Gone Girl – Gillian Flynn

Title: Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn
Publishing Info: June 5, 2012 by Random House Publishing Group
Source: Used bookstore
Genres: Thriller, Mystery/Thriller, Adult
Find it on the web: Buy from Amazon // GoodreadsDate Completed: July 25, 2015

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?

** My review of GONE GIRL is GENERALLY spoiler-free! I will not reveal any plot points but will talk about the characters which may affect your opinion of them if you have not read the book (or seen the movie) yet. I mean, I’m going to TRY not to spoil but I make no promises. ** 

YES, this was my first read of GONE GIRL and whew! I cannot tell you how hard I worked to avoid all spoilers until I finally read the book. Let me tell you, it wasn’t easy, especially once the movie came out! I made it to this point with only one minor spoiler that I didn’t even understand so thankfully it didn’t affect my read at all!

I’m sure if you’re reading this review, chances are you’ve already read GONE GIRL or at least know very well what it’s about so I won’t hash out the details. I’m sure you also know that this book is BANANA SANDWICH and it actually made me wonder if it’s crazy in a good way or crazy in a bad way. Obviously you sort of know what’s going on before the book even begins (that’s why you picked it up, I’m assuming!) — Nick’s wife Amy goes missing and madness ensues. I won’t get into the details there but what happens throughout this chain of events is really eye-opening for every character in this book. You really learn everyone’s true nature and though some have some more demons than others, it’s really interesting to see how Amy’s disappearance and subsequent events really change (or reveal) things about everyone.

I had dozens of theories about what happened to Amy (just ask Andi — I emailed and texted her throughout my read about EVERYTHING). I think it’s kind of a given now since so many people have read the book that there’s some sort of twist in the book, but that’s about as much as I knew going in. Still, the whole time I braced myself for it (and theorized — these were my many ideas) so it wasn’t a huge surprise when that twist was finally revealed (and one of my theories was right. Naturally. I had about a hundred). What I will say is that I’m very surprised with several other twists. They weren’t necessarily anything big but I was quite impressed with how many things I didn’t see coming! I’ve been a mystery-lover for quite a while so I have a tendency to guess at twists and surprise endings so I sort of expected pieces of GONE GIRL to be predictable but there were still so many places that my brain just didn’t even go that I still had plenty of surprises left in the book!

Some of the things that happen in GONE GIRL are straight up appalling — from a physical and mental standpoint — but it was also kind of like that terrible train wreck that you can’t stop watching. Some aspects of the characters were plain frightening but others really made me step back and see those pieces in my own life and in a way, that was even scarier!

GONE GIRL wasn’t quite a five-star book for me but I was definitely hooked the whole time! I did feel a bit of lull in the writing towards the beginning but I also feel that was partially because I kept waiting for things to start spiraling out of control! It’s definitely an interesting book and messed up on so many levels but I also definitely understand the buzz and pull! I’m curious to see what Gillian Flynn’s other books are like (still dark, but in different ways, I’ve heard) and am anxious to read more!

“The View from Goodreads” is a featured section in my reviews that I decided to incorporate! I tend to update my Goodreads status a LOT when I read — reactions, feelings, notes — so I thought it would be fun to share the sort of “reading process”! All status updates are spoiler-free (no specific plot points will be revealed) but will contain reactions to certain pages and/or characters!

Nick // Character Obsessions: Amy, secrets, The Bar, Margo.
So, Nick. I don’t even know what to say about him. It’s so interesting to see how he changes throughout the book — no wait. It’s interesting to see how much we learn about him as the book progresses and THEN how much he changes. I’m not really sure what to say about him other than the fact that obviously I don’t approve of some of his choices but… So hard to talk about without spoilers. If you’ve read, you know.
Amy // Character Obsessions: Control, secrets, Nick, appearances.
Well, Amy definitely had a few secrets of her own. THAT was really interesting to see unravel too. The really interesting thing was, Amy had all kinds of surprises for Nick and for the readers and honestly some things I just did not see coming. Not just that it was surprising — I honestly didn’t anticipate some things and I think it made her character that much more interesting!

Kept Me Hooked On: Books that really mess with you. I didn’t totally fall in love with the book or the writing but BOY, I could not stop reading. I just had to find out what was going on, what happened to Amy, all of the pure insanity that had me hooked and totally messed with my brain.
Left Me Wanting More: Excellent writing. I can understand why people said that this wasn’t their favorite Gillian Flynn book — the shocks and the twists were really great and so insane but the writing wasn’t always stellar for me. It wasn’t something that bothered me but I did hit a tiny slow patch every once in a while that really prevented me from absolutely LOVING it.

Addiction Rating
Read it!

This was SO interesting. It definitely is worth the buzz for the twists and madness alone! I’m really curious to see how her other books go for me now.

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(Click the cover to see my review!)