Sometimes it is all too loud.”

Sharp Objects wasn’t as edgy as I expected but I did enjoy it nonetheless. I do recommend. I have been told Gone Girl and Dark Places are much better so I’ll be looking out for them.

Have you read Sharp Objects? What did you think about it?