Gone Girl Paperback – April 22, 2014

I don't often read outside of my comfort zone. I love science fiction and I love fantasy and not much else holds my interest. Every once and a while though I'll take a risk and venture outside my safety bubble. GONE GIRL by Gillian Flynn was recommended to me with infectious enthusiasm. It wasn't my usual cup of tea but the premise was perplexing and so I decided to give it a shot. WOW, I am so glad I did not let this one pass me by.On the morning of Amy Dunne's fifth wedding anniversary she goes missing. As the investigation gets rolling evidence leads the police and the public to suspect the obvious: it's always the husband. There is more to the story than Nick Dunne will let on but does that necessarily mean he is to blame for the disappearance of his wife?It's always the husband. Right? Maybe not...GONE GIRL is the best sort of book. This is the sort of novel that will challenge your preconceived notions. This is the sort of novel that will absorb you fully and not let you go until you flip the final page. Even then you are bound to continue mulling it over in your head. This is the sort of book that dominates your conscious, whether you're at work or school or whatever it is you people do. I don't take time to reflect on books as I read them. I just don't have the luxury. With GONE GIRL I was pausing every fifty pages or so to contemplate what it was that I had read. And even then I finished it in a few sittings. I got this book on a Tuesday and had finished it by Thursday night. At 400 pages and given the concerns of daily life that is no small feat.So what makes GONE GIRL such an addictive book? For starters it is incredibly well written. From start to finish, GONE GIRL is a nearly flawless psychological thriller. The book is told from two perspectives, Nick and Amy's. Nick's POV picks up the day Amy goes missing and continues on with the investigation. Amy's POV is past-tense, told in the form of diary entries leading up to the disappearance. For the entirety of the novel Nick maintains his innocence, but he also confesses to a number of indiscretions. The entries from Amy's diary paint a very different picture of Nick, as well as a very different picture of Amy. Readers will experience the two falling in and out of love, the highs and lows of the marriage, from two perspectives that don't quite match up.The characters of Nick and Amy are real people. At least that's how it feels. Flynn crafts remarkably authentic characters and utterly believable relationships. I developed genuine feelings for both leads, feelings that morphed and grew over the course of the novel. It's impossible not to care about these people. That doesn't mean they are necessarily likable. I've seen some complaints that they aren't "likable enough." Well yeah, that's true in a sense, because they are placed under a high intensity microscope. The deeper you look into someone the less you will find to like. But it goes both ways. The deeper you look into someone the more you can find to admire. I had anxiety over finishing the novel because I cared that much about these characters.The ancillary characters are also well drawn. It takes no effort at all to picture these people and their motivations and their relationships. There is no shortage of suspects, even though all of the evidence seems to be pointing in one direction. It is enough to make you wonder how thoroughly the media influences perception. Everyone always assumes the husband is to blame but that's what we have been conditioned to believe.GONE GIRL is a psychological thriller of the highest order. Hitchcock style. The suspense is almost unbearable. Horror movie directors need to take some freaking notes. This is how you do it. GONE GIRL is too involved for a movie but I would love to see it picked up and developed as a television mini-series. Even when I expected one twist I was still floored when my revelation came true. It's just that good. There is some very dark, very twisted stuff here but none of it is beyond the realm of belief. And that's what makes it so creepy. This could happen to you. It could happen to me. I really, really hope this doesn't happen to me. It just goes to show you, sometimes the most disturbing thing of all is not knowing someone half so well as you think.Recommended Age: 17+Language: Plenty.Violence: Uh, wow I guess there really isn't any violence. But it is discussed.Sex: No real sex here either, but there is discussion of sex. \Nick SharpsElitist Book Reviews

There's a lot to like about Gillian Flynn's GONE GIRL. It's a captivating mystery (did charming Nick have anything to do with the disappearance of his lovely wife Amy?) and a cleverly conceived thriller (there are enough twists and turns to satisfy any fan of the genre). But what really works - and what makes GONE GIRL a real page turner - is how beautifully Flynn dissects the disintegration of a marriage. This isn't really a book about Amy's disappearance; in fact, that aspect of the plot becomes fairly moot by the half-way point. This is a book about what it means to love someone, in all its terrifyingly selfish horror. It's about what we do to one another in the name of love and happiness.Manhattan-born Amy is gorgeous, rich, and successful, and she admits to playing roles in her relationships with men (she'll be the "Cool Girl," since men love Cool Girls - easy-going, fun, never a complainer). Nick is likable and charismatic, yet he is haunted by his relationship with an angry and deranged father (at first he can't believe pretty Amy loves him; later he can't remember why he ever loved her). Their marriage is great until they both lose their jobs -- then they leave Manhattan for the pressure cooker of small-town Midwestern life, and nothing is ever quite the same again. On the morning of their fifth anniversary, Amy disappears. Nick becomes the primary suspect. And the reader is left trying to figure out which of these two characters to believe.In the first part of the novel, the narration shifts between Nick's story and Amy's journal entries. Sometimes they both describe the same event, and we get a clear picture of how impossible it is for two people to really understand each other. These two hurt each other without ever understanding why. They also both lie . . . repeatedly. Later in the story, we get a different picture. At first we sympathize with Amy and grow suspicious of Nick (she's loving and caring; he's sullen and secretive). Later, we will sympathize with him, and despise her. By the end, we won't know what to believe or what to think. Is anyone in the novel telling the truth?The ending of this book has generated quite a bit of controversy, mainly because what ultimately happens is so depressingly awful. But at the same time, it's difficult to imagine any other ending, outside the Hollywood "feel-good" kind of thing you would expect from a big-budget movie. There's nothing "feel-good" about this book - not the story, not the characters, and certainly not the ending. This is hard stuff, about people who are psychologically damaged. It's hard to like either of them. Near the end, Nick says, "So let everyone take sides. Team Nick, Team Amy. Turn it into even more of a game: Sell some [*******] T-shirts." There is no "Team Nick" and "Team Amy" here. You'll find yourself hard-pressed to support either of them by the end.Do I recommend this novel? Sure - I loved parts of it, even as I was repulsed by other parts. It's a fascinating read, and Nick and Amy are fascinating, if damaged, people. It will remind you of Turow's PRESUMED INNOCENT (if you've read it, you'll know what I mean), Craig Jones's masterful BLOOD SECRETS (out of print, but well worth the search for a used copy), and the 1981 film BODY HEAT (there's a fine line between passion and betrayal). But maybe the best comparison is to the 1989 dark comedy, WAR OF THE ROSES. If GONE GIRL was a comedy (and it's totally not), it would be WAR OF THE ROSES. By the end of that film, there wasn't much left to laugh about. By the end of GONE GIRL, you'll wonder if there'll ever be anything to laugh about again. It's a powerful book. But it's certainly not an easy read.