5 Books to Read If You’re Watching Sharp Objects

Get Literary
July 24 2018
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From the moment Amy Adams fills the screen as Camille Preaker in HBO’s newest limited series, Sharp Objects, it’s impossible to look away. Viewers are immediately swept up in the life of the troubled reporter as she grudgingly heads home to Wind Gap, Missouri, to investigate the murder of one girl and the disappearance of another. Clearly struggling to keep it together even in “the big city,” the hard-drinking Camille begins unraveling as soon as she arrives in back in her hometown, where memories of her sister’s tragic death years before are always close to the surface. It doesn’t help that her mother, the emotionally distant and manipulative Adora, and Camille’s half sister, a seemingly perfect daughter with a wild side, don’t exactly welcome her back with open arms. Yet Camille is determined to do her job, even if it means turning the whole town upside down. And she just might.

No matter where you are in the TV series, the wait between episodes probably feels interminable, so here are a few books that can help you fill the time.

This post was originally published on GetLiterary.com.

Sharp Objects
by Gillian Flynn

Not only did Gillian Flynn write the book on which the show is based, but she also served as an executive producer for the eight-episode miniseries. So, if you want to delve deeper into Camille’s headspace or race ahead in the story to see how the murders are solved, this is your chance. You’ll also want to keep your eyes peeled for what changed in the adaptation from book to screen, such as Camille’s newspaper career in Chicago (novel) vs. St. Louis (TV).

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Sharp Objects
Gillian Flynn

Not only did Gillian Flynn write the book on which the show is based, but she also served as an executive producer for the eight-episode miniseries. So, if you want to delve deeper into Camille’s headspace or race ahead in the story to see how the murders are solved, this is your chance. You’ll also want to keep your eyes peeled for what changed in the adaptation from book to screen, such as Camille’s newspaper career in Chicago (novel) vs. St. Louis (TV).

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MENTIONED IN:

5 Books to Read If You’re Watching Sharp Objects

By Get Literary | July 24, 2018

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All the Missing Girls
by Megan Miranda

Is the mystery the most compelling aspect of Sharp Objects for you? Then you should pick up the psychological suspense novel All the Missing Girls, which revolves around the disappearance of two girls...a decade apart. Like Camille, heroine Nicolette left home after a traumatic event—in this case, the disappearance of her best friend, Corinne. Only the need to care for her ailing father brings her back to town, or so she thinks, until a second girl goes missing. Soon Nic, her brother, her ex-boyfriend, and Corinne’s boyfriend all become suspects once again...

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All the Missing Girls
Megan Miranda

A spellbinding psychological thriller told in reverse, Megan Miranda’s first novel for adult readers is about the connected disappearances of two young women ten years apart in the same small town. Miranda has an uncanny talent for suspense. Megan Miranda’s new novel, THE PERFECT STRANGER, is just out.

Read a review of the book Megan Miranda can’t stop recommending.

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Lying in Wait
by Liz Nugent

Did someone order a complex heroine? Privileged wife and mother Lydia Fitzsimons may look perfect on the outside, but she’s a mess on the inside. Because her beautiful Dublin mansion houses a long-held secret, and her beloved son, Laurence, goes missing after discovering it. To say more would be to spoil it, but suffice to note that this psychological thriller is impossible to put down. 

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Lying in Wait
Liz Nugent

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Big Little Lies
by Liane Moriarty

Every town has its secrets, and no one knows that better than the ladies at the heart of Big Little Lies. Maybe you watched this novel’s own delicious adaption on HBO last year, maybe you didn’t. Either way, I recommend making this one your next beach read for another fix of gossipy small-town residents with complicated relationships held together by shared history and dark deeds. By the time you finish, you may find you have a whole new respect for Madeline, Celeste, Jane, Bonnie, and co.

via GIPHY

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Big Little Lies
Liane Moriarty

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Luckiest Girl Alive
by Jessica Knoll

No matter how far you run, your past will catch up to you” is true for everyone, but especially for Ani, the heroine of Luckiest Girl Alive. She escaped a humiliating experience at school and managed to completely reinvent herself with a glamorous job, stylish wardrobe, and successful fiancé. So why is she still haunted by her past? And can she face it once and for all in order to finally, truly set herself free? You’ve gotta read this one to find out.

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Luckiest Girl Alive
Jessica Knoll

Ani FaNelli is the epitome of young, modern women. And that’s not a good thing. Image-obsessed, cruel, and deceptive, Ani isn’t crazy so much as extraordinarily damaged from two traumatic high school events that are expertly revealed, piece by piece, in this masterful debut. I loved the anger in this political, well-observed novel, made more powerful by the reveal that Knoll’s own sexual assault contributed to its creation. Contemporary and timely: believe the hype.

Crazy like: Carrie Bradshaw with a cleaver.

Best crazy moment: Ani’s choice of porn. (Ouch.)

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