Gillian Flynn is a former journalist (she covered film and TV for Entertainment Weekly for a decade), who now writes critically-acclaimed literary crime novels. Although only two of her novels have been published to date, she has caught the mystery-loving world’s attention. Her debut, Sharp Objects, was an Edgar Award finalist and the winner of two of Britain’s Dagger Awards and her second novel, Dark Places, has been commissioned as a film by French director Gilles Paquet-Brenner, whom you might know as the director of the recent film adaptation of Tatiana de Rosnay’s internationally bestselling novel Sarah’s Key.
In Sharp Objects, Chicago reporter Camille Preaker is sent home to Wind Gap, Missouri, by her editor to investigate a story about a possible serial killer. There’s a missing little girl in Wind Gap, and a year earlier, a little girl was found, murdered, mutilated, and abandoned in a creek bed. Her editor thinks that, being a small town, Camille will have more luck prying information out of the locals than a stranger would. He doesn’t know, however, that Camille’s family is poisonous, her neighbors resent her, the missing girl’s family hates her, and going back to Wind Gap, far from being a much-needed break for Camille, just might be the death of her.
Dark Places tells the harrowing story of Libby Day, whose entire family was murdered in 1985. Well, the entire family except for Libby, and her brother, Ben, who was charged with the murder. Although only seven years old at the time, it was Libby’s testimony that clinched Ben’s conviction. Now, nearly 25 years later, Libby’s life is still a mess. She barely manages to survive on a bank account filled with money donated to her after the death of her family, and when she finds out the money’s running out, she agrees to make a paid appearance at “Kill Club,” a group of true crime aficionados obsessed with sensational murders and unsolved cases. Libby is surprised and dismayed to find out that many of the Kill Club attendees believe that her brother was wrongfully convicted. Angry and defensive at first, but eventually convinced, Libby sets out on a journey to discover the truth about what really happened on that infamous night.
Fans will be pleased to hear that Flynn’s third novel, Gone Girl, is scheduled for release on June 5th. The novel concerns a man whose wife goes missing on their fifth anniversary. You can visit Gillian Flynn’s website at http://gillian-flynn.com/. You can also read a recent interview with Flynn here, on the Public Library Association’s website.
