Sharp Objects

I’ll always read Gillian Flynn, for the simple reason that her writing style is the closest thing to Truman Capote’s In Cold Blood written by a modern writer. She’s just that good.

This book is my favorite because of how it explores taboo topics (see the theme here?) and because she creates richly complex characters that showcase the range of what people are capable of—the greatest kindness and the darkest cruelty.

I just love a dark family saga with disturbing characters. I was obsessed with thrillers, and many just made me yawn. This one didn’t disappoint.

The story crept in with shivering twists. I canceled all appointments to finish the book. The small-town dark mentality was so sick. I simply admired the storytelling.

The ending hit me hard. I was paralyzed in bed for a while after finishing the last page. I wanted more. Luckily, HBO turned it into a major limited series which allowed my obsession for the book to linger on. 

I am a sucker for a psychological thriller that revolves around a character with a troubled past.

This story tackles so much from the protagonist’s own traumatic history and strained relationships with her family, but it is the deep dive into the relationship with the overbearing mother that had me hooked. The matriarch was so strict and emotionless, and that made her relationship with her daughter fraught with hate. 

I loved Flynn’s intense and atmospheric storytelling and the unexpected, horror-filled ending that has never quite left me.

There is no question (in my mind anyways) that Gillian Flynn is the master of suspense and we’re all just spectators in her ring.

This is the suspense book that really did it for me and made me want to run to my laptop and write. Yes, the infamous Gone Girl, that launched her career is likely more well-known. But I vividly remember getting chills, tingles, and inspiration as I read this terrifying yet thrilling story about troubled reporter, Camille Preaker and the demons she faces going back to her hometown. 

Sometimes there is nothing darker than confronting unresolved issues… show more.

Scarred by a manipulative and narcissistic mother Flynn’s brilliantly drawn protagonist Camille Preaker is a lonely, disturbed, alcoholic, self-harming mess.

But her spiky resilience and Flynn’s wonderful prose, fearless exploration of intergenerational trauma, and depictions of small-town American life drew me into Camille’s inner and outer struggles and made this book strangely uplifting. The novel drips with dirt, blood, grime, and brutality, so beautifully and unflinchingly described I devoured it in one gulp.

The dynamic between the protagonist and her aloof, hypochondriac mother was all too familiar, and maybe that’s what attracted me to the storyline.

This book is more than just a murder mystery––it’s a book about women and the toxic relationships we make with ourselves and others that are perpetuated from unhealthy upbringings. But it’s also about finding inner strength while it challenges the stereotypes that portray femininity as weak, nurturing, and safe.

This is a very psychologically complex story with very real, very flawed characters, and is worth the raw, dark journey to the perfect conclusion.

I worried about including this one, because there are two female villains, Adora Crellin, and her fourteen-year-old daughter Amma, both of them are terrible humans and great villains, and I didn’t want to include any spoilers.

So, I’m not going to say who’s the worst. I read this next to the pool after I submitted to my agent and she had compared my own first book to it, and I was massively relieved to discover that I loved it.

I hadn’t read Gone Girl and still haven’t because I’m scared I’ll be disappointed after enjoying Sharp Objects as much as… show more.

In Ember Natalie is let down by her father. She is forced to be the adult and raise her siblings. She has a tough childhood, or in her own words ‘never had one.’ Many people are not sympathetic to this but it is tough when you were never loved nor cared for as a child. Anyway, to take this to the extreme: Sharp Objects. I was intrigued by the mother in Sharp Objects and how Camille’s life has been affected by her mother. 

Sharp Objects has a lot to say about the parent's relationship with their child and how delving… show more.

While reading Sharp Objects, I wanted to remove anything sharp from my immediate surrounding area. The roots of my teeth ached. I craved whiskey. The scent of raw pig flesh pervaded my nostrils. Upon completion, I felt an overwhelming urge to take a shower. This fiction tale is a shocking, stinging, sickening kind of filth…and I loved everything about it. Gillian Flynn has left a permanent bite mark on my brain.