Gillian Flynn was born on February 24, 1971 in Kansas City. Both her parents were professors, and Flynn, who was a shy child, spent much of her childhood reading and writing. She studied English and journalism at the University of Kansas, followed by a Master's degree in journalism at Northwestern University. After experimenting with police reporting and freelance journalism, she was hired by Entertainment Weekly in 1998, where she worked as a film and television critic.
Flynn's first novel, Sharp Objects, was published in 2006 while she was still working at Entertainment Weekly. The novel won a number of awards and was followed by her second novel, Dark Places, in 2009. In 2008, Flynn...