Sharp Objects is a ghost story without the ghosts While some major TV dramas place emphasis on grandstanding showdowns, in-your-face exposition, and explosive set-pieces, HBO’s subtle new mystery series […]

While some major TV dramas place emphasis on grandstanding showdowns, in-your-face exposition, and explosive set-pieces, HBO’s subtle new mystery series Sharp Objects is all about the small, blink-and-you’ll-miss-it details.

The fact that Amy Adams’ haggard newspaper reporter has the word ‘dirty’ scraped into the dust on her rundown car’s boot. The fact that, upon being dispatched to her long-escaped-from-hometown to cover a potential story, she would rather stay in a crappy motel than with her mother (at least at first).

Protagonist Camille Preaker is not the first journalist with a harrowing past to grace the screen. But Sharp Objects is the kind of show that signals those Serious Issues through her song of choice being ‘Ring Of Fire’ – a ditty all about self-destruction and the threat of oblivion.

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In much the same way, we get a telling insight into the otherwise gruff police chief’s personality by the fact he has a novelty ‘Wanted’ poster with his own face on it hanging on his office wall – lurking in the background of the shot.

Crumbling buildings and forgotten towns

Adapted by Gone Girl author Gillian Flynn and producer Marti Noxon from Flynn’s own debut novel, Sharp Objects – which starts on Sky Atlantic in the UK this weekend – is armed with the kind of tantalising set-up you’d expect.

Having been struggling with some kind of trauma, Camille is pressed into returning to the place where she grew up by Miguel Sandoval’s possibly earnest, possibly selfish Editor; ostensibly to “get her back on her feet”, but also because he can smell the possibility of a personal-story-driven Pulitzer.

A girl has been found murdered in the town of Wind Gap, Missouri, and another is missing. Are the cases connected? And just what was it that drove Camille from there in the first place?

Packing only booze, sweets and medication for the journey, Adams’ reluctant writer is as quiet and subdued as the drama itself as she drives back into her past against a backdrop of crumbling buildings and forgotten towns.

Wind Gap is a place with “the hottest Karaoke club in seven counties”. A place made up of “trash” and “old money” (or “trash – from old money”, as Camille describes herself).

It’s “totally dead”, as a local teenager says. Death, decay and depression being themes that run through Sharp Objects as keenly as any detective enquiry.

A bit Terrence Malick; a bit Stephen King

It is obvious from Camille’s silent, shaken response to her editor’s assignment that she really doesn’t want to go back to Wind Gap. Equally obvious that this show’s mystery is as much about what happened in her youth, as it is about the fate of the two girls in the present.

From the surreal, dream-like opening sequence of the first episode, flashbacks bleed seamlessly into the present in a clever and intentionally disorientating way.

They often occur in brief, seconds-long snatches; glimpses, echoes and images of childhood memories. Kids riding around on bikes, discovering sexuality, being menaced in the woods.

These moments are a little bit Terrence Malick. A little bit Stephen King. It certainly feels fitting that Sophia Lillis – who played Bev in last year’s IT adaptation – portrays the young Camille in these snapshots.

Sharp Objects is a ghost story without the ghosts, in the classic sense of someone being relentlessly haunted by the past. Some of the show’s aspects even pay homage to that.

Camille’s family home is a big, old (if brightly lit) house, complete with a looming landing, creepy doll’s house and a child’s room eerily untouched by time.

Her passive-aggressive mother (Patricia Clarkson) is the model of civility on the surface, but straight away seeks to make Camille feel guilt, and has a pointed, disapproving way of speaking with her daughter.

“I’m happy that you’re here. But please – don’t embarrass me.”

That aforementioned opening sequence ends with a hint of self-harm.

Slow-burning mystery

All episodes are directed by Big Little Lies’ Jean-Marc Vallee. And though it might be tempting to draw parallels between the small community snark and dark underbelly of that show, and the murky intrigue of Flynn’s other Illinois-set saga Gone Girl, this is very much its own beast.

If you’re expecting an action-packed, eventful and fast-paced thriller, look elsewhere. This is contemplative, slow-burning stuff that takes its time to build an evocative sense of place and character. But that’s no bad thing.

There are lots dialogue-free moments that let the actors’ expressions do the talking. Adams, who has already proven herself to be one of the finest actors of her generation, is thoroughly convincing in the lead role; a sad, world-weary vacuum in her eyes as she shambles from one encounter to the next, barely existing in a world which seems thick with cynicism.

Yet if all of this sounds depressing, it oddly isn’t. There’s a wonderfully deadpan, wry sense of humour to many of the exchanges, which rings true to the people of any self-deprecating small town. The dialogue is dry and witty. And there’s the sense that Camille may gradually find new purpose.

It’s interesting that the actual case of the abducted girls is not something we’re thrown headlong into from the off; instead being a steady mystery that builds gradually over time. There are some shocking images however, and when bad things happen, they have real impact. One crucial discovery is haunting in its matter-of-fact presentation.

Sharp Objects is about the effect that violence has on people – mirroring Camille’s own human interest approach to her journalistic assignment.

As an intimate study of one person’s demons, and those of the community she left behind, it’s intriguing and intensely atmospheric even without the whodunnit element.

Sharp Objects will premiere on Sky Atlantic at 2am in the morning on Monday 9 July, with the first episode available on catch-up afterwards. Episode one will also be broadcast on Sky Atlantic at 9pm that day.

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