'Gone Girl' was one of those books that was everywhere that I went and I had heard really good reviews about it from people who had already read it. As it says on the cover, it was named as 'Thriller of the Year' by The Observer, a very fitting claim. Nick Dunne's wife, Amy, vanishes on the morning of their fifth wedding anniversary and the police suspect Nick. He swears he had nothing to do with it but strange evidence starts turning up that implicates him. The big question is 'What really happened to Amy Dunne?'
There are so many layers to this book that just when you think you have it sorted in your head who you believe and what happened, the ground shifts and you start to question everything again. The twists keep coming right to the end of the book and every single one is shocking and never makes you question the integrity of the plot or its reliability. The different narratives throughout the book also lend it tension as different parts of the story come out in each section, such as diary entries and narratives from the other characters.
As with all thrillers, characters are the main driving for of the plot and they have to be completely three dimensional to the reader and Flynn does not disappoint. Each character is vividly present in the reader's mind and this makes it all the more poignant as the story develops and alliances change. As I was reading, I reached a point when I genuinely did not know who to believe and couldn't even hazard a guess as to how the book would end!
This was a book that I couldn't put down and found myself losing large chunks of time as I told myself 'just one more chapter'. An ideal read for holiday but can definitely be read anytime and probably more than once as there are many things to rediscover and realise in a second reading. I will definitely read more of Gillian Flynn's work after this as it is a glowing reference.
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