Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn.
This book is: a well-written, totally insane psycho/mystery/love/crime story.
Other elements: Lies. Marriage. Public opinion. Love.
Read it: If you enjoy crime shows. If you like having your mind blown.
Overall rating: 8/10
Here is your intro: One day, a man named Nick comes home to find his living room ransacked and his beautiful wife missing. Then everything goes crazy, and not in the way you’re expecting.
I liked this book too much to give any spoilers. I think the author did such a good job that no one deserves to tell the story except for her.
My sister will tell you, I can’t watch a crime show (or anything, really) without needing to figure everything out before I’m supposed to. It’s like winning. But actually, my favorite is when the story beats me, when I can’t figure it out. This book beat me. If you had asked me every 50 pages to predict the end of the book, I would have given you a lot of different answers and not been right once. That’s not to say the ending came out of the blue, or was illogical – it works perfectly. I just didn’t see it coming.
On the negative side, it’s possible this story went a little bit over the top. It’s elaborate, complicated, and does not shy away from dramatic plot twists. But there’s nothing wrong with being dramatic, as long as you do it well.
I think the strongest part of this book was the characters. I can’t think of a single character who wasn’t fully formed. They all had quirks, they all had agendas, they all had thoughts. They were craggy and sweaty and didn’t want to tell you their secrets. I hated some and loved others, but they all felt like people. I was also totally freaked out by the one I identified with the most, but that’s something we can talk about after you’ve read the book.
Blogger’s note: I wrote this review minutes after finishing the book. As time passes, I’ve realized I find certain plot elements less believable than I did at first. But I was so caught up in the story as I read it that it took me a couple of weeks to realize I was 93% convinced rather than 100% convinced. Gone Girl is a fun read and I recommend it if the genre appeals to you.
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Just finished this last night. Such a rough book! I had such a hard time with the characters! Call me naive but I refuse to believe that there’s that much crazy in people. The writing was really good, but it was so depressing.
It’s definitely not a cheerful book. I feel like it’s sort of a game…how crazy can the author make the characters before I don’t believe in them anymore? You should read Graceling, it will cheer you up! (Or wait a week…I just ordered it on Amazon, soon you can borrow it.)