Camille Preaker is a journalist for a small Chicago newspaper who is assigned to report on a double murder in her hometown of Wind Gap. Her editor, Frank Curry, thought she would have some insight into what was happening in that village and would give her an opportunity to go back home for a bit. Two young girls were brutally murdered within a couple of weeks of each other and there were only a few leads as to who the perpetrator was. Curry was unaware of the cold relationship Camille had with her mother and her step-father, Alan. Her family life was dysfunctional to say the least. She had been born to her young mother, Adora, and never knew her father. Her sister Marian had died at a young age and then another sister, Amma, born when she was a teenager and 13 when the story commences.
Adora inherited her family's hog farm and was independently wealthy. She suffered from Munchausen syndrome by proxy for the way she needed to be in control and garner attention from the townspeople. Her sheer indifference to Camille made it difficult for her to return home. Likewise, how so many people and the town itself hadn't changed hearkened a time from which Camille had escaped. She meets Richard Willis who is in town to help with the murder investigation and the tow become close as they work to solve the murders. Upon discovering that Camille was a cutter and had scars over her body, he removed himself from her company, but not after helping to solve the mystery.
Amma is a central character to the case and transforms from the perfect daughter playing with her dollhouse and dolls, when Adora is around, to a vile drug-dealing, and promiscuous teenager when away from home. Camille tries to reconcile their relationship, but it is difficult.
As the facts about the murders become clearer, so does Camille's internal struggles and the horrible truth that emerges. The character development is one of Flynn's hallmark written qualities. From beginning to end the novel will keep you on the edge of your seat as you deal with the psychological struggles, the reactions and personalities of the townspeople, and the familial relationships.
