Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn

Hey look, a book which isn't YA!

I read Gone Girl on a random whim. I should probably make it known that I absolutely adore murder mysteries but usually don't read anything that isn't written by Agatha Christie. I also tend to shy away from thrillers because a lot of them focus less on the mystery and more on the EXCITING CAR CHASES AND PLOT part. But Gone Girl was intriguing enough for me to try it and I'm glad I did,

Gone Girl is the story of a man called Nick and a woman called Amy. On their anniversary, Amy disappears and Nick finds himself the top suspect for murder. The book is split into three parts and each chapter alternates narrator. This brings me to my first issue-the first part. It becomes apparent pretty quickly that Nick is hiding some stuff from the reader which is supposed to make him seem super suspicious. The trouble is, it's so obvious that you don't suspect him because of how obvious it is.

This is my main issue with this book on the whole. It's clear that the way it's supposed to be is the reader suspects Nick in the first part and then is totally shocked when *GASP* Amy turns out to be the evil mastermind all along! OMG, Gillian Flynn is so clever, I never saw that coming etc etc. As I mentioned though, it's so clear that a twist is coming that the first part of the book seems pointless. I knew it wasn't Nick because if it was, the book would have been two-thirds shorter. So instead of coming across as clever, it just frustrates the reader while they wait to get to the good part.

After that however, Gone Girl actually becomes quite an interesting story. Amy is one of the least sympathetic characters I've ever encountered and the fact Nick isn't that great a person either stops her being cartoonishly bad. I would have enjoyed this book a lot more and given it a much higher rating if it weren't for one thing.

The ending.

Major spoiler here but Amy does not get her comeuppance. This is good in a sense that it's probably more realistic but bad because it is really, really unsatisfying. Flynn creates the ultimate bitch character and then SHE GETS AWAY WITH IT ALL. Not only that, but she remains completely evil. It's one of the most frustrating endings I've ever encountered.

Ultimately, how much you enjoy this book will depend on your ability to deal with an unsatisfying ending. Though this review has mostly focused on the negatives, I did really enjoy a large portion of it. It's just a shame that certain things let it down

Overall Score: 

.5