spotlight on: gillian flynn

If you've yet to come across Gillian Flynn, where have you been? Her best-known book, Gone Girl, has been made into a film and was released this week and Sharp Objects is due to be adapted into a televised thriller. Having read Gone Girl and Sharp Objects in the space of two weeks over the summer, I wanted to write a bit more about two books that totally took over my spare time.

 

Sharp Objects photo credit ; Gone Girl photo credit

First of all, let's start with the lesser hyped of the two: Sharp Objects. I actually had this on my Kindle for quite some time before I decided to read it and I have no idea why it took me so long to do so. During a shift at work, I saw a customer reading Dark Places so I asked her about Sharp Objects and she couldn't recommend it enough!

As soon as I finished my shift and got home, I exited the book I was currently reading and started on Sharp Objects that night and boy, did I find it hard to put it down. It is a psychological thriller of the finest sense and I was so eager to find out what happens next that I found myself reading at every available opportunity. I figured out the ending about halfway through the book but that didn't spoil my enjoyment of the book - I can't explain why without giving it all away!

Sharp Objects is about a family who are beyond creepy. Camille (a member of the sad creepy family) returns to her hometown - a place where she didn't have the best childhood - as she tries to find out more about the mysterious and intriguing deaths of two young girls.

Onto Gone Girl: knowing that the film adaptation was due for release this month, I set about reading it in August and found it equally thrilling as Sharp Objects. It follows the disappearance of a beautiful young woman but the characters are just as twisted as the ones in Sharp Objects!

In both of these books, I love the clever way Gillian Flynn drip feeds the reader when it comes to unravelling the twisted nature of each character. Both books are ridiculously thrilling and easy to read but I definitely found Sharp Objects more psychologically disturbing - it's definitely not for those who are easily freaked out!

Finally, there is a third book by Gillian Flynn that I am aware of and am trying to read before its planned feature film release date in November. Dark Places is another psychological thriller that I am about halfway through but just can't seem to get into. I'm finding it a slower starter than her other two novels so I've currently put it aside while I read something else in the hope that once I return to it, I will be eager to finish it.

Overall - if you're looking for a darker read for this autumn/winter and you've yet to come across Gillian Flynn, I definitely recommend Gone Girl and Sharp Objects. There's nothing better than reading something so haunting and thrilling once the sun has gone down! As for Dark Places... I might have to get back to you on that one!