Series: Standalone
Release Date: May 4th, 2012
On a warm summer morning in North Carthage, Missouri, it is Nick and Amy Dunne’s fifth wedding anniversary. Presents are being wrapped and reservations are being made when Nick’s clever and beautiful wife disappears from their rented McMansion on the Mississippi River. Husband-of-the-Year Nick isn’t doing himself any favors with cringe-worthy daydreams about the slope and shape of his wife’s head, but passages from Amy’s diary reveal the alpha-girl perfectionist could have put anyone dangerously on edge. Under mounting pressure from the police and the media—as well as Amy’s fiercely doting parents—the town golden boy parades an endless series of lies, deceits, and inappropriate behavior. Nick is oddly evasive, and he’s definitely bitter—but is he really a killer?
As the cops close in, every couple in town is soon wondering how well they know the one that they love. With his twin sister, Margo, at his side, Nick stands by his innocence. Trouble is, if Nick didn’t do it, where is that beautiful wife? And what was in that silvery gift box hidden in the back of her bedroom closet?
With her razor-sharp writing and trademark psychological insight, Gillian Flynn delivers a fast-paced, devilishly dark, and ingeniously plotted thriller that confirms her status as one of the hottest writers around.
One of the most critically acclaimed suspense writers of our time, New York Times bestseller Gillian Flynn takes that statement to its darkest place in this unputdownable masterpiece about a marriage gone terribly, terribly wrong. The Chicago Tribune proclaimed that her work “draws you in and keeps you reading with the force of a pure but nasty addiction.” Gone Girl’s toxic mix of sharp-edged wit and deliciously chilling prose creates a nerve-fraying thriller that confounds you at every turn.
• BIPOC characters
• LGBTQIA+ characters
• characters with a disability
And doesn’t address fatphobia
• Violence (Blood and gore)
• Use of false rape claims as a plot device
• Sexual abuse
• Emotional abuse
• Psychological abuse
• See Ending for HEA status.
• See Possible Triggers for Abuse and OTT sad parts.
Rating: 4.5/5 stars
After reading Gone Girl–which I finished in a day by the way–my mind was blown away! The book was so beautifully crafted, that I felt like I really knew both Nick and Amy, even if I didn’t want to.
In the beginning, I sympathized with Nick. He’s the top murder suspect in his missing wife’s case. But then things start getting interesting… interesting in an awful way for Nick.
I honestly cannot say much–or really anything–without giving away a spoiler. I will just say that every small detail matters, and everything that seems inconsequential issues, probably more than the big stuff. And this is because you’re dealing with a marriage between a narcissist and a sociopath, and that’s all I’m going to reveal on that topic.
Gone Girl, I believe, is best when you only know what the blurb provides you. This book was so exciting and mind-boggling that I had to take breaks reading Gone Girl, and yet was still successful in finishing this book in less than 10 hours–that’s how consuming it was. The plot was so intricate, it illuminated the extent to which Flynn planned the story. Again, I can’t really write anything without giving anything away, but once you read it, you’ll get it. To summarize, HOLY FREAKING SHIT.
On a slightly disappointing note, I was able to predict the ending correctly, which I thought was weird since Gone Girl‘s a thriller/mystery/crime/suspense. The end is supposed to be so preposterous that you’re left feeling: wait, what? The actual ending did give me pause, but the part where I discovered if Nick had anything to do with his wife’s disappearance was predictable. But now I’ve come to the conclusion that that ending in Gone Girl wasn’t supposed to be the ‘big event.’ Gone Girl was awesome because I was continually asking myself: Who? What? Where? When? Why? How?
This may sound slightly weird, but I also kind of admired one of the characters. Not the least in the way like, you’re my hero … um, no. But more in the way that I’m just so shocked by how smart and prepared they were. It seemed for every.single.thing they had the equivalent of the trump card or winning point in an argument.
In terms of the characters, I just wanted to say that although Amy turned out to be not so sane, I found her incredibly fascinating. And again, I sympathized with her, especially in the beginning. Nick was touch and go, to be honest. Sometimes I would find myself saying, well it sucks to be him, but since every other chapter in the first part (there are three parts of the book) of the book was a diary entry of Amy’s, I just felt like Nick was this huge jackass that didn’t appreciate his wife. Now that is true–on so many levels–in fact, there’s one part where I didn’t know if I could stomach continuing the book because I have a low tolerance for bullshit and well, you’ll see if you read it (sorry to be vague). But later on, when you actually get Amy’s perspective, instead of just diary entries, you get to see that their relationship isn’t as black and white. This was also pointed out by Nick in his later chapters when he admitted that he omitted the parts where Amy would try to help/comfort him. He would react negatively, resenting and ignoring her and then later get mad at her for being so bitter. Their marriage was honestly this vicious cycle of not wanting the other to think they were weak, and so they hid everything from each other (or tried to) and yet still expected their spouse to know what they wanted. It also really honed the point that there are two sides to every story, and the truth usually lies somewhere in the middle.
Gone Girl is awesome. I just wanted to put it out there. And I also want to say that this book is more a mystery and suspenseful than it is dark but don’t take me wrong, there are dark thoughts, murder, betrayals, lies, and sex. Neither of those is that descriptive, but it varies.
And the fact that Gone Girl is a movie starring Ben Affleck and Rosamund Pike… I cannot wait to see the film now that I’ve read the book. It’ll be interesting to see what has been taken away, and possibly added. It will be even more interesting if the story changes a little since this book had the most fabulous horror-movie type ending, where it’s is THE END, but there’s obviously room for more information. But you’re not going to get that information.
So the final question is: do you really think Nick’s a killer? Read the book or watch the movie to find out!
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