Gone Girl - Book Review

          Have to say that in many ways, this is a tremendous book.  I like the idea of how creative this book was and the device that was used for the plot. 

           In this case, it was Nick and Amy Dunne’s fifth anniversary and Amy had disappeared.  Nick comes home and the house is ransacked and he can only think the worst.  Once the police arrive, they being a full investigation into finding out what happened to Amy.  

            I loved the plot and how the author switched viewpoints from Nick to Amy’s Diary.  It was great because it added a lot of tension to the plot between the characters and you didn’t know what was going to happen next.  

            One example used was when Nick found out that Amy was going to buy a gun.  He couldn’t understand why she would do something like this.  Going back to Amy’s diary, the explanation seemed clear: Amy was afraid of Nick. 

            As far as the characters go, they were memorable.  Amy seemed like the most edgy and unique character that only added even more tension to the story.  Nick’s lawyer added some good humor at the right time.  Of course, the other characters that were popping up in Amy’s life to reveal her character even more.  It just made the book even better.   

             While all this kept the story moving through a lot of twists and turns, I felt that the book had some problems.  The biggest going in was the constant used of sexual slang.  I realize to a certain extent that this is supposed to be part of character development but I could have done without it.  It just seemed to take the writing of the book down a notch by doing this.  I was happy when this stopped more than half way through the book.  

               While the story kept me interested, I was not satisfied with the ending.  I kind of thought that was the direction it would go although I did not expect some things to happen so it wasn’t predictable.  At the same time, my feeling was that is seemed too convenient and forced.  I think there could have been another way to go with it but that was my thought.  

                These are the two reasons I’m choosing to give Gone Girl 4 stars.  Hard for me to go any hire than that because I’ve read books that were better although I would say that this is still a must read and that I would read other books by Gillian Flynn.  


Ron Hummer