Gone Girl

A Novel

By: Gillian Flynn

Narrated by: Julia Whelan, Kirby Heyborne

Length: 19 hrs and 57 mins

Publisher's summary

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • The “mercilessly entertaining” (Vanity Fair) instant classic “about the nature of identity and the terrible secrets that can survive and thrive in even the most intimate relationships” (Lev Grossman, Time)—now featuring never-before-published deleted scenes

NAMED ONE OF THE MOST INFLUENTIAL BOOKS OF THE DECADE BY CNN AND ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE DECADE BY TIME AND ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY

NAMED ONE OF THE TEN BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY Janet Maslin, The New York Times • People • Entertainment Weekly • O: The Oprah Magazine • Slate • Kansas City Star • USA Today • Christian Science Monitor

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?

NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY San Francisco Chronicle • St. Louis Post-Dispatch • The Chicago Tribune • HuffPost • Newsday

©2012 Gillian Flynn (P)2012 Random House Audio

Critic reviews

“Absorbing . . . In masterly fashion, Flynn depicts the unraveling of a marriage—and of a recession-hit Midwest—by interweaving the wife’s diary entries with the husband’s first-person account.”—The New Yorker

“Ms. Flynn writes dark suspense novels that anatomize violence without splashing barrels of blood around the pages . . . Ms. Flynn has much more up her sleeve than a simple missing-person case. As Nick and Amy alternately tell their stories, marriage has never looked so menacing, narrators so unreliable.”—The Wall Street Journal

“The story unfolds in precise and riveting prose . . . even while you know you’re being manipulated, searching for the missing pieces is half the thrill of this wickedly absorbing tale.”—O: The Oprah Magazine

Impressive

The writing and the thought that went into the story line of Gone Girl is superb. It is so original, twisted and addictive. I have never read a book prior to Gone Girl where the author has me continually and convincingly switching my allegiance between characters. Fun to read a literary fiction thriller!

A must read !

Like in the most romantic stories, Amy and Nick, young, good-looking, and somewhat successful writers meet at a party in New York, fall in love and get married. Five years later very little - if anything – of the magic has remained. They have lost their job and moved to a small town in the mid-west. All of a sudden, Amy is missing. And from there, a more and more surprising and devious plot develops, supported by the elegant and witty style of a Gillian Flynn, a very talented writer.
The story transcends the basics of the thriller plot (is Amy dead? Did Nick kill her?) and talks cleverly about the disillusion of a couple that grows cynical about their own relationship (when reality substitutes the image that each partner had presented initially), about life in small-town America (versus New York )and the power and influence of the media .

The first half of the book –the one talking about the story of Amy and Nick prior to her disappearing and about the first couple of days of Amy missing- is so well written and engaging that made me think that this was truly the best book I had read for a long time. From then onwards, however, the story starts getting unduly complex and loses the elegant momentum it had initially.
Many readers find the end disappointing; I rather think that is “cerebral” as if Gillian Flynn felt the need to construct rationally an end that would be “psychologically consistent” with the trajectory of the main characters. I would have preferred something coming more from the guts..

Despite the shortcomings, I enjoyed tremendously the book and had great time in reading it .

Perfect for Audio

If you could sum up Gone Girl in three words, what would they be?

Meant for Audio

Did the plot keep you on the edge of your seat? How?

You betcha. Each twist and turn of the plot was a revelation, not anticipated.

If you were to make a film of this book, what would be the tag line be?

So many twists and turns you will need Dramamine to watch this.

Any additional comments?

Having the two parts read by a man and a woman lent itself to the story perfectly.

MY FAVORITE

I could not stop listening. Everything's great: narrator, writer, plot. Excellent excellent modern whodunit with a smart, edgy quality and great characters who are awful people. Go Gillian Flynn, please write more!

Not great writing but several good plot twists

Writing technique only average. Fun plot twists and turns move this odd tale along. Would recommend many other books. Right?

Thriller. You'll be givin your spouse the fisheye

What made the experience of listening to Gone Girl the most enjoyable?

It's a plausable story. There are people in your own life much like these characters....then it twists and you don't know who to trust. You won't be able to push pause.

What was one of the most memorable moments of Gone Girl?

Not wanting to give away too much..... Through the early chapters you read romatic notes which spurs one emotion. Then later on, when you get different facts the same notes are reread - causing a whole different emotion. Frightening reality.

Have you listened to any of Julia Whelan and Kirby Heyborne ’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

Not that I know of...but, they did a fine job. I barely knew they were there.... which is a good thing. The times you most notice a narration is when it is incredibly bad.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

Yes, I was finding excuses to listen.. My anniversary just happened to fall while reading this book...made me question the most innocent of comments.

Any additional comments?

This would have been PERFECT except that I found the ending to be a disappointment. I imagine that I am not the only one. I would be a bit disappointed in the author if I find out later that it ended like this so that it could be a sequel.

This years must read. But is it a must like?

Did the plot keep you on the edge of your seat? How?

I could not stop listening, even when I wanted to. The book has several twists and turns and not all the characters are really rooting characters. I'm not sure any of them are. The psychological twists and turns and trying to decide how I felt about the characters made it a really compelling book for me. However, if you need a rooting interest in your book, this one is not for you.

What does Julia Whelan and Kirby Heyborne bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

Because of the narative structure of the book, having two clear distinct voices for the two protagonists, really was a nice touch. I liked it.

Best book I've found in a long time!

I normally don't like "thriller" books, but this one struck gold. Captivating story, fantastic character study, and finally--FINALLY--dialogue that sounds realistic. Despite the bizarre events that take place, I felt myself getting sucked into both Nick's and Amy's minds and they seemed like real, flawed (yet fascinating) people I could find in real life. I did not expect any of the twists and turns that unraveled as the plot deepened, and I was kept on the edge of my seat through the whole thing. Definitely going in my favorites!

Wonderfully constructed story, perfectly performed

I was hesitant to download this one because so many of the reviews described it as "dark". I won't quibble with that, but perhaps I would call it "twisted", rather than dark. Flynn is such a clever author that she manages to deliver a story about a psychopath that is actually very entertaining. She constructs a wonderful storyline and strings us along from chapter to chapter with material that in the hands of a less talented authors would feel depressing.

The narrators are spot on. This was one that kept me on the treadmill longer just to hear what was going to happen next. Definitely going to read more of Gillian Flynn.

O.M.G.

I never saw it coming. What an awesome roller coaster of a story. Wow...just Wow!!
I can't say why because it would ruin it for everyone but you have to experience this book. You must.