Gone Girl (Gillian Flynn)

I strongly suggest to author Gillian Flynn that she lock herself in a room with puppies, rainbows, apple pie, and other happy things.  The bestselling author of Sharp Objects and Dark Places has done it again with the enormously successful, grotesque (in a good way) Gone Girl.  When I say enormously successful, I was 895th on the library’s waiting list.  It’s the heartpounding account of a marriage gone bad, and like a train wreck, I couldn’t look away and always came racing back for more.

It's impossible to say much about Gone Girl without giving key parts of the plot away.  What I will say is that Flynn has created a mindboggling tale, which is dripping with suspense and twists you never see coming.  I felt a cloying sense of claustrophobia while reading Nick and Amy's story, but that didn't stop me from coming back to it night after night.  The key characters are realistic but over-the-top at the same time.

I apologize for this being short and sweet, but the less I say about this book the better, lest I give too much away.  But Gillian Flynn, seriously...puppies.

MY RATING - 5

Sharp Objects (Gillian Flynn)

After reviewing another Flynn novel, "Dark Places", a few posts ago, I was a little hesitant to do another one. Don't get me wrong. Flynn is a very talented author, but you really have to be in the mood for her. Her books are not frivolous beach reads, filled with rich girls shopping and sleeping around to their hearts content. Flynn's novels are dark and messy. The covers are jet black, with one small picture in the middle. I have to say that of the two, I preferred the book I am about to review, "Sharp Objects".

This is the story of Camille Preaker, a Chicago newspaper reporter. Camille is sent back to her hometown in Missouri to report on the murders of two preteen girls. While there, she must deal with family ghosts...a mother who never loved her, a half-sister she has never met, and a sister who died long ago. Her past is not pretty, but she must confront it if she wants to report on the murders and get on with her life.

"Sharp Objects" is hard to put down but not a fun read. Gillian Flynn just needs to go on vacation somewhere and relax to get away from her dark side. I will be reviewing "Twenties Girl" by Sophie Kinsella, the queen of chick lit, very soon! I need to get back into "summer" mode!

MY RATING - 4

Nineteen Minutes (Jodi Picoult)

Oh, yes....another Picoult book. Get used to it. She is an outstanding writer and deserves every bit of her success. I am in the process of reading "Sharp Objects" by Gillian Flynn, so while I am finishing that, here is another Picoult to devour.

Think about a ripped-from-the-headlines issue that you feel sharply for or sharply against. Picoult takes these issues and, in her "I have no idea how she does it way", makes you see all sides. How can you possibly have even an iota of sympathy for some of the characters in her books? You will....you just wait and see.

What can you do in nineteen minutes? Bake cookies? Dust the bedroom? What can you do that will change everything as you know it? Accidentally fall down the stairs? Jump off a bridge in a fit of despair? "Nineteen Minutes" is the story of a shocking, violent school shooting. Sterling, New Hampshire, is changed forever in nineteen minutes. Once the killer is identified, Picoult makes the reader feel uneasy. What role does society play in tragedies such as these? Most importantly, who has the right to judge anyone else?

MY RATING - 5