Gone Girl took me a while to get into.
The main reason for this procrastination was my serious dislike of both Amy and Nick Dunne right from the word go. They were selfish, thoughtless and oh so fake.
It took me a little while longer to realise that just because I didn’t like them didn’t mean I couldn’t enjoy watching them self-destruct page after page, chapter after chapter!!
This is a difficult book to review because there are a number of U-turns, OMG moments and red herrings that to review it properly would spoil it completely for anyone wanting to read it.
The basic plot is that Amy goes missing under very suspicious circumstances on their 5th wedding anniversary. The story is then told in alternating chapters starting with Nick’s current day voice detailing the investigation. Followed by chapters from Amy’s diary charting the course of their early romance and eventual marriage.
Curiously I found Gillian’s male characters more convincing than her female ones. My husband also remarked how well she inhabited the male psyche.
This book could be a good book club book. The two main characters would create a lot of heated discussion and everyone could compete over how soon they worked out some of the twists and turns! It’s definitely a book you want to talk to someone about afterwards.
Marriage can be a real killer.
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.
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