BOOK REVIEW: Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn

Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn is one of those books that came to my notice because of the book blogging world. A contemporary psychological thriller, it’s not the type of book I would have picked up at the book store and decided to purchase on a whim. Someone would have had to have put it in my hand and said "Read this." But the novel whirled around the blogosphere and I decided I wanted to see what all the hoopla was about. Plus, my library carried it as an ebook, and it’s still kind of fun to borrow ebooks. I don’t do it that often. When the book is available you only get 3 days to download it and then 14 days to read it, so whatever book it is has to jump everything else in the TBR line. But there is still something a little thrilling about pushing a button and having a book appear...and knowing that in 2 weeks it will just disappear and I don’t have to worry about taking it back to the library. I’m old enough not to take that for granted but to find it kind of disturbingly magical.

Anyway, Gone Girl. This is a very good book about some truly awful people. Well, some are truly awful, others are just not very pleasant.

The story opens on the morning of the fifth wedding anniversary of Nick Dunne and Amy Elliott Dunne. These attractive young people were once happily wed writers in New York City, but they suffered a series of professional, financial, and personal setbacks and have ended up in a rental home in Nick’s hometown, New Carthage, Missouri. These two don’t do well under duress, so their marriage is not doing well, has not been doing well for quite some time. And, on this special morning, Amy disappears. Nick is left to deal with the obvious consequences of a missing wife.

The story is told in alternating POV’s, starting out with Nick in the present and old diary entries of Amy’s filling in backstory. This is another book where the plot cannot be summarized without spoiling the suspense. So I’ll stop here.

Gone Girl is an addictive read. The twists and turns of the plot kept me curious and racing to read to the finish. If you like your characters nasty and too smart for their own good, try Gone Girl.

This is another book added to my library challenge hosted by Book Dragon’s Lair.