The original version of this newsletter was sent out on Tuesday, April 27.
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Hello, fellow bookworms!
Before we dive in, I hope many of you plan on attending the inaugural Santa Barbara Literary Festival this weekend, May 2-3! I’ll definitely be downtown taking in as much of the festivities as I can. Grab our print edition out this Thursday, April 30, for a sneak peek at what the festival has to offer!
This week, I’m bringing an author spotlight on the enigmatic works of Gillian Flynn. As of recently, I’ve read all three of her novels, and I can confidently say that if you like complicated female characters with a lot of darkness and grit, Flynn’s works are definitely worth your time. In a world of “chick lit” and broadly marketable BookTok romances, I particularly appreciate Flynn’s commitment to serving up literary women who don’t fit the mold, who aren’t sweet or nice or comfortable to slip into the minds of, yet are all the more compelling for it.
A couple of years ago, I had the pleasure of meeting Gillian Flynn when she came to the El Encanto’s Lunch with an Author series, after a fascinating talk about her creative process and where she draws inspiration for her female characters. As grim as her subject matter is, Flynn is warm, kind, and hilarious in person, smiling even as she signed my book “With dark regards.”
Gone Girl (2012)
Let’s start with Flynn’s best-known work: Gone Girl. Might be a hot take, but this was the one I liked the least.
When beautiful suburban wife Amy Dunne mysteriously disappears, all signs point to her husband, Nick. Money troubles, a secret mistress, Amy’s diary, forensics, and a possible pregnancy paint a picture of Nick’s motive, means, opportunity, and the court of public opinion is ready to go in for the kill. But while Nick is certainly not the perfect husband, did he really kill his wife? I’ll spoil it here (since, let’s be honest, the basic plot would be a dime a dozen otherwise), but Amy is the one behind her own disappearance. Meticulously written diary entries, faked forensics, and other seeds planted in people’s minds set the scene to frame her husband for her murder. While Nick is trying to clear his name and unravel the mystery Amy left behind, Amy’s in the wind, but is she as gone as she appears?
Gone Girl is certainly a hell of a ride; I was never sure what twist, reveal, or lie might appear next. Both Nick and Amy, who trade off chapters of first-person POV, are very unreliable narrators, intentionally concealing about as much from the reader as they do from each other. Despite the secrets, their particular brand of twisted, toxic relationship is fascinating enough to keep you reading and wondering, Where on earth is this trainwreck heading?! However, I found both of them deeply unlikable in a way that while feeling realistic and filling a niche that I believe is very worthwhile and necessary in fiction — not all characters should be likable! — did dampen my overall enjoyment of the story. It’s easier to root for Amy, because part of me just wanted to see what she’d get away with next, but oh man, if her story were on the news in real life, I wouldn’t be cheering for her!
Ultimately, I’d say Gone Girl is very worth the read, especially if you like twisted mysteries and even more twisted female characters. But in my opinion, Flynn’s other two books, which get less hype, are even more worth it.
Dark Places (2009)
When Libby Day was a child, her mother and two sisters were violently killed in their home. Libby only survived by hiding, and her testimony sent her teenage brother, Ben, to prison for the crime. But 20 years later, desperate for money, she finds herself appearing at clubs of true-crime enthusiasts filled with people who vehemently believe that Ben is innocent, and their evidence causes her own doubt about what she saw and heard, which she has done her best to bury and forget, to resurface. Libby delves down the dark path of her family story to bring the long-buried truth to light.
Dark Places was the first Gillian Flynn novel I read, and it immediately caught my attention from the first line: “I have a meanness inside me, real as an organ.” Libby Day is as dark, bitter, and sour a character as the first line and all her childhood trauma suggest, but there is something painfully childlike about her, too, and a naivete in the way she navigates the world. She has perceptions about her own life and her family’s fate that have been baked in for so long and are now being challenged and shaken, and it makes for an unsettling trip through her mind as she navigates the truths she uncovers.
