Review: Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn

 

Review: Gone Girl

Author: Gillian Flynn

Published: Crown Publishing June 2012

Synopsis: “‘What are you thinking, Amy? The question I’ve asked most often during our marriage, if not out loud, if not to the person who could answer. I suppose these questions stormcloud over every marriage: What are you thinking? How are you feeling? Who are you? What have we done to each other? What will we do?'” Just how well can you ever know the person you love? This is the question that Nick Dunne must ask himself on the morning of his fifth wedding anniversary, when his wife Amy suddenly disappears. The police immediately suspect Nick. Amy’s friends reveal that she was afraid of him, that she kept secrets from him. He swears it isn’t true. A police examination of his computer shows strange searches. He says they aren’t his. And then there are the persistent calls on his mobile phone. So what did really did happen to Nick’s beautiful wife? And what was left in that half-wrapped box left so casually on their marital bed? In this novel, marriage truly is the art of war..

Status: Read from June 03 to 04, 2012 — I own a copy {Courtesy Crown Publishing/Netgalley}

My Thoughts:

I have no idea how to review this book without inadvertently revealing something that will spoil it for a reader, so it may be the shortest review I have written in a while.

After a slightly slow start I was gripped by this chilling, tangled tale of love, hate and revenge. The plot is complex yet startlingly simple on reflection. The twists are incredible, lulled into believing one thing, I actually drew in a breath of shock each time Flynn flipped the direction of the story on its head. Flynn plays brilliantly on our own prejudices about class, marriage, money, domestic violence and infidelity and delves deeply into the psyche of two ordinary yet shocking personalities.

Just as I thought I had a handle on the characters of Amy and Nick, I would be side swiped by a revelation I hadn’t considered. What you think you know about these people, their marriage, their life can never be relied on. Guilt and blame is assigned and then shifted and it isn’t until the end you have any idea where you stand, and even then…

Brilliant and disturbing in equal measure Gone Girl is an engrossing read, don’t be fooled by the brevity of this review – I just don’t want to spoil anything for you! Gone Girl won’t be for everyone, but I found it simply astonishing.

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