What readers think of Gone Girl, plus links to write your own review.

My daughter advised I read this book. I found the book riveting...as she said I would. I thought I had 50 pages left...and suddenly I was on the last page...with the worst ending I could have imagined. The characters were all losers in the end. Yuck! So glad I read the book so I don't have to watch the movie. Reminded me of the book "One Day".

I was really engrossed in the book; I couldn't put it down. Now I wonder why I wasted so much time reading it. The ending was very disappointing. I expected better.

Gone Girl is the third novel by American author, Gillian Flynn. “She was the girl that every girl wanted to be: beautiful, brilliant, inspiring and very wealthy. He was the guy that all men admired: handsome, funny, bright and charming. But on July fifth, their seemingly perfect world came crashing in when Amy Elliott Dunne disappeared on their fifth wedding anniversary.” Flynn alternates narrations from husband Nick Dunne starting the day of the disappearance with diary entries by Amy Elliott Dunne starting when she first met Nick, and later, narrations by Amy, to gradually lead the reader through a tense, clever plot with some breathtaking twists and turns. Along the way, she touches on the power of TV and social media, the influence of good (and bad) parenting and whether anyone can really know their spouse. With plenty of black humour, Gone Girl is witty, scary, funny and brilliant.

What a waste of a clearly skilled writer's talent. To destroy a creepy, suspenseful novel with such an awful ending is simply unforgiveable. In spite of its dreadfully illogical plot, Gone Girl was a page-turner until we turn the last page, when the reader must say "What???" A savage disappointment!

Gone Girl is the break out novel by Gillian Flynn that has received a significant amount of press and adulation since it was published last summer. Gone Girl is what I term “mind candy”, a novel of suspense that also causes one to suspend all concept of reality. +

Gone Girl is written in three parts and attempts to portray the dark side of human nature in the psychological dysfunction of marital relationship after the wife disappears on the couple’s fifth wedding anniversary.

Amy Elliott and Nick Dunn met, courted and married in New York City. Amy came from a background of privilege and some notoriety as her parents had authored a series of books about “Amazing Amy”, which chronicled an idealized Amy through her childhood and school years. Nick grew up the only son of a middle class family in Middle America.

After Amy disappears, suspicion falls on Nick, because as the husband, he is the most likely suspect.

This was a quick read and I found the first half of the book to be a suspenseful page-turner. I like Ms. Flynn’s writing style. It flows well and I plan to read one of her earlier novels. However, none of the characters in this book are appealing. None are likeable. I felt no empathy for any of the persons portrayed.

By the time I was into the second half of the book, I predicted where the narrative was going and it lost me. While it was clever and clear that Ms. Flynn had conducted some research on sociopathic personalities, the story became too contrived, too convoluted, well beyond the most outrageous headlines of tabloid news. (except maybe “Batboy”). I’ve worked in insurance claims for more than 30 years and have seen a lot of things that one just could not make up. But, Gone Girl left me shaking my head.

From the moment Nick announces he has lied 10 times, you will wonder! When did he lie? Is he telling you a lie now? Is Amy telling the truth? Is Amy really dead? Has she been kidnapped? By whom? Who is the “bad guy? Amy? Nick? Go? Maribeth and Rand? Anyone of a several other characters? Is there a “good guy?”

Well written and entirely plausible, Gone Girl will keep you guessing to the end. Book groups will find a wealth of topics for discussion – family, siblings, lawyers, divorce, murder, friendship, mental health, marriage, fame, wealth – among others.
Mystery fans and those who prefer love stories or family dramas will find something to love in this psychological mystery.

Right up to the second-from-last page GONE GIRL by Gillian Flynn should be rated 5. Every page of the book builds more and more tension. It really is the best kind of book: unputdownable.

But the end: Other reviewers have said that it comes as a surprise. True. But I didn't like it. It is as if Flynn couldn't think of an end to the story so just stopped.

The end should be rewritten.

I couldn't put this down...a great psychological thriller while at the same time a pretty darn accurate portrayal of the complexities of marriage and male/female relationships. Does anyone really know anyone? Great book! I finished it and immediately went looking for other books by the same author.