The imagery is nauseatingly vivid (even my strong stomach was tested) but it all serves to paint a haunting portrait of the way damage and trauma can ripple outward, affect others, and linger — unless we break the cycle.
Sharp Objects (2006)
My most recent Flynn read, and it immediately skyrocketed to the top spot for me.
Reporter Camille Preaker returns to her small Missouri hometown to report on the unsolved murder and disappearance of two pre-teen girls. She hasn’t been home in years, keeping a barrier between herself and her neurotic mother and distant stepfather, but sometimes the only way forward is to go back — to a home she thought she’d left behind for good, to her mysterious 13-year-old half-sister she last saw when she was little, and to a town full of secrets that could drag her down too if she doesn’t keep her wits about her.
I have no clue what took me so long to read Sharp Objects, but I’m so glad I finally did — I savored this book slowly, saving it for my nighttime reading when I could fully concentrate on it. It might be the shortest of Flynn’s books, but as usual, her compelling use of imagery paints a picture of Wind Gap, Missouri; the beautiful Victorian house Camille grew up in; and the tangled relationships between characters that flesh out the world in your mind. While the mystery is as twisty and compelling as any of Flynn’s works, what made me love this book was Camille as a character.
She’s not as angrily spiteful as Amy Dunne or as bitterly broken as Libby Day, but she has a resigned sadness to her, a sense of always being on the outside looking in. Flynn also leans into the contrast between beauty and ugliness — a stunning house hiding dark family secrets, a beautiful woman with pain written across her skin, a mother’s controlling nature masked as care — in a way she doesn’t in her other two books, and it’s seductive yet ominous all at once.
I’m about halfway through the HBO adaptation of Sharp Objects starring Amy Adams, and I’m savoring it as much as I did the book. It’s stunningly book-accurate while also fleshing out even more of the town’s lore and characters’ backgrounds, and the actors are absolutely killing it.
Happy reading,
—Tessa, allbooked@independent.com
FROM OUR PAGES
We’ve had some great author visits and interviews recently, so don’t miss out. Here is some of our book-related coverage from the last two weeks! Read all this and more at Independent.com.
“A Variety of Voices Coming to Godmothers Books in Summerland This Spring” by Rebecca Horrigan
“Politics of the Past, Politics of the Future” by Elaine Sanders
“Jace Turner Is the 2026 Library Champion” by Leslie Dinaberg
UPCOMING BOOK EVENTS
Below, you will find a few bookish events coming up in Santa Barbara. If you are hosting a bookish event in Santa Barbara, be sure to submit the event to our online events calendar.
S.B. Eastside Library Bilingual Songs & Stories for Kids
Tuesday, April 28, 11 a.m. | Eastside Library
Montecito Book Club: Melissa Fleming, A Hope More Powerful than the Sea
Tuesday, April 28, 2 p.m. | Montecito Library
Book Fair Benefiting Hope Elementary School
Thursday, April 28, 5-7 p.m. | Chaucer’s Books
Goleta Valley Library Mystery Book Club: Liz Moore, The God of the Woods
Tuesday, April 28, 5:30 p.m. | Goleta Community Center
S.B. Central Library Story Creators
Wednesday, April 29, 4 p.m. | S.B. Central Library
S.B. Eastside Library Sensory-Friendly Storytime
Friday, May 1, 4:45 p.m. | S.B. Central Library
Godmothers Gather: Luis Mojica and Sah D’Simone, Food Therapy: Conscious Eating to Navigate Anxiety, Stress & Trauma
Friday, May 1, 6 p.m. | Godmothers
Santa Barbara Literary Festival
Saturday-Sunday, May 2-3 | Downtown Santa Barbara
SBMAL Open House
Saturday, May 2, 9:30 a.m. | S.B. Mission Archive-Library (SBMAL)
Storytime at the Sea Center
Saturday, May 2, 10:30 a.m. | S.B. Museum of Natural History Sea Center
Metro Entertainment: Free Comic Book Day
Saturday, May 2, 11 a.m. | Metro Entertainment
Godmothers Storytime: Little G’s: Scott Rothman, Judgy Bunny & the Terrible Beach
Saturday, May 2, 11 a.m. | Godmothers
S.B. Museum of Art: Writing in the Galleries
Saturday, May 2, 11:15 a.m. | S.B. Museum of Art
Goleta Valley Library Writers’ Workshop
Saturday, May 2, 12:30 p.m. | Goleta Community Center
Goleta Community Center Stars and Fireflies: Stories from Mixtepec
Saturday, May 2, 3 p.m. | Goleta Community Center
Godmothers Gather: Spencer Pratt, The Guy You Loved to Hate
Saturday, May 2, 6 p.m. | Godmothers
Godmothers Little G’s: Godmothers Day in the Kids’ Corner
Sunday, May 3, 10 a.m. | Godmothers
Author Event: Claudia Landry Hoag McGarry, I Wish I Had a French Café and Almond Croissants (email claudiahoagmcgarry@gmail.com)
Sunday, May 3, 2-4 p.m. | 2544 Mesa School Ln.
