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Gone Girl

By: Gillian Flynn
Narrated by: Julia Whelan, Kirby Heyborne
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Editorial review


By Mysia Haight, Audible Editor

PSYCH OUT—THE JAW-DROPPING GENIUS OF GONE GIRL

Gillian Flynn’s Gone Girl is among the all-time best crafted stories told by unreliable narrators—two of them, the perfect couple—and a gripping thriller filled with jaw-dropping twists. This dark mystery novel also shines a critical light on the media-fueled public rush to judge people suspected of crimes who, regardless of the evidence, simply look guilty—an unsettling trend that has only escalated in the decade since the book’s release. Along with its critique of media exploitation, the novel has been widely embraced—and hotly debated—as a manifesto of modern feminism.

Ten years ago, I was approaching that dreaded life stage—middle age. After years of doing my best to be a good wife, mother, aunt, sister, daughter, and friend; a good worker, mentor, and role model; and a good listener, problem solver, and crisis manager, I was feeling taken for granted and restless. What if I did something unexpected, something out of character—something bad?

Happily, I satisfied my yearnings by becoming immersed in the brilliant mind and devious machinations of Amy Elliott Dunne, the hero (or, depending on your perspective, villain) of Gone Girl. When it was published in 2012, Gillian Flynn’s ingenious novel about a missing wife and the husband increasingly implicated in her ominous disappearance stirred up a lot of buzz. As an avid fan of psychological thrillers, unreliable narrators, and contemporary fiction driven by strong, complicated women, I couldn’t wait to read it. And I was blown away! In spite of her questionable (to put it extremely mildly) actions, I found Amy, an amazing woman who was taken for granted—first by her parents and then by her husband—relatable and, yes, sympathetic. I kept rooting for her to get the life she wanted, even when I was appalled by what she did and who she hurt to make that happen.

Has Gone Girl changed my life? Well, it didn’t motivate me to change for the badder—old good habits die hard. Yet, thanks in part to Amy and other remarkable women characters like her, I’ve gradually become better at speaking up for myself and getting heard.

Years after first reading Gone Girl, I haven't forgotten Amy. I love the way Rosamund Pike brought her to life in the 2014 film adaptation, which I've watched in its entirety three times with three different women—my sister, my niece, and my daughter. So when I discovered that one of my favorite narrators, the remarkable Julia Whelan, voices Amy in the audiobook, I just had to go back and listen. Her performance is brilliant—so believable, it's chilling—and even though I know every twist in her twisted story, Amy continues to amaze me!

Continue reading Mysia's review >

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 TimesPeopleEntertainment WeeklyO: The Oprah MagazineSlateKansas City StarUSA TodayChristian 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 ChronicleSt. Louis Post-DispatchThe Chicago TribuneHuffPostNewsday

©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

Featured Article: We’re Booked—The Best Literature Podcasts for Every Bibliophile


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Editor's Pick: Best of the Decade

Get to the gone
"I’m a sucker for great story structure, and Gone Girl uses every inch of its narrative to subvert expectations in ways that shock and amuse. The perfectly utilized diary entries fold into a legendary mid-book reveal. The face-turn-heel of a seemingly perfect victim who revels in the way they’ve expertly managed your expectations. The unreliable narrators who reveal so much about themselves by what they don’t say—or how they shape emotional states into origami. And it all feels fair; while most twist-filled stories tend to seem rather flimsy under a microscope, the closer you look at Gillian Flynn’s masterpiece, the more you notice the sheer togetherness of it all, each part working in concert with another, coalescing to form a story that has one finger firmly on the pulse of popular culture, and one on the carotid of a serial killer."—Sean T., Audible Editor

What listeners say about Gone Girl

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  • 3 Stars
    4,971
  • 2 Stars
    1,883
  • 1 Stars
    1,584

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    5 out of 5 stars

Could not put it down

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

Dark - Thrilling - Captivating

What did you like best about this story?

You think you know, but you have no idea!

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

Yes! I was so hooked

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

Gillian Flynn is a disturbed human.

By far, the tamest of her books, but still disturbing. Not a good enough story to make all the darkness worthwhile.

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

OK but ....

A bit unbelievable. One twist too many turned this story from interesting and plausible to over the top.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

a free good twists

Enjoyed the first half a lot. Second half was good but sort of fizzled at the end.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

Loveeeee

Love love love love the way Gillian writes! I've read all her books so far! Can't wait for the next!

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

threw me for a loop

I never would have guessed the outcome of this book. very unexpected. suspenseful. a good read/listen

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Curious twist

Where does Gone Girl rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

This was certainly intriguing! I found myself rooting for one character and then the other. This story is sure to captivate you and even drive you to self reflection. It is entertaining, moves quickly and does not disappoint.

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

slightly aggravated

the ending the story needs, not the one you want. Great twists throughout, but I felt like there needed to be more closure.

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars

Points for unconventionality, but a frustrating...

... listen.

First off, almost every character is unlikable, so it's hard to care what happens to them. This can be overcome if the mystery's compelling. It just wasn't here. Or, perhaps better said, it wasn't a compelling enough mystery for a 19 hour listen. If this were pared down to 1/3 its length, I might have a different take on the story.

The writer's a good stylist and there are a bunch of quotable lines, but the characters don't come across as real and too much of their actions are motivated by plot necessities rather than by what a real person would do in similar situations. We're also told what the characters are too often. Why not