Gone Girl – Gillian Flynn

Psychological Thriller
5*’s

The first thing to say about this book is it didn’t deserve to be endlessly moved down the TBR pile and for once I concede that the hype was well-deserved.

Told in the first part by Nick in the aftermath of his wife Amy’s disappearance on their fifth wedding anniversary and excerpts from her diary kept throughout the entire time of their relationship. I love novels narrated in this way and Gillian Flynn handles the device with extra special depth; if you are anything like me your heart will drop as revelations are made. As the reader I found myself constantly revising what I’d believed from earlier sections in the book as the layers of truth were expertly peeled away, no single bomb-shell for this book rather a series of explosions.

The second part tells a totally different story, again in two parts which speeds up the pace whilst moving the story to a whole new level and a faster pace… But unfortunately I can’t say anymore without ruining this book for anyone who hasn’t read this yet.

I love a book with twists and turns but I think it is Gillian Flynn’s ability to absolutely capture the truth about the way men and women see relationships when Amy lays on her yearly treasure hunt for his anniversary present Nick just knows that he isn’t going to have remembered the key moments which meant so much to her let alone unravel her cryptic clues; after all Nick thought he had married a cool girl, one who likes all the same thing as men and is great in bed too!

For a long time Cool Girl offended me. I used to see men — friends, coworkers, strangers — giddy over these awful pretender women, and I’d want to sit these men down and calmly say: You are not dating a woman, you are dating a woman who has watched too many movies written by socially awkward men who’d like to believe that this kind of woman exists and might kiss them.”

Amy describes what she calls the dancing monkeys who dance to the wife and girlfriends every whim

“Wear this, don’t wear that. Do this chore now and do this chore when you get a chance and by that I mean now. And definitely, definitely give up the things you love for me, so I will have proof that you love me best. It’s the female pissing contest — as we swan around our book clubs and our cocktail hours, there are few things women love more than being able to detail the sacrifices our men make for us.

A call-and-response, the response being: “Ohh, that’s so sweet.”

Whilst Nick forced to reflect on what their relationship really meant concluded

“Worse, I convinced myself our tragedy was entirely her making. I spent years working myself into the very thing I swore she was: a righteous ball of hate.”

I still haven’t made up my mind what I feel about how this book finishes, the end crept up and surprised me which I always find disconcerting. On reflection I think the ending was fitting even though it didn’t end the way I prefer.

So I recommend this book that is not only a great read but one that can make you reflect on the nature of relationships both familial and romantic whilst trying to figure out who did what to whom and what it would like to be face to face with a sociopath!

I didn’t start reading this book at the right time, it didn’t deserve short reads, sandwiched between work, parties and Christmas shopping. As the book progressed I became resentful of all the sociable activities and went to sleep at nights longing to know what was going to happen next while reflecting on the few pages I’d managed to squeeze into a busy day but I managed to steal enough time (when everyone was sleeping) to finish the book off. This to me is a measure of a brilliant book, yes I love reading but I can usually put a book to one side for ‘real’ activities…… and even better this book is currently only 99p which is an absolute bargain.

Gone Girl – Amazon UK