Two sides to every story

Gone Girl

by Gillian Flynn

Ok, so this book is now in paperback and seems to be THE book to be seen with at the moment, if you believe the hype. I was lucky enough to get an advance copy way back when the Hardback was still unavailable to most people. It was a departure from a lot of the books I’ve read, but that’s what reviewing is all about…get a book, any book and give it a chance (and an honest review).

So why should you give this one a chance?

When I first started reading this book I expected it to be a run of the mill crime / thriller. I was hoping it wouldn’t turn out to be a formulaic whodunnit, there are enough of those on the market already, but thought it would be an entertaining enough read.

The story centres around a high-flying American couple, she’s the heiress to a literary fortune, he’s a career journalist; both lose their jobs and subsequently move from New York to his home town in Missouri, open a bar and settle down. But it all goes wrong in the opening chapters as she goes missing on the morning of their fifth wedding anniversary.

The book is seen from two different perspectives, his and hers. While we follow Nick Dunne through the days after his wife’s disappearance, we follow her story through her diary entries leading up to it. Not as confusing as it sounds. Nothing is ever as it seems though, I won’t put spoilers here but this is not a cut and dried case. As readers we are along for the ride and can only get hints through the couple themselves – from his narrative and from her diary.

We are witness to Nick’s quest to find out what happened to his wife, dogged by suspicion and determined to find the killer, while her diary entries lead up to The Day. But is he actually the killer and not just an innocent husband trying to find out what happened?

If you like a good thriller you will love this book, its characters are intricate and interesting… and real, you step inside their heads and see both sides of the story…but like a good conversation you only get what the other side is willing to reveal until they decide to tell you more. This is a classy read and has led me to look at Flynn’s other books, but I’ll definitely be reading this again to see what I missed the first time.

It’s sassy, it’s clever, there are twists and turns that get you thinking.

All in all this is a very enjoyable read; had I seen it in a bookshop (remember those?) I may not have picked it up if I’m being brutally honest. But I’m so glad that I was in the lucky position of being sent a review copy. And don’t listen to all the hype about it being the new Fifty Shades…if it is it’s only because this should sell as many copies, if not more… if you are expecting really bad erotica I’d steer clear of this book, it’s on a whole different level.

If you like a good thriller you won’t be disappointed with this one.