Gone Girl

Author: Gillian Flynn
Genre: Suspense
Type: Hardcover
Source: Public Library
Pages: 432
First Published: June 2012
First Line: "When I think of my wife, I always think of her head."

Book Description from GoodReads:  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. 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? 

My Review:  I admit to being a little slow on the uptake when it came to picking up this book.  It's been out for two years and has been highly recommended to me by quite a few people.  With the upcoming movie featuring Ben Affleck in the works I thought I'd finally pick it up to see what all the fuss was about.

This was a good read but I wouldn't call it a great read.  It was a hard to put down book for the first part and sure, there were twists but not nearly as many as I was expecting for such a popular suspenseful read.  I guess I thought that for the amount of hype surrounding this book that the twists would be more shocking and out of left field. 

Gone Girl started out strong for me but as I kept reading the rating I had in my head for it began to decrease from a 4.5 to a 3.5 or even a 3.  The pace and suspense starts our really strong but somewhere around half way the suspense just wasn't there for me and when the book ended suddenly (I'm talking literary skid marks!) my rating plummeted more.  There was no finality to the ending.  It just ended and that was very unsatisfying.  

The characters were interesting in their own creepy ways and I did find myself rooting for Nick and Amy at different times in the book.  But I never felt like I liked them.  Maybe it's because they are utterly miserable throughout the entire book.  Honesty, it's hard to believe that a couple could be THAT dark and twisted which (here's hoping!!) is totally non-relatable for the average marriage.  Some of Nick and Amy's decisions left me shaking my head because for fairly smart people they made really stupid decisions -- decisions that could affect their entire lives.

I think part of the issue that I had with this book is that the plot was too intricate.  So much so that it became unbelievable.  It felt like everything that happened in the first part of the book was just all part of the bigger plan.  Everything had a reason and was plotted out in minute detail to the point where it became ridiculous and hard to believe.

SPOILER BELOW!!!


From the second part of the book, Amy goes from this brilliant (that word was overused!) sociopath with an intricate plan to trusting two strangers that begin to derail her ultimately evil plan.  It was hard to believe that a woman who set up this elaborate plan would succumb to such naivety.  It was ridiculous.  Amy was supremely patient when it came to concocting her plan and then falls for the obvious plan of two strangers and believes Nick's TV plea.  Her change of heart happened so fast I think I got whiplash.  Seriously unbelievable that she could be this brilliant psychopath and yet also be this gullible idiot who suddenly believes her cheating husband adores her again.


END OF SPOILER

Overall, this was just an OK read.  It started off strong and then the characters and ending chipped away at my rating so that by the end of the book I was left with a generous 3/5 stars.  I think I'll take a pass at watching the movie.

My Rating: 3/5 stars