MIA?  KIA?  OMG!

Author: Gillian Flynn

I love it when a friend says, “You have to read this book!”  (I love it even more if they then say, “Here, I’ll lend it to you!”  But I digress.)  Assuming they know anything at all about me and aren’t recommending a book on String Theory or taxidermy, the sheer force of their enthusiasm is enough to get me to pick up a book I might have overlooked.  That’s the long way of saying that a friend told me I should read Gone Girl – and I’m glad she did.

Gone Girl is the story of Nick and Amy.  They met in New York, where both were writers, fell in love and married.  They then proceeded to lose their jobs and move back to Nick’s small hometown in Missouri.  As we enter their story, it’s their fifth wedding anniversary.  And Amy has just disappeared.

We learn about their early years – courtship, relationship, jobs and personalities – through Nick’s narration and Amy’s diary entries.  They definitely drifted apart as the years went by and those perfect, sunny days of wooing and honeymooning came to an end.  Nick has his version of events, Amy has hers.  They don’t match particularly well, but isn’t that the nature of he said/she said?  Now that Amy has gone missing under highly suspicious circumstances, the police turn to the most logical suspect – Nick.  Nick turns to his most staunch, lifelong supporter, his twin sister Margo.  The book follows the police investigation through Nick, the life of the couple leading up to the disappearance through Amy’s diary and a whole lot of other stuff that I’m simply not going to divulge.  Let’s just say that nothing is ever quite what it seems in this relationship.

Gone Girl is a fast, exciting read with a lot of plot.   That probably seems like an odd statement, but it’s true – there’s just a whole lot going on in this book.  We get to know Nick and Amy very well – they’re developed beautifully – and they drive the story elements with the force of their personalities and the complexity of their relationship.  They are brutally honest about themselves and each other – at least they think so.  We see them through both their own eyes and the eyes of the other partner so we know when they’re lying to us and to themselves.  It’s an oft-used device, seeing the story from more than one perspective, but it’s done especially masterfully in Gone Girl, and in ways you won’t see coming.

Author Gillian Flynn has put together a stylish thriller with Gone Girl, without a lot of gratuitous violence or gore and with fully developed characters and a lot of well managed twists and turns.  Highly recommended for thriller fans.  4 ½ stars out of 5.

— S. Millinocket[AMAZONPRODUCTS asin=”030758836X”] [/wptabcontent] [wptabtitle]Gone Girl: The Movie[/wptabtitle] [associated_posts] [wptabcontent] [/wptabs]