Sharp Objects

by Gillian Flynn

Camille Preaker works as a journalist at a small newspaper. She is not particularly satisfied with the job, which includes writing stories about human neglect and crimes such as murder. Camille gets along somewhat well with her boss Curry, who supported her during a recent hospitalization due to self-harm. Camille has carved many words onto her body—having previously hallucinated them on her skin. Curry gives her a reporting assignment to her hometown of Wind Gap, Missouri, where one girl has been murdered and a second is missing.

Once in Wind Gap, Camille manages to gain some information about the crimes from the townspeople, including the family of Ann Nash, the murdered girl. The local police are not particularly forthcoming about the murder, but the town sheriff divulges to Camille off the record that he believes that the murderer is a Wind Gap native, not a stranger. Soon the body of the missing girl, Natalie Keene, is discovered in an alley in town. Both she and Ann were strangled, and had all of their teeth removed. Camille publishes a story, only for Curry to ask her to remain in Wind Gap for further coverage of the murders.

While there, Camille reconnects with her estranged mother Adora and half-sister Amma. Camille never had a good relationship with her mother, as Adora always preferred Camille's younger sister Marian, who died due to an unspecified illness when Camille was young. Amma, who was born after Marian's death, has grown into a spoiled preteen who behaves like a young child in front of her mother to hide her drinking, drug use and promiscuity. Camille connects with a Kansas City detective, Richard Willis, sent to investigate the potential of a serial killer.

As Camille continues to investigate, she begins a sexual relationship with Richard. During each encounter with him, Camille refuses to remove her clothes out of fear that he will reject her after he sees all of her scars. Camille and Amma begin to grow closer. After attending a party with her sister where the two of them get drunk and take drugs, Camille wakes to find Adora caring for her, giving her pills that make her sick. Camille is horrified to discover that Adora does this to Amma frequently, and realizes that Marian's illness was not hers, but Adora's—Münchausen syndrome by proxy. After some investigation, Camille finds a letter written by a nurse caring for Marian that shows that the nurse had these same suspicions. Camille also discovers that Richard believed Adora to be responsible for the murders of Ann and Natalie. She returns to her mother's home, where Adora poisons Camille and tries to care for Camille's wounds while bathing her.

Camille passes out, but awakens to find Richard and the police arresting her mother. Richard is horrified to see the extent of her scars. This ends their relationship, despite his earlier claims of genuinely falling for her. Adora is charged with the murders of Marian and the two girls, and Amma is sent to Chicago to live with Camille. Amma initially seems to be healing from the abuse she suffered at Adora's hands, but soon after she begins attending a girls' school in Chicago, a classmate is discovered murdered, having had six of her teeth pulled. It is then revealed that while Adora did kill Marian, Amma murdered Ann Nash and Natalie Keene, in part because she was jealous of the attention Adora was giving the girls. Amma is later arrested for her crimes. Distraught, Camille cuts herself again, but is stopped by Curry and his wife, who take her in as their own daughter. The story ends with Camille learning to be cared for as a child and a daughter for the first time.