***NO SPOILERS***

“Domestic noir.” Gone Girl, is part of a whole new category of book. It really is the perfect descriptor for this twisty--and twisted--mystery-thriller. Gone Girl is breathtakingly good--for many reasons, not least of which because of a twist that’s not only unpredictable but because of its exquisitely perfect timing. To be sure, “unpredictable” is a descriptor that gets tossed around an awful lot whenever mysteries and thrillers are discussed. The difference is, Gone Girl is one that truly lives up to the label.

Gone Girl is as much a character study as an out-and-out thriller. The married couple at the center of the story, Nick and Amy, are as vivid as any real-life Nick and Amy. The narrative unfolds half in Amy’s voice and half in Nick's. This technique not only allows for a full portrait of both characters but draws out suspense very nicely--and Gone Girl is a highly suspenseful story. Particularly impressive is how manipulative Flynn is, asking her reader to feel a variety of ways toward her characters. It’s not often that feelings toward characters change so utterly.

The plot is very tightly organized--strikingly so--and punctuated with dozens of crucial not-so-little details. All the while, Flynn kept manipulating as often as possible. Most notably, in one pivotal moment, the story transforms from a mystery-thriller unfolding in a straightforward manner to an inverted mystery that turns everything on its head.

Flynn clearly dedicated a tremendous amount of time to Gone Girl, not just in the actual crafting, but in research; she presented a forceful depiction of psychopathy, and Gone Girl is chilling and eventually terrifying. In the finer details of psychopathy, however, she slipped up. Most readers may not care about (or probably be aware of) the oversights here, but since Flynn was so meticulous in other respects, it’s peculiar that she wasn’t in this area too.

The story’s conclusion will not please all. It may shock just as much as the various other twists and turns but in a way that will leave many with a very sour taste. Others will admire Flynn's courage in not only foregoing the bow but also the pretty wrapping paper. She chose an ending that rings truest to life and makes the most sense given the characters’ stunningly complex circumstances. This is an ending that whispers rather than shouts, but what a whisper it is. The last line is pitch perfect.

Final verdict: A must read, especially for fans of smart psychological thrillers and domestic noir. ( )

Close to being one of my favorite reads of the year, but not quite...and mostly because of the vulgarity and gratuitous language that peppered the last half of the book. That aside, this was a brilliant take on the unreliable narrator. I mean, seriously...what happened to Amy? Did Nick kill her? Is he insane or just freaked out about her disappearance?

I won't say much more because the mystery is the best part of the novel. Be warned: this is not a feel-good book. I read a lot of Stephen King and Flynn made him look like Dr. Seuss by the end of the novel. This is about dysfunctional marriage. This is about psychopathy. This is about the dark places that humanity can go.

But read it anyway. Seriously. ( )

Good thing I love Beth O, because if I didn't... UGH! This book made me so mad. I kept reading despite hating both protagonists because I wanted to see where it would go. ARGH! It's not my book, or I'd set it on fire. ( )

LOVED this!!!! I could NOT put this one down!!! ( )

Today I took the day off everything and read ‘Gone Girl’. Having already seen and really enjoyed the film, it didn’t have the visceral shock value that it could have done. Nonetheless, it’s a brilliantly compelling novel. It was the film that spurred me to read the book and I think Fincher fully did it justice. In terms of comparison, the novel includes some interesting nuances of class and privilege, as well as additional vicious asides from both Nick and Amy. On the other hand, the film presented, how can I put this delicately, Desi’s final scene much more powerfully. Indeed, I was impressed by how poisonous and horrifying Desi seemed in both book and film, considering he was sharing page/screen time with Nick and Amy. They are incredibly well evoked and alarmingly convincing characters. Both are superficially charming yet troubled and terrible people, for all that their backgrounds seem to at least partially explain their huge flaws. Of course, it is the pair of them that are trying to justify their awful decisions to the reader, using their respective upbringings as excuses. It’s all very psychologically effective and at the same time astutely critical of the wider social context (especially media sensationalism). Also, I have a weakness for women-take-revenge narratives and this is a fascinating twist on that. I can definitely see why ‘Gone Girl’ is so wildly popular.

What concerns me is how Amy and Nick’s child will turn out. Can you imagine growing up in that household? ( )

Read this ages ago. ( )

Great book, horrible ending. ( )

this is my first Gillian Flynn book i read and it was really good. the twists and turns were really interesting and fun to discover and i really like the idea of "you think you know a person but you will never truly know what a person is thinking or going through and they might not be the person you think they are" which i found to be kinda scary but it was an entertaining read. ( )

Spoilers ahead, but can anyone spoil Gone Girl in 2023?

Maybe it's because I live in a post "Gone Girl as Phenomenon" world, but this book fell flat for me. The wealth of angry, unhinged, and ill women that have been the subjects of more recent books may have spoiled me for good representation of bad women. There's something artificial and untrue, rather than Teflon or reactionary, about Amy.

I loved the deftness of Amy recognizing that her machinations were not enough to allow her to escape being controlled by others. But then, she neatly and murderously disposes of Desi for positioning her as a "kept woman."

However much she wants to reject it, Amy is like other girls. Her anger at the idea of a flawless sex robot who shares all her boyfriend's opinions is beyond fair. Still, her rage at being forced into an ideal turns toward other women and extreme individual actions rather than fundamental changes because she doesn't think of herself as flawed in the ways other women are.

I wish we'd spent more of the book with Amy scheming in a frenzy to reclaim power at Desi's property or grounded in the moments where Amy created and manipulated an alternative world. Having her reveal her "master plan" only to get robbed by two painful stereotypes felt forced; it's as if an editor said, "show us she doesn't have perfect judgment," and so Gillian Flynn squeezed the Appalachian motel sequence into her book, slowing the story and blunting its impact.

Framing one's husband for murder does tend to imply that one is not a good person, whatever we mean by that, and I appreciate that the narrative never forces Amy to be good. Still, I hoped she would extend her feeling of being an avenging angel to other women. Instead, she gleefully insists she's smarter than anyone else ever and never handles her internalized misogyny, which extends to moments of blaming women for domestic abuse they experience and faking rape accusations.

Overall, the subject and characters were compelling, but the framing never clicked for me. I appreciated its specific geographic and economic setting more than the concept of it all, which is telling. ( )

I'm still reeling... That was the craziest ride! ( )

I'm unclear on the ending, but I loved the book and the twists. ( )

Did not finish this book. Somehow after just reading Poet Ben Lerner and Penelope Lively, the writing was not up to snuff for me. The premise was good but I was put off immediately by the writing and felt like there were better choices in my bedside table stack of to-reads. ( )

I gave it 4 stars only because I really did not like ending. I was expecting her to get caught and at least do time for what she has done. Gillian Flynn is a phenomenal writer and I love her way of telling a story. I am now on to read her other books. Starting with Sharp Edges. ( )

Well-written but did not like the ending. ( )

Damn I enjoyed this.

I am not a liar of Amy's dazzling caliber, but I'm not bad when I have to be.

Amy and Nick, you crazy fucked-up kids. This novel is a lot of fun; Nick is not a brilliant character of Amy's dazzling caliber, though he's not bad. But Amy, Amy is a character who will stick with you. And I respect intelligence so, such an attractive trait. Sometimes it's hard not to admire it even when it turns sociopathic on you. But better to have it turn on someone else, of course. Best of luck, you two. ( )

I could not put this book down! Great read! ( )

The main character's name is Lance, so that was a big plus. Usually I read slow but I went through this one in a few days. There's lots of exploration into the American cultural psyche beyond a typical mystery or thriller. I read until I fell physically ill into a torpid reading coma. ( )

Super interesting narrators! I really enjoyed the ‘cool girl’ part and to be honest I think this was (is?) quite influential to the genre. ( )

I?m glad I read the book, but I did not really care about either person. Wife learns of spouse,s affair and for over plans an elaborate plan to disappear and make her husband a good suspect for her murder. He figures out that she planned this ruse and thru media interviews makes statements that he knows she wants to hear and that may draw her back and free him of his charge. It works and he wants to leave her, but she has saved his seaman from a previous attempt to get pregnant and becomes pregnant with it. Spose then knows he cannot leave her because he must save the child from his sociopath wife.

(2012) This was an excellent book. Husband and wife, who are seemingly made for each other. Their marriage deteriates to the point of attempted murder and kidnapping. Fascinating what happens to two people who are brought to the edge of sanity and maybe beyond by their respective partners. Didn't really know who to root for from the beginning and all of the way thru, and I vascilated between the two as well. And in the end, they were both equally despicable. Good read.KIRKUS REVIEWA perfect wife's disappearance plunges her husband into a nightmare as it rips open ugly secrets about his marriage and, just maybe, his culpability in her death.Even after they lost their jobs as magazine writers and he uprooted her from New York and spirited her off to his childhood home in North Carthage, Mo., where his ailing parents suddenly needed him at their side, Nick Dunne still acted as if everything were fine between him and his wife, Amy. His sister Margo, who'd gone partners with him on a local bar, never suspected that the marriage was fraying, and certainly never knew that Nick, who'd buried his mother and largely ducked his responsibilities to his father, stricken with Alzheimer's, had taken one of his graduate students as a mistress. That's because Nick and Amy were both so good at playing Mr. and Ms. Right for their audience. But that all changes the morning of their fifth anniversary when Amy vanishes with every indication of foul play. Partly because the evidence against him looks so bleak, partly because he's so bad at communicating grief, partly because he doesn't feel all that grief-stricken to begin with, the tide begins to turn against Nick. Neighbors who'd been eager to join the police in the search for Amy begin to gossip about him. Female talk-show hosts inveigh against him. The questions from Detective Rhonda Boney and Detective Jim Gilpin get sharper and sharper. Even Nick has to acknowledge that he hasn't come close to being the husband he liked to think he was. But does that mean he deserves to get tagged as his wife's killer? Interspersing the mystery of Amy's disappearance with flashbacks from her diary, Flynn (Dark Places, 2009, etc.) shows the marriage lumbering toward collapse�and prepares the first of several foreseeable but highly effective twists.One of those rare thrillers whose revelations actually intensify its suspense instead of dissipating it. The final pages are chilling.

Finished this a minute ago. Its a great summer blockbuster thriller beach read. It is also filled with crazy people and has quite an ending. If you have ever been sucked into the vortex of Nancy Grace you will love this book.

I'm still not sure at all what to think. ( )

Started out as a good, summer, beach mystery.
Terrible ending! ( )

Story: 6.5 / 10
Characters: 10
Setting: 7
Prose: 7

Absolutely loved the movie, but sadly am quite uncertain about the novel. Starts off quite slow and very gradually improves until one of the best endings I can remember. Cannot wholeheartedly recommend the book, especially not for those unlikely to struggle through the first 40%. ( )

this is one of those books that have been sitting on my kindle close to a year now. ask Me why I waited so long to read it. I would laugh at myself because I loved every word. I started to read it seeing as though its going to be a movie in less then a month.. but after reading it I do not see how a movie could do this justicee. the details the planning to commit the perfect fake crime. a must read for anyone who loves true crimes even though its not so true