Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn

My edition: 2013 Phoenix Paperback

Pages: 466

First published: 2012

Source: Own book

Who are you? What have we done to each other? These are the questions Nick Dunne finds himself asking on the morning of his fifth wedding anniversary, when his wife Amy suddenly disappears. The police suspect Nick. Amy's friends reveal that she was afraid of him, that she kept secrets from him. He swears it isn't true. A police examination of his computer shows strange searches. He says they weren't made by him. And then there are the persistent calls on his mobile phone. So what did happen to Nick's beautiful wife? 

Thoughts: If you were to analyse my favourite books you would find that the majority of them contain the same basic plot structure: someone is missing or dead (The Virgin Suicides, Looking for Alaska and How To Talk To A Widower to name a few). So when I read the synopsis of Gone Girl, in addition to the handful of booktubers who recommend this book, I thought 'wow I'm really going to love this'.

To put it simply, Gone Girl is initially focused around Amy, a woman who had it all and recently it's all came crashing down on her. At first, I liked Amy and Nick, they seemed like a normal couple, which I guess is what Flynn wanted to portray. However, towards the end of the novel my feelings about the characters changed to a point where they all couldn't stand each other and, to be honest, neither could I. While I expect the protagonists of a story to be characters full of surprises, individuality and in some cases, unusual behaviour, this book took it to an extreme to the point where nothing was a surprise anymore - and being that it is in fact labelled a 'thriller' and 'suspense' novel, isn't that one of the key elements to keep the readers on the edge of their seat, begging for more? 

Truthfully, I felt the complete opposite. For me, the first part of the novel was fine but the last two, not so much. I really felt that the story took too many different directions and I can't stress my disappointment with the ending. I really wanted to enjoy this book, and I was cautious of posting this review because I know how many people love this book but in my honest opinion this book just didn't interest me and I was left feeling 'is that it?' afterward.

My rating: ★★½