A SMALL American town. A pair of brutal murders. A reporter, dogged by a host of demons, returning home to investigate. These are the basic elements of “Sharp Objects”, an eight-part HBO miniseries based on the debut novel by Gillian Flynn, best known as the author of “Gone Girl”. The result in this case, however, is more than the sum of its well-worn parts.

Camille Preaker (Amy Adams) has not been much missed in Wind Gap, Missouri, nor is she welcomed now. Camille’s peers have children of their own. Local police consider her a scavenging journalist bent on stirring up trouble. Her patrician mother, Adora (Patricia Clarkson), shares their opinion: she can barely muster threadbare civility when Camille turns up, unannounced, and is appalled by her mission. “Go report somewhere else,” she hisses at Camille, “and leave these people be.” Perhaps this coldness is understandable. Still, there’s something rotten about Wind Gap, and the viewer knows it as surely as Camille does. Adora’s ice-cream hued mansion is the old-money…Continue reading
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