Gone Girl is certainly not my typical review. Nor is it by any means close to my typical read. But it’s something I’ve been meaning to get to for some time now. And why not tackle it by review on Geekritique? Gone Girl is a modern day thriller, a whodunnit mystery that unnerves at every corner, enthralls you at every revelation, and once you feel like you’ve got it all worked out, author Gillian Flynn proves just the opposite.
It’s one of those books that you can guess at with all your might (as I certainly did, trying to unravel the many unexplained twists), but alas it’ll throw you for a serious loop. To explain just a smidgen of the plot beyond the first ten% would be to rob you of a truly entertaining read.
But let’s set the scene. Nick Dunne is informed one day that his front door is wide open and that the cat is roaming about outside. Coming home, he realizes there’s been some sort of struggle: furniture is mislaid, books are strewn about, the ottoman’s flipped. His wife, Amy Elliot Dunne, is missing. Along with attempting to hide dark secrets of his own, he must face the fact that no matter what, the media and the cops will think him the prime suspect.
And the book does a good job of making you really dislike Nick – to the point where it appears your initial opinions of him may be very, very skewed. But at the same time, Flynn does push the readers buttons a bit too hard on occasion. Occasions that actually cheapen the text to some degree, as they’re so clearly red herrings.
The character study that takes place is tremendous. Mind numbing. Gillian Flynn has a way of getting into your head as a reader and breaking down the ins and outs of how you think and react to situations. Sometimes it’s a little repetitive, but it works well with the first person perspectives you’re thrown into. I will say that this book is very realistic, rather explicit, and isn’t suitable for all audiences.
Throughout the book, I couldn’t help but feel this was the most frustrating thing I’ve read in a long while. And it only gets worse. Trust me. TRUST me. What an ending too. I have to say, the ending was… less than satisfying. But such a fantastic read overall.
Grab this in Paperback | Hardcover | eBook
Or listen to it on Audible, as narrated by Julia Whelan and Kirby Heyborne.
I wanted to stop reading the book at about three different points. But I continued. I hated the characters – all of them – but I couldn’t stop. I have never disliked/enjoyed a book as much as I have Gone Girl. The closest I’ve come to despising characters like this was with Karen Miller’s Godspeaker trilogy.
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Totally agree with you. Nobody is likable, but the plot begs to be finished.
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Great review! And I love that you read the book. I read it myself a couple months back, when the movie was in cinemas, but I still haven’t actually watched the film. The ending … oh man, I was so unhappy. It took me a while to get into the book, but then I really enjoyed it with all its twists and turns.
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Yeah, it starts off just like any other crime novel, and then when you reach the middle it’s NOT POSSIBLE TO PUT DOWWWWN
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Exactly! Very well put.
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Good review. Haven’t read, but disliked the film. Seen the film?
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No, I haven’t seen it. But from what I hear, the movie follows the book quite well. So imagine being frustrated at a film for the two hours it took to watch that, and then multiply that by ten to encapsulate my frustration of the 20 hour audiobook.
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Yes the ending was a sudden shift into horror / violent murder that was just unpleasant rather than scary or thrilling, and hard to swallow. Then it just petered out.
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Unpleasant is right.
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Man this book frustrated the hell out of me. That Gillian Flynn, she’s twisted. The book is something that you’ll remember reading for a long time. Glad you included this in Geekritique.
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I have a strong feeling you’re right. I can’t stop thinking about it! It’s so perfectly evil!!
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Evil is right. Have you seen the movie? I think it was well done.
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Wanted to read the book first.
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Evil is right. Have you seen the movie? I think it was well done.
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I’m glad you liked it! I don’t read a lot of crime thrillers but this one blew me away.
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I don’t read many either. If this is the standard, I think I’d really go crazy reading two or three more of these books.
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I actually just read this myself–so many things were very well done with this story (I especially thought the ending fit well), but overall it was just so depressing to me. Probably didn’t help that I was reading it around Valentine’s Day…
Mostly, I just felt bad for the cat.
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Yeah. Dang. That poor cat.
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