Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn

(pb; 2006)

From the back cover

“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.”

Review

Sharp is a hard-to-set-down, tightly-penned crime thriller whose female-centric energy is dark, cruel and sometimes shocking. Eagle-eyed readers may spot the villain ─ or villains ─ early on, but for this reader it is not a criticism. This is an excellent page-turner, a bleak-twist read for a lazy afternoon.

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Created by Marti Noxon, the resulting eight-episode miniseries of the same name is scheduled to premiere on HBO on July 8, 2018. It was directed by miniseries creator Marti Noxon, from teleplays by various writers.

Amy Adams played Camille Preaker. Patricia Clarkson played Adora Crellin. Eliza Scanlen played Amma Crellin.  Henry Czerny played Alan Crellin.

Miguel Sandoval played Frank Curry. Barbara Eve Harris played Eileen Curry. Matt Craven played Vickery. Chris Messina played Det. Richard Willis.

Elizabeth Perkins played Jackie. April Brinson played Jodes. Violet Brinson played Kelsey. Taylor John Smith played John Keene.