Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn

Sharp Objects, just released in paperback, is the story of a Chicago reporter sent back to her hometown in Mississippi to cover the disappearances of two little girls. Because her editor is too cheap to spring for hotels, our heroine must stay with her fascinatingly flawed family.

Stephen King says he was unable to stop reading the most “relentlessly creepy family saga” he’d read in thirty years, and here I will not disagree with Mr. King. Although this is far from feel-good chick lit, Gillian Flynn has given us an amazingly real female lead character here, with a very believable voice.

Camille still wants to win her mother’s approval and battles against the urge to cut herself. Put back in her old surroundings, she remembers herself as a “mean girl” from high school and shudders. Can Camille break the generational patterns of horrible behavior in her family, and by the way, will those little girls’ abductor be found?

This is a quick, gripping read with plenty to think about. Parents who are short on time but who enjoy an occasional dark and disturbing shudder should grab this paperback.