“Sharp Objects” is Lacking in Plot, My First Taste of Gillian Flynn

“Sometimes I think illness sits inside every woman, waiting for the right moment to bloom.”


Upon finishing Sharp Objects I immediately wanted to pick up another Gillian Flynn novel. Not because I loved this book—which I didn’t—but because I wanted more of Flynn’s addictive writing. I craved her fast-paced, straightforward storytelling, her metaphors that weren’t flowery or silly but smart and brilliant, and her disturbing character portrayals. I loved Flynn’s writing. I did not love this book.

The buildup of the plot was perfect. Hidden layers surrounding the main character, Camille, were slowly peeled away. In the beginning Camille seemed to be a perfectly ordinary woman who worked as a reporter. However, the more I read, the more disturbing information was revealed about Camille. The gradual unveiling of her character was truly horrifying.

The author closely examined an unhealthy mother-daughter relationship. As a child, Camille was abused by her mother and this heavily affected her growing up—it left scars on her, both physically and emotionally. When Camille is sent to her hometown to write a story covering the death of two girls, she decides to stay in her old house, but she is unprepared to see her mother for the first time in years.

It sounds intriguing, right? And it totally was—for the first half of the book. Unfortunately, the ending didn’t do it for me. Compared to the rest of the psychological, brutally realistic story, the ending didn’t feel believable.

When I found out who the killer was, who was responsible for strangling little girls, there was no shock in the plot twist. Instead, all the earlier clues and suspicions slowly dissipated until there was no suspense left. Rather than leaving my mind racing, I was left wondering if that was really all the author had to offer. I thought it was a cheap ending.

In the beginning I expected to give this book a high rating because of the brilliant character examinations but the ending threw everything off. You might say, “Wow, isn’t that a bit much, only giving it two stars just because of a bad ending?”

In this case I don’t think so, because it’s a thriller novel and with this particular genre, so much hinges on the ending. The whole point of the mystery, the reason the reader is kept on the edge of their seat the whole time, is because they’re waiting for the reveal, that moment when everything clicks into place and makes them gasp out loud. And in this case, the ending fell flat.

I’m glad I got a taste of Flynn’s masterful writing and don’t necessarily regret reading Sharp Objects. If you’re considering picking this up keep in mind that it’s a very, very dark book and will probably leave you feeling rather disturbed.