Gone Girl

It's time for another book review!

(This will contain spoilers!)

Ho-ly shit.

It has been a while since I have read a thriller. I have been spending a lot of time in fantasy lately, and boy did I pick a hell of a book to wander back to thrillers with.

Here is a little run-down on the plot. Nick and Amy are two supremely screwed up people. They start in a happy marriage and little by little just seem to fall apart. After lay offs, family illnesses and financial difficulties - they hate each other.

Then Amy disappears on their fifth wedding anniversary - and it does not look good for Nick. He lies, he sneaks, he has a disposable cell phone, he thinks terrible things about his missing wife. He tries to undercut the police and work to find his wife - if only to cover his own ass. You want to feel sorry for him - but he is just such a jerk - and is so obviously hiding something - that you just can't. Then you find out that he is a cheater and you really don't like him.

In between Nick chapters we have excerpts from Amy's diaries. She is whiny, passive aggressive, manipulative, rude, and seems to think rather highly of herself. Her chapters feel odd.

Right when you are ready to lock Nick up - the script totally flips. Amy is alive - and a sociopath. She found out about Nick's affair and set up this huge, elaborate murder. She is gleefully watching him dangle in the wind. She is hateful, nasty, and seriously crazy. She has cut herself and even faked a pregnancy. Bitch be crazy! Amy is holed up in some rent by the week cabins in the Ozarks, gets robbed,  and has to plan her return - which she manages to do - by killing a man she claims kidnapped her.

She returns home where Nick hates her - she hates him and they commence in a power struggle. Amy ends up pregnant - AND THEY STAY TOGETHER.

The whole book is actually very complicated and detailed - this synopsis does not do it justice.

I have a love/hate relationship with this book.

I hate every single person in it. There is not a person that seems to have a redeeming quality. They are all nasty, self serving bastards who only do things that they feel will directly benefit them. Amy is absolutely, certifiably insane - she holds grudges and exacts terrible revenge on people she even thinks have slighted her. She fancies herself the smartest person alive - and when she was robbed - I was seriously cheering "Hell yeah! You stupid hooker!" I hate, hate, hate that they end up together. They are both so wrapped up in themselves and the game that they will not allow the other one a moment of peace - even if it makes themselves miserable.

I could seriously march to Carthage and kill them myself for bringing a baby into this mess.

But on the other hand, it is an enthralling story. I am usually very good at seeing what is coming next - and this book kept my guessing. I like that Gillian Flynn was not scared to keep these characters who they are - and not let them end up happily ever after - just apart. Or have one take the easy way out and actually kill the other. She lets them stay true to their sick, twisted lives. They love it, they hate it, they would not know how to be if they weren't in it. I can appreciate that.

This book was fantastic. I will absolutely be reading Gillian Flynn's other books as soon as I can. That chick is twisted - and I like it.