GONE, BABY, GONE. My Review of GONE GIRL by GILLIAN FLYNN

I had the luxury of receiving an advanced reader's copy (ARC)* of the hot new novel GONE GIRL by Gillian Flynn to read and review for the AMAZON VINE program.
This review first appeared there.


How do you review a book such as this without giving too much away? Well, let's start with the basics.
It is the morning of Nick and Amy's 5th wedding anniversary. Nick gets up, and heads out to the bar he co-owns with his twin sister, Margo, known to everyone as "GO". Several hours later, Nick gets a call from his neighbor that his front door is open and his indoor cat is outside. Nick goes home to find Amy gone.. He sees what could be considered signs of a struggle and calls the police.
Now, with most stories of this type, the spouse is always the first suspect, so I expected at some point the investigation would turn to Nick. It did seem that everyone around him was fully supportive. Amy's parents, the police, his sister.  I found myself liking Nick in the beginning and hoped there was some other explanation for Amy's disappearance.

I immediately started speculating about how it would all turn out. Did Nick kill Amy? Was she even dead? Would it  turn out that someone else was involved? Would Amy  be found,and if so, how would it affect the relationship between her and Nick. Would I piece it all together and know who the real "villain" was? I thought so. I WAS WRONG. So very, very wrong.

I really should have known better. I have read Gillian Flynn's previous 2 novels and I know how dark they can be. But Gone Girl wasn't just dark. It was REALLY DARK. I mean REALLY, REALLY DARK. Some other words I would use to describe it are twisted, crazy and even scary.
The novel is told partly from Nick's point of view and also through Amy's diary entries, so you are aware of Nick's thoughts as well as get an idea of who Amy is. Nick is an admitted liar,Amy has some issues of her own and that is only the beginning.  It becomes clear this was not a perfect marriage-heck, not even a typical marriage. I am afraid to say  much more without spoiling it for those who have not read it. I don't mind spoilers at times, but I will say that if I knew anymore than I did about this novel before reading it, it would have completely ruined the experience. I don't think I would ever have guessed that half way through I would be throwing the book in the air and saying out loud "NO F-ing WAY".

 I will say Ms Flynn had me from casually reading a few pages a day to staying up all night trying to finish this book. If you are a fan of her work, you need to read this. If you are not, you will be after you do. I just can't wait to see what she has in store for us in the future.



 In my opinion, this is the MUST READ of the Summer.
 You can buy it on amazon.com here:http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/030758836X/ref=cm_cr_thx_view