Gone Girl by Gillian FlynnPublished by: Crown Publishers on June 5, 2012
Genre: Contemporary, Crime, Mystery, Thriller
Pages: 419
Source: Gifted
Book Details
Rating: ★★★½
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 from their rented McMansion on the Mississippi River. 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?
As the cops close in, every couple in town is soon wondering how well they know the one that they love. With his twin sister, Margo, at his side, Nick stands by his innocence. Trouble is, if Nick didn't do it, where is that beautiful wife? And what was in that silvery gift box hidden in the back of her bedroom closet?
With her razor-sharp writing and trademark psychological insight, Gillian Flynn delivers a fast-paced, devilishly dark, and ingeniously plotted thriller that confirms her status as one of the hottest writers around.
Okay, WHAT THE HELL was that ending? And I don’t mean that in the “HOLY CRAP THAT WAS AMAZING!” way; I mean it in the “what was that pointless, unsatisfying ending?” way.
To be clear, I adored Gone Girl for about 90% of the book. I was hooked, loving it, totally desperate for more. I loved the mystery and the not knowing and I was dying to hear about this famously shocking ending. Little did I know that it was a “shocking” ending not because of what happened to Amy or whether or not Nick was guilty, but shocking because of how totally, surprisingly unsatisfying it was. And that pisses me the fuck off!
I hate how I was loving this book so much, then the ending killed it. If not for the ending, this could have easily been a 5-star book. But the ending left me with a feeling of: that’s it? I was so shocked that there weren’t more pages; shocked that THIS how it’s going to be left. That ending left me with a bad, annoying feeling of what was otherwise a phenomenal book.
This review has turned out so different than how I imagined. When I was like 80 or 85% finished, I was already picturing my review. I could see myself raving about the mystery and the “not knowing” and the desperate desire to get to the end. I was making guess upon guess upon guess and I wanted to see if any of them would be right! But most importantly, I wanted View Spoiler » But the ending changed everything. It changed my whole opinion of the book and it changed my entire review, from one glowing with praise, to one dripping with frustration and annoyance. WHY DID YOU DO THIS TO ME?!?!
If you want to know what happens in the end, I’ll recap it for you: View Spoiler »
For most of the book, Gone Girl was intense, captivating, and full of surprises. I loved it so much, which was a huge deal for me because I was hating a lot of books at the time. But that ending… it just killed my love for this story. That incredible, carefully thought out story just unraveled and we were left with pieces that made no sense and offered no satisfaction View Spoiler » .
I don’t even know how to rate this book because with a better ending, I would have given it 5 stars. How to I rate it when it’s a great book, but the ending is total shit? I have no idea, so I kind of picked 3.5 stars at random.
The Verdict
I am SO glad you included the ending in your review – under the spoiler. I’d been dying to find out the so-called “shock” ending, but I really didn’t want to read the book. My mother was recently cleaning out her bookshelves and she had it, asked if I wanted it just the past weekend in fact. But I was resistant. I’d heard a lot about it, a lot of the reviews from people who kinda like the same as I do, were pretty bad reviews. And even my mother said it was a DNF book for her. But me being me, even tho I dont want to read the book, I want to know the ending. LOL. So thank you for that! And I agree….that sounds like the most unsatisfying, most WTF ending. Too many other brilliant books out there just waiting for me to find them, for me to spend time reading something that I know I’m gonna not like.
Yeah I actually adored the book for like 90%. I thought it was a brilliant thriller/mystery story and I was really aching for an epic revenge (or justice) ending.. but then… everything was totally and completely ruined! UGH!
I’m totally looking forward to the movie! Apparently, the ending is going to be different. All the characters are messed up, so I did not liked the book. I don’t blame the author, though. She’s not doing a likeable test, anyway š
Fingers crossed that the ending is in fact different! There is still hope! LOL
I read the Dutch ‘version’ of this book. At least, it was a Dutch literature and they compared it to this one. And I really didn’t like that one, as it was pretty boring. But I have heard and read good things about this one, so I’m not sure, maybe this one is worth picking up. At least I’m glad you enjoyed it though!
Hmm hopefully this one is better for you! I thought it was pretty interesting and exciting.. at least until that horrible ending. š
LOL I love how you ranted about the book then we get to the bottom and it’s like…really liked. A book that got you that worked up but you still ended up enjoying it must have been pretty freaking brilliant. I’m excited to read this book because I love mysteries and thrillers, but I’ll be prepared for a shocking ending. Thanks for the review lovely!
LOL I know! I’m so completely confused… How do you even begin to rate a book that you absolutely LOVED for like 80-90%.. then absolutely HATED the ending? I have no idea what to label it or rate it!
I agree with you completely. I understand what Flynn was trying to do, but really it left me so unsatisfied. I still really enjoyed the bok, but recommend it with a little warning attached lol. And, Flynn is rewriting the ending for the movie so that is a tiny bit of consolation.
Yeah I agree. I guess I just like a certain type of book. I like satisfying endings where revenge is taken or justice is served. I despise open endings that have some deeper psychological reasoning. It’s just not satisfying. It’s like if you were watching Shawshank Redemption and instead of breaking out of jail, the guy just got thrown back in at the end. Sheesh, that’s no fun.
Haha! I love that movie, ugh the worst possible scenario. “I hope you enjoyed crawling through that disgusting pipe, because you are going back.”
I feel terrible for wanting to laugh with your review because of how insanely angry you seem and because I FELT THE EXACT SAME WAY! I LOVED this book, raved about it in fact, the entire time I was reading it. Halfway through when the flip happens – I was literally physically bouncing with excitement. Then there’s THAT ending –
“Little did I know that it was a āshockingā ending not because of what happened to Amy or whether or not Nick was guilty, but shocking because of how totally, surprisingly unsatisfying it was. And that pisses me the fuck off!”
YES!! Some people I know didn’t think a whole lot of this book anyways, whereas for me it was a 5+ book, and then at the end it was just like, “What is life?”. I wanted to throw the book against the wall and actually came close to penning an email asking Gillian why she would want to mentally torture someone so much. I was so glad when I heard the end of the movie had been re-written, but apparently there’s rumours that it hasn’t changed that much. I have an on-going love/hate relationship with this one because as much as that ending ruined my life for about a week, I STILL love the book in general, and I talk about it all the time, so I suppose there’s something right about it…
R x
I LOVE LOVE LOVE that we feel the same way!! I feel like I can share my complete and total dismay with someone LOL. This is honestly worse than if the whole book was crap. At least then I could say, “It was shit” and move on. But the book wasn’t shit; it was PHENOMENAL until the end, then it just crumbled. I feel like there was so much potential there for an epic revenge/justice story and it just…. didn’t happen. UGH!
I’m looking forward to seeing how the movie plays out. I really really really hope there are some big changes to the ending!
I gave it a similar rating to you, but completely feel the same on the ending! Good, fast read until the ending which was anticlimactic, unsatisfying and really sort of stupid. I almost through my kindle across the room, but managed to restrain myself. The only reason that I will watch the movie is because it is supposed to have a different ending, but after the trauma of reading the book, I almost want to know what the movie ending will be. I have lost all trust in this author and she is writing the screenplay.
Okay, I guess the movie doesn’t have a different ending, so I won’t be bothering to watch this.
Yeah it’s exactly the same. I saw the movie and it was pretty good, up until the ending… then I suffered the exact same unsatisfaction as the book! Haha.
I was one of the few people that didn’t love Gone Girl all the way through(though I did like it and it was a page-turner), and I totally agree about the ending! There were some interesting plot things in Gone Girl but they never came together for me. I loved Dark Places, Gillian Flynn’s second novel, though! And I’ll probably give Sharp Objects a try. She does know how to write messed up people. . .
I believe I gave it a three and not just because of the ending but because the couple totally infuriated me. Plus, I couldn’t understand how one woman was able to get away with all of the heinous things she did and that too, made me angry.
It was indeed a great thriller but a very frustrating thriller. I have a love/hate relationship with Gone Girl. Do you think the ending was so crappy because she was trying to hurry up and meet her deadline?
When I first started the book, I flew through it! I devoured it. I loved that we were reading Amy’s journal because Amy seemed amazing. After that big plot twist, I though “Whoa, Gillian Flynn has just done an awesome thing”. Then everything went to the garbage when we reached the ending. I honestly thought there were pages missing. I thought this was a joke. I thought there was a sequel. My co-blogger tells me that Dark Places is much better.
Rumour is that the ending is going to be changed in the movie, so fingers crossed it’ll be better!
I felt EXACTLY the same way! I was floored. When people kept telling me, “The ending will blow you away!” I was expecting an epic, monster twist.. probably a crazy revenge plot (like maybe he didn’t originally murder his wife, but then decided to). I didn’t realize the shocker was that the ending sucked!!!
I really hope the movie takes things in a completely different direction!
I was actually hoping he would murder her! I would’ve loved that ending. Lol.
Have you seen the trailer? It looks like it’s going to be good!
Yes I saw it at the theatres! It got me so excited for the movie. That’s actually one of the reasons why I decided to read the book.
I so understand your entire review. I was SO into this book and then WHAM! Story over. It wasn’t just the abrupt ending but also the nature of the ending. I mean I felt sick to my stomach for days after reading this book. I gave it a 3.5 because I didn’t know what else to do with it. It just left me so dumbfounded. I’ve been debating trying another of Gillian Flynn’s books. I’ve seen good reviews for her but Gone Girl has made me gun shy.
*Contains slight spoilers*
This review is SO accurate.
I read Gone Girl in one sitting but, after turning the last page, I wasn’t able to classify it as an ‘enjoyable’ experience as suchā¦ rather more of a omg-this-book-is-so-intense-but-what-a-crap ending experience. Maybe it’s just me being moral but, heck, if there’s a complete psycho who gets off lightly (which, in this case, they do) then I want something to happen to them. The ending was just so unrealistic, it had me cringing way too much.
In the end, I didn’t even rate the book because I had such mixed feelings. Never read such a disappointing endingā¦ let alone such a disappointing ending to such a hyped up book. It’s just arrrrgh, the rest of this book was so thrilling and then it just fizzled out. š
Exactly!! You really nailed it. I’m all about justice or revenge (hah). To me, an ending isn’t satisfying unless a bad person gets what they deserve, whether that’s in the form of going to prison, or in the form of the person they hurt hurting them back.
I wanted the world to see Amy for what she was: a manipulative psycho.
I’ve been curious about this one because I’ve heard so much about it. Great review! PS Sucky endings are the worst!
Glad to hear this is as good as everyone says! Iām really looking forward to reading it. I love a good mystery/thriller but I just havenāt had a lot of luck recently. Hope this one will turn it around!