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Book Review of Gone Girl

Gone Girl
Gone Girl
Author: Gillian Flynn
Genre: Mystery, Thriller & Suspense
Book Type: Hardcover
kyyadifan avatar reviewed on + 60 more book reviews


For 90% of the book I say kudos to Gillian Flynn. She had me hooked from the beginning. Her storytelling is very contemporary, realistic, and believable. Her idea to alternate characters, Amy telling her story through her diary, and Nick telling his story in the moment was excellent and kept me turning the page. As I would finish a chapter from Amy's point of view, I couldn't wait to finish the Nick chapter so I could get back to Amy. But then as I finished from Nick's point of view, I couldn't wait to get to Nick's next chapter. Many writers these days tend to write chapters from the point of view of different characters which I find interesting but sometimes confusing, and not once did I have to remind myself from whose point of view the chapter was from - that takes tremendous writing ability. Another aspect of the book that demonstrates a great skill in storytelling is the way Flynn gets the reader to connect with the characters. I was amazed at how I felt disgust for Nick and empathy for Amy and in the blink of an eye, my feelings reversed. I don't know that I've ever read a book that caused my feelings for the characters to flip flop in such a way. Also, without giving too much away, I will say that the "perfect crime" that is the basis of the storyline is so unbelievable that it's believable. Nick says once in the book "the bigger the lie, the more believable" and I think that's a perfect description of the storyline. The book was utterly amazing...until the last 10%. As other reviewers have stated, the ending was boring, anticlimactic, and just really a let down which is so sad considering how intriguing the rest of the book is. Even with the disappointing ending, I'm glad I read the book and would recommend it to others.