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Monday, December 14, 2009

Staff Pick: Sharp Objects

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Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn

The main character of this dark debut thriller is Camille Preaker, a newspaper reporter in suburban Chicago who has worked hard to leave her troubled past and dysfunctional family behind her in southern Missouri. She is forced to revisit her old life, however, when her editor sends her back to her hometown to get a personal angle on the story of two murdered girls found there, the victims of a suspected serial killer. She returns to her childhood home and reunites with her distant, cold mother, her ghostly/ghastly stepfather, and her half sister, who is at thirteen, the ultimate mean girl. As the murder investigation unfolds, the reader peers into both Camille's troubled past as well as the small town's darkest corners. Flynn does an excellent job at conveying an impending sense of doom as well as misdirecting the reader right up until the last page. An original and satisfying literary mystery.

Gillian Flynn was born in Kansas City, graduated from KU with degrees in English and journalism, and went on to be the chief TV critic at Entertainment Weekly. Sharp Objects was a finalist for an Edgar Award and the winner of several Dagger Awards. The author is currently working on the screenplay adaptation of this book. Her second book, Dark Places, was also a critically acclaimed best seller.

Susan - Adult Services

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