Gone Girl: The Book Review

by Gillian Flynn

Katrina Khan has a passion for painting and drawing as well as literature and the natural sciences. She is a graduate of the University of the West Indies where she studied Environmental and Natural Resource Management with Marine Biology, a dream come true for this ocean lover. She now balances a full-time job with postgraduate studies and satisfying her need for literary and artistic expression. 

The book Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn is featured on the New York Times Bestsellers List for Combined Print and E-book Fiction as well as Paperback Mass Market Fiction. It has received high praises in the literary world, weaving a sinister story with deeply built character personalities and devilish twists. This book is not for the faintchearted and I would suggest it for a more mature audience. As we Trinis would say, is real bacchanal!

A note on the author: Flynn is from the U.S. and currently lives in Chicago with her husband and two children. She was born in Kansas City and attended the University of Kansas, graduating with a major in English and Journalism. This was followed by postgraduate study in Journalism at Northwestern University. Her work history include holding positions as a freelance writer for US News & World Report and a feature writer for Entertainment Weekly (until she was let go during a downscaling of the publication as a result of the financial crisis). This thriller novel evolved using the author’s inspiration and experiences with the psychological strains of being in a long term relationship coupled with the burdens of being unemployed.

Gone Girl is her third and latest novel, with all her previous books being in the thriller genre. It was published in June 2012 and was the rival to the 50 Shades of Grey series. A movie adaptation was released in October 2014 directed by David Fincher, written by Flynn and starring Ben Affleck and Rosamund Pike. The film has done fabulously well in cinemas and is acclaimed for its captivating story. It isn't often that you find a movie adaptation of a book that lives up to expectations, but this one truly did the story justice.

Gone Girl is fraught with plot twists and character turns. The tale grasps you with the setting of a husband met with the public’s conviction that he is the cause of his wife’s disappearance. Nick and Amy were seen by everyone as a normal couple going through a hard time, laid off by their respective firms and moving out to the suburbs to take care of Nick’s ill mother. Amy was a support and comfort to her husband, especially because of her hefty trust fund (thanks to her parents who were the authors of a children’s book in her name called ‘Amazing Amy’). Nick was the doting husband who turned cold after losing his job, moving back to his hometown, taking up a teaching job and trying to run a bar with his twin sister.

The Nick after Amy’s disappearance does not correspond with the behaviour of a worried husband. He is shifty, nonchalant and careless. Facing murder charges and the threat of the death penalty, he is forced to don the cap of the lying, cheating, no-good husband who, according to the evidence, has killed his wife in their home on their fifth wedding anniversary. The story guides the reader through Nick’s mental state after Amy can’t be found. The traditional anniversary game that Amy has prepared for Nick spells out one story to the police, but an entirely different one to him. As he comes to grips with the monster facing him, Nick battles with himself and his feelings of embarrassment, betrayal and sheer terror.

One of the major pieces of evidence found by the police was a detailed diary written by Amy. This diary spoke about the most intimate moments between the couple when they met, candidly baring all the ins and outs of their relationship up to her disappearance. At the beginning I found myself identifying with Amy’s journal entries. Imagine my shock at seeing her true colours revealed. It just goes to show that you never truly know a character by the information he/she decides to share and that a story is not always predictable. The plot plays with the reader’s mind and toys with the emotions. Gone Girl is one for those who enjoy a good thrill. The movie was widely considered to be one of the most exciting releases of the year in Trinidad and Tobago. Women and men alike found it to be an  example of what could happen if you do not really know your spouse. The book will grasp you from the first chapter and won’t release you until it is all over. It is unexpected, deviously clever and downright invigorating.

Katrina’s Rating:

·         5/5

·         Adult (18+)

·         Explicit Sexual Themes, Profanity, Violence

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