Staff Pick
Both a cautionary tale for bad men and a clarion call for unhappy women, Gone Girl is a compelling page-turner that does not let up. Every few pages another bombshell drops, and the tension is exquisite! While Nick Dunne lackadaisically plans to show up for his fifth-wedding-anniversary celebration, his wife, Amy, has gone to the usual lengths by preparing poetry, a clue-filled treasure hunt, and a year-appropriate gift. There's obviously a slight disparity in their views on the occasion, and in fact, there is disparity in everything in the Dunnes' marriage. When Nick comes home to the scene of a struggle and his wife has disappeared, the nightmare to follow is miles beyond anything he imagines. Chilling, smart, and absolutely humming with barely contained panic, Gone Girl is one fast-paced, thrilling read you shouldn't miss. Recommended By Dianah H., Powells.com
Synopses & Reviews
THE #1
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER
On a warm summer morning in North Carthage, Missouri, it is Nick and Amy Dunne’s fifth wedding anniversary. Presents are being wrapped and reservations are being made when Nick’s clever and beautiful wife disappears. Husband-of-the-Year Nick isn’t doing himself any favors with cringe-worthy daydreams about the slope and shape of his wife’s head, but passages from Amy's diary reveal the alpha-girl perfectionist could have put anyone dangerously on edge. Under mounting pressure from the police and the media — as well as Amy’s fiercely doting parents — the town golden boy parades an endless series of lies, deceits, and inappropriate behavior. Nick is oddly evasive, and he’s definitely bitter — but is he really a killer?
Review
“Ice-pick-sharp….Spectacularly sneaky…Impressively cagey….Gone Girl is Ms. Flynn’s dazzling breakthrough. It is wily, mercurial, subtly layered and populated by characters so well imagined that they’re hard to part with.” Janet Maslin, New York Times
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“[A] thoroughbred thriller about the nature of identity and the terrible secrets that can survive and thrive in even the most intimate relationships.” Lev Grossman, Time
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“Gillian Flynn’s third novel is both breakneck-paced thriller and masterful dissection of marital breakdown.…Wickedly plotted and surprisingly thoughtful, this is a terrifically good read.” Boston Globe
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“Gillian Flynn's new novel, Gone Girl, is that rare thing: a book that thrills and delights while holding up a mirror to how we live.…Timely, poignant and emotionally rich.” San Francisco Chronicle
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“It’s simply fantastic: terrifying, darkly funny and at times moving. The minute I finished it I wanted to start it all over again....her most intricately twisted and deliciously sinister story.” Associated Press
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“Gillian Flynn's barbed and brilliant Gone Girl has two deceitful, disturbing, irresistible narrators and a plot that twists so many times you'll be dizzy....insanely clever plotting.” Minneapolis Star-Tribune
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“[A]n ingenious whodunit....Whoever you are, it will linger, like fingerprints on a gun.…Flynn's characters bloom and grow, like beautiful, poisonous plants. She is a Gothic storyteller for the Internet age.” Cleveland Plain Dealer
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“Gone Girl [is] a thriller with an insane twist and an insidiously realistic take on marriage.” New York magazine
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“One of those rare thrillers whose revelations actually intensify its suspense instead of dissipating it. The final pages are chilling.” Kirkus (Starred Review)
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“Both a compelling thriller and a searing portrait of marriage, this could well be Flynn’s breakout novel. It contains so many twists and turns that the outcome is impossible to predict.” Booklist (Starred Review)
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"Once again Flynn has written an intelligent, gripping tour de force, mixing a riveting plot and psychological intrigue with a compelling prose style that unobtrusively yet forcefully carries the reader from page to page." Library Journal (Starred Review)
Review
"Flynn masterfully lets this tale of a marriage gone toxically wrong gradually emerge through alternating accounts by Nick and Amy, both unreliable narrators in their own ways....Compulsively readable, creepily unforgettable." Publishers Weekly (Starred Review)
About the Author
Gillian Flynn is the author of the #1 New York Times bestseller Gone Girl and the New York Times bestsellers Dark Places and Sharp Objects. A former writer and critic for Entertainment Weekly, her work has been published in forty-two countries. She lives in Chicago with her husband and son.