Sharp Objects [Paperback]

Gillian Flynn (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback
• Publisher: Weidenfeld & Nicholson; First Edition. 1 in number line edition (2006)
• ISBN-10: 0739483323
• ISBN-13: 978-0739483329
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.5 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (220 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,320,131 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

102 of 106 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Dark, interesting first novel, October 19, 2006

By 

sb-lynn (Santa Barbara, California United States) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Sharp Objects: A Novel (Hardcover)

Summary, no spoilers.

This is the story of Camille Preaker, who works as a reporter for a newspaper in Chicago. She has been assigned to cover the story of a possible child serial killer in a small town in Missouri. She was given this story mainly because this small town happens to be her hometown.

We know that Camille is a physically beautiful, but very troubled young woman. We know that she does not want to go home, and throughout the course of this disturbing novel we find out why.

I found this to be a very interesting story, and a page-turner which is high compliment. This book does an excellent job of showing the repercussions of child abuse, and what life is like in a small town.

The only reason this book did not get 5 stars is the mystery aspect. I cannot say more without a spoiler, but I found that part of the resolution improbable for a variety of reasons.

Still, this is a suspenseful, *different* book, and I think that the character of Camille Preaker will stay with me for a long time. I would definitely give Gillian Flynn another try.

40 of 42 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Hard-Boiled Heroine, December 11, 2006

By 

Kevin Joseph (McLean, VA United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Sharp Objects: A Novel (Hardcover)

When men fight, according to first novelist Gillian Flynn, they tend to bludgeon one another in blunt contests of strength, like good-natured warriors facing off in an athletic contest. Women fight in a much nastier fashion, she asserts, clawing, biting and using whatever other sharp objects are available to achieve domination over their female rivals. If you're willing to buy into Flynn's scathing portrayal of the so-called gentler sex, you'll surely be sucked into this dark mystery/thriller.

Camille Preaker, a reporter for an obscure Chicago newspaper, is assigned to investigate the recent murders of two young girls in her claustrophobic Missouri hometown. Besides overcoming the natural wariness the townsfolk exhibit toward a nosy journalist, Camille must face down her dysfunctional family - a controlling mother, distant step-father and a disturbed, thirteen-year-old step-sister whose catty group of friends makes the "Mean Girls" crowd look like a troup of Brownies. The closer Camille gets to cracking this grisly mystery, the harder she struggles to keep her horde of inner demons at bay and the more she begins to fear for her own safety.

If judged purely by the intensity of its suspense and page-turning quotient, "Sharp Objects" would easily merit five stars. Flynn taps into the psychological horror generated by a twisted family in a way that electrifies the narrative, reminding me of Dean Koontz in that regard. I had trouble, though, accepting the unlikely logistics behind the crimes and found certain characters to be so over-the-top as to strain credibility. These quibbles aside, Gillian Flynn already has mastered a fast-paced and hard-boiled writing style that's perfectly suited for the suspense genre, and she has created a fascinating heroine who could form the centerpiece for a winning series.

-Kevin Joseph, author of "The Champion Maker"

19 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Not your typical thriller, October 16, 2006

By 

Rose McC. "Rose" (Cleveland, OH) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Sharp Objects: A Novel (Hardcover)

One gripe I have about most thrillers is that the plot is all-important, and the characters end up so dull -- interchangeable, really. Not so with Camille in Sharp Objects! She's an incredibly-flawed and fragile character who I'm sure will haunt me for a long time, and whom I'll be reminded of sometimes when I see a certain type of person on the street.

I found this book to be an emotional experience because the deeper I got into Camille's world and the more I learned her personal story, the more I realized that her discovery of who the murderer was would have the potential to absolutely destroy her -- and she's someone who, by all rights, really should have hit bottom by now.

A short, terse book you won't soon forget.