Reviewer: Sandy
It’s raw, twisted, disturbing. Its life; the bleakness behind the doors, behind the layers of clothes that hides the individuals we all thought we knew. These shadows that were cast created a magnet drawing me to its pages physically and emotionally tying me down until I cried, the words so beautifully written for such a tragic situation.
It began when Camille’s younger sister dies when she is thirteen. To deal with the pain, Camille takes to cutting words into her skin. These secret words have taken over her body and seem to have a life of their own “sometimes I can hear words squabbling at each other across my body. Up on my shoulder, panty calling down to cherry on the inside of my ankle.” We now fast forward 10 years, as news reporter Camille is told to go back to her hometown to investigate the murders of two children. Reluctantly, Camille heads out to stay at her mother’s house whom she has not had a great relationship with and she also meets up with her younger half-sister Amma. Some things never change as Camille realizes a lot of her old classmates are still living in town. With not much to go on with the murders, Camille works with law enforcements and locals to piece the puzzle together. It is when Camille realizes she needs to revisits her past to see the present she recognizes that some things never change, does she get the story she needs.
So many hard subjects are dealt with within these pages but the language was done with such care and balance that it was almost striking. With Camille and her self-mutilation the author spent quite a bit of time touching on this subject and I felt her words were so wonderfully chosen. I even found myself grabbing the tissues, as I thought the words were so perfect for the scene that just played out before me. When you deal with cutting, drug abuse, promiscuous girls, and sexual abuse I think of dark and sad vocabulary with disturbing consequences but I found this book fascinating and captivating. I believe it engaged me because of the way the author dealt with the subject matter and the psychological aspect of the book. I could not put this book down as I was mesmerized as what was going to happened next. I can’t say enough about this book except I loved it and I am looking forward to reading more by Gillian Flynn. It was definitely a page-turner and one that I will never forget.