Maravilla Author Event for Debut Memoir
Monday, May 4, 1 p.m. | Maravilla Senior Living Community
SBPL Wonder and Awe Poetry Reading: S.B. Unified Student Poetry Contest Winners
Monday, May 4, 5 p.m. | S.B. Central Library
Godmothers Gather: Sabrina Rudin & Sarah Wright Olsen, Healthy with a Side of Happy
Monday, May 4, 6 p.m. | Godmothers
SBPL Fiction Book Club
Tuesday, May 5, 5:30 p.m. | S.B. Central Library
Godmothers Gather: The Elsewhere Book Club: Vincent Delacroix, Small Boat
Wednesday, May 6, 5:30 p.m. | Godmothers
S.B. Central Library Social Justice Book Club
Wednesday, May 6, 5:30 p.m. | S.B. Central Library
UCSB Reads 2026 Presents Author Michelle Zauner
Thursday, May 7, 7:30 p.m. | Campbell Hall, UCSB
Guess Who’s in Town Poetry Reading with James Crews and Brad Peacock
Friday, May 8, 5:30 p.m. | S.B. Central Library
SBMM Book Club
Saturday, May 9, 10 a.m. | S.B. Maritime Museum
Storytime at the Sea Center
Saturday, May 9, 10:30 a.m. | S.B. Museum of Natural History Sea Center
Storytime at the Sea Center
Sunday, May 10, 10:30 a.m. | S.B. Museum of Natural History Sea Center
Godmothers Gather: Eliza Reid, The First Lady Next Door: A Memoir of Iceland, Identity, and Unexpected Adventure
Sunday, May 10, 6 p.m. | Godmothers
Poetry on the Plate at Black Sheep
Monday, May 11, 5:30 p.m. | Black Sheep
S.B. SPOTLIGHT
We at the Independent get many books sent to us by area authors, sometimes too many! It’s practically impossible for us to read and review them all, but just because we are busy bees does not mean that they aren’t worth the attention. In an attempt to not completely drop the ball, we have compiled a list of books here that are either written by a Santa Barbara author, feature someone in our community, or have another tie to Santa Barbara. I urge you to look through this list. Perhaps you will find your new favorite read!
The following are the most recent titles that have been sent to us.
Memory Rehearsal by Eleni Sikelianos
I Wish I Had a French Café and Almond Croissants by Claudia Landry Hoag McGarry
If you are a local author and would like us to feature your book in this section, please email allbooked@independent.com with the subject line “S.B. Spotlight.”
Book Reviews Courtesy of CALIFORNIA REVIEW OF BOOKS*
Thanks to the generous contributions of David Starkey, Brian Tanguay and their team of reviewers at California Review of Books, we are able to provide a steady stream of book reviews via our content partnership. Recent reviews at Independent.com include:
Honeysuckle by Bar Fridman-Tell; review by Brian Tanguay
The Irish Goodbye by Beth Ann Fennelly; review by David Starkey
*At the present time, all of the Independent’s book reviews are provided in collaboration with California Review of Books (calirb.com).
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