Book review: Gone Girl

GONE GIRL

By Gillian Flynn

Weidenfeld & Nicolson, $29.99

There’s a reason this book is hovering near the top of the New York Times bestseller chart – and there isn’t a shade of grey about it.

Gone Girl is this year’s hit summer thriller. It doesn’t matter that it’s still winter here in Melbourne, you’ll be instantly transported to the sun drenched plains of rural Missouri, where urbane writer Nick Dunne lives with his heiress wife Amy.

The tale is told in alternating he said/she said chapters, with maximum thrills and suspense.

It begins on the day of Nick and Amy’s fifth wedding anniversary, and takes a quick twist when Amy vanishes in suspicious circumstances.

Emotionally stunted Nick becomes the prime suspect as the evidence against him mounts. Naturally, nothing is as it seems as the unreliable narrators twist and turn the truth around a riot of supporting characters.

What makes this novel stand out from the airport-lounge pack is its sharp, insightful voice, expert pacing, the subtle black humour, and the realism amid the outlandishness.