Category Archives: Mystery

Sharp Object
By: Gillian Flynn
Publisher: Broadway Book
Published: Jan 1, 20016
Genre: Mystery
Rating:

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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.

Camille grew up in a very unhealthy home. Her sister was always sick and eventually passed away. Camille’s mother never cared for her and was very open in her dislike in Camille. So Camille acted out and would do a lot of things a young teenager shouldn’t do, let alone know about. So when she’s sent back to her hometown to cover a murder case, her past comes rushing up to meet her.

I don’t generally read these types of books. I am usually a romance reader. However, my book club chose this book for the month, so I grabbed a copy and sat down to read. I had no idea how much I would enjoy it. Gillian definitely knows how to tell one screwed up story. I didn’t know who to feel bad for, who to suspect for the murders or what was going to happen in the end. All I knew was that I was in for one heck of a ride.

Camille was an interesting character. She definitely has some mental issues from her childhood. She drinks non-stop, always thinks about cutting herself, and feels no shame or even acknowledges the questionable things she does or did when she was younger. However, she’s so screwed up that you can’t fault her for taking ecstasy with her 13 year old sister or sleeping with one guy and then jumping in bed with someone else who is like a year or two older than her sister. I mean, this woman has issues.

Her half sister who is half her age is a mystery. She’s either a sick hopeless child who gets doted on by her mother, the meanest provocative little 13 year old you’ll ever know, or an actual decent human being. However, she’s always in the picture somehow. Whether it’s at a party, out and about, or at someones house, her sister is always there with her gang of nasty little minions.

When you get to the end of the story everything falls into place. I mean, I’m not saying that I understand and that it was acceptable for that person to kill two little girls but I understand the why behind it. Hell, if you don’t understand why they did it, then you weren’t reading the book at all. I tell you, this book was a mind game. It was like playing the game Clue. This was a highly enjoyable read. I only wish I had picked up her other books when I was purchasing this one.

“I don’t mind the idea of spilling Wind Gap’s stories to Richard. I felt no particular allegiance to the town. This was the place my sister died, the place I started cutting myself. A town so suffocating and small, you tripped over people you hated every day. People who knew things about you. It’s the kind of place that leaves a mark.”