This is one of those books that at the end the only thing that can be said (after the shouting is over) is: Seriously?!?
I went to a book signing over the summer run by one of the independent bookstores in town and before the author came out, the bookstore had representatives from publishing houses there to tell us about the latest and greatest books in their arsenal. I had heard of Gone Girl (I mean, SJP was caught carrying the book), but I hadn’t paid it any attention until that night. I knew I had to read this book from the minute the rep said the following: “This is your typical boy meets girl, boy marries girl, boy loses girl . . . or does he?”
As far as pitches go, it isn’t the best I’ve ever heard, but there was something about the way he smiled when he said it; like he knew a secret I didn’t. I wanted to know, I had to know what was behind the smile; so I read the book. And I sort of felt like the rug was pulled out from under me – I don’t know what I was expecting, but whatever it was it wasn’t as conniving, sinister and downright crazy as I got (if you’ve read the book you know what I’m talking about *cough*Amy*cough*).
A basic synopsis (nothing you wouldn’t find on the dust jacket of the book) is: On the day of their 5th wedding anniversary Nick’s wife Amy vanishes. There are signs of a violent struggle. Over the growing weeks Nick maintains his innocence in the disappearance of his wife, even as damaging evidence shows otherwise. The question is, if Nick wasn’t involved in Amy’s disappearance – where is she?
Gone Girl is superbly crafted; each reveal (there are a lot of them) is well timed and always packs a punch. The best part of the whole book is that both Nick and Amy are, at different points, the protagonist – Gillian Flynn pulls this off superbly and, in my opinion, is one of the reasons this novel is so compelling.
If you like a mystery that is strange, physiological, and so well crafted it makes the rest of us wonder why we bother to put pen to paper – then Gone Girl is for you.
P.S. – don’t worry when you need to discuss the ending, I’m reachable on Twitter.
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