Book Review - Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn

Release Date: June 5th, 2012

Genre: Thriller and Suspense

My Rating: 4 out of 5 Stars

Here's the Summary:

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’ve struggled with how to approach this review, partly because it’s hard to know where to begin, and partly because I don’t want to give a single, solitary thing away. The reader needs to dive into it with zero clue as to what might happen. I say this because someone spilled a VERY important aspect of the book to me in passing, so after I cracked the book open, I already knew about a major plot point.

Yeah... you read that right: someone gave away part of the ******* book!!!! Ugh.

I’m glad to say, though, that it didn’t ruin it for me because there were so many other things I didn’t know, and of course I was dying to know how it ended. But for the sake of not disclosing anything that might possibly ruin the experience for others, I’ve decided to do what I feel is best: an interpretive .gif review to portray every emotion as I read. lol I’ve also included an EXCLUSIVE alternate ending at the bottom (that I completely dreamed up) to make me feel better about how it all concluded, so PLEASE DON’T READ PAST THE SPOILER ALERT BELOW unless you’ve already read the book!!! The only thing I will say about the plot line is the ending could have been better. It actually left me a little deflated and nauseous (after the irritation subsided, of course), otherwise it would have been a solid 5 instead of a 4.

Enjoy :)

Oh, this is a good start! Flawless writing. Multi-faceted characters. Love the wife. Starting to hate the husband... I think. Or maybe I like him? But... something's not right. Something is definitely not right.

Yep!!! Definitely hate the husband. Why you gotta go and get all cliche on me, Nick??

Okay, what the heck? Something isn't adding up here! Nick, just fess up, man. You did it, didn't you?!

OMG... that twist!!! So wrong. So so so wrong. That's a new level of crazy. You should have a mental disorder named after you.

Whew! Okay, good. I still dislike pretty much everyone in this novel - minus Margo and the cat - but maybe there's hope for a decent outcome. Me thinking about the antagonist finally getting what's coming to 'em:

But wait... what?! Are you SERIOUS?? That ending had me like:

And that concludes my review :) 

*******SPOILER ALERT*********

EXCLUSIVE ALTERNATE ENDING:

 In an ironic twist of fate, the Amazingly psychotic/ clever/ narcissistic sociopath that is Amy, died a very un-AMAZING death by choking on a chili Frito, leaving need-to-grow-a-pair-Nick free to publish his side of the story and live the rest of his days without needing to sleep with one eye open in fear that the psycho ***** will slit his throat.

THE END

About the Author:

Gillian Flynn is an American author and television critic for Entertainment Weekly. She has so far written three novels, Sharp Objects, for which she won the 2007 Ian Fleming Steel Dagger for the best thriller; Dark Places; and her best-selling third novel Gone Girl.

Her book has received wide praise, including from authors such as Stephen King. The dark plot revolves around a serial killer in a Missouri town, and the reporter who has returned from Chicago to cover the event. Themes include dysfunctional families,violence and self-harm.

In 2007 the novel was shortlisted for the Mystery Writers of America Edgar for Best First Novel by an American Writer, Crime Writers' Association Duncan Lawrie, CWA New Blood and Ian Fleming Steel Daggers, winning in the last two categories.

Flynn, who lives in Chicago, grew up in Kansas City, Missouri. She graduated at the University of Kansas, and qualified for a Master's degree from Northwestern University.