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. 

Carrie, by Stephen King

(pb; 1974)


From the back cover:

"Carrie may be picked on by her classmates, but she has a gift. She can move things with her mind. Doors lock. Candles fall. This is her power and her problem. Then, an act of kindness, as spontaneous as the vicious taunts of her classmates, offers Carrie a chance to be normal. . . until an unexpected cruelty turns her gift into a weapon of horror and destruction that no one will ever forget."


Review:

Carrie, King's first published novel, is raw (in comparison to his later novels) and ambitious for a first effort.

More than a well-written - if jump cut-laden - story of a telekinetic teen lashing out at her tormentors (her classmates, and her religious nutjob mother), Carrie is also a cut n' paste tale of a town (Chamberlain) undone by a shocking horrific event.

Parts of this novel are pre-mid Eighties Stephen King amazing (with proper editing, the man is an excellent writer), showing the cinematic verve that King would later display in his more accomplished, but no less worthy, works.

Worth checking out, this.

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Carrie has inspired three film versions, and one cinematic sequel.

The first version was released stateside on November 3, 1976.

Sissy Spacek played Carrie White. Piper Laurie played Margaret White. Amy Irving played Sue Snell. William Katt played Tommy Ross. Nancy Allen played Chris Hargensen. John Travolta played Billy Nolan.

Betty Buckley played Miss Collins. P.J. Soles played Norma. Edie McClurg played Helen. Priscilla Pointer, Amy Irving's real-life mother, played Mrs. Snell.

Brian DePalma directed the film, from Lawrence D. Cohen's screenplay.

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The Rage: Carrie 2 was released stateside on March 12, 1999.

Emily Bergl played Rachel Lang. Jason London played Jesse Ryan. Dylan Bruno played Mark. J. Smith-Cameron played Barbara Lang.

Amy Irving, who co-starred in the original film, reprised her role of Sue Snell.

Mena Suvari played Lisa. Eddie Kaye Thomas played Arnie. Zachery Ty Bryan played Eric. Gordon Clapp played "Eric's Father". John Doe played Boyd.

Katt Shea, who also directed the film, played "Deputy D.A." Rafael Moreu wrote the screenplay.

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The second version of Carrie, a telepic, aired on American television on November 4, 2002.

Angela Bettis played Carrietta "Carrie" White. Patricia Clarkson played Margaret White. Emilie de Ravin played Chris Hargensen. Rena Sofer played Miss Desjarden. Kandyse McClure played Sue Snell.

Tobias Mehler played Tommy Ross. Jesse Cadotte played Billy Nolan. Meghan Black played Norma Watson. Chelan Simmons played Helen Shyres.

David Keith played John Mulchaey. Laurie Murdoch played Principal Morton. Michael Kopsa played John Hargensen. Jodelle Ferland, billed as Jodelle Micah Ferland, played "Little Carrie" [Carrie as a young child].

David Carson directed the film, from a teleplay by Bryan Fuller.

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The third version, now in post-production, is scheduled for stateside release on March 15, 2013.

Chloë Grace Moretz played Carrie White. Julianne Moore played Margaret White. Judy Greer played Miss Desjardin. Portia Doubleday played Chris Hargensen. Gabrielle Wilde played Sue Snell. Ansel Elgort played Tommy Ross. Alex Russell played Billy Nolan.

Skyler Wexler played "Young Carrie". Cynthia Preston played Eleanor Snell.

Kimberly Peirce directed the film, from a screenplay by Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa.

Shutter Island, by Dennis Lehane

(hb; 2003)


From the inside flap:

"Summer, 1954.

"U.S. Marshal Teddy Daniels has come to Shutter Island, home of Ashecliffe Hospital for the Criminally Insane. Along with his partner, Chuck Aule, he sets out to find an escaped patient, a murderess named Rachel Solando, as a hurricane bears down on them.

"But nothing at Ashecliffe is what it seems.

"And neither is Teddy Daniels.

"Is he there to find a missing patient? Or has he been sent to look into rumors of Ashecliffe's radical approach to psychiatry? An approach that may include drug experimentation, hideous surgical trials, and lethal countermoves in the shadow war against Soviet brainwashing. . .

"Or is there another, more personal reason why he has come there?

"As the investigation deepens, the questions only mount:

"How has a barefoot woman escaped the island from a locked room?

"Who is leaving clues in the form of cryptic codes?

"Why is there no record of a patient committed there just one year before?

"What really goes on in Ward C?

"Why is an empty lighthouse surrounded by an electrified fence and armed guards?

"The closer Teddy and Chuck get to the truth, the more elusive it becomes, and the more they begin to believe that they may never leave Shutter Island.

"Because someone is trying to drive them insane."


Review:

Twisty, sometimes spooky, psychological thriller that's a fun, burn-through afternoon read.

Some of the twists aren't unexpected, but they're necessary to the plot, to lead readers to the unexpected twists. I guessed most of the key ones, but the ending, like the novel, is still impressively written and powerful.

Atmospheric period-piece page-turner, this. Check it out.

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Appropriately enough, this has been made into a film.

Set for a February 19, 2010 stateside release, it was directed by Martin Scorsese , from a script by Laeta Kalogridis.

Leonardo DiCaprio played Teddy Daniels. Mark Ruffalo played Chuck Aule. Ben Kingsley played Dr. John Cawley. Emily Mortimer played Rachel Solandro. Michelle Williams played Dolores Chanal. Max von Sydow played Dr. Jeremiah Naehring. Jackie Earle Haley played George Noyce. Elias Koteas played Andrew Laeddis. Patricia Clarkson has an unnamed role. Ted Levine plays the Warden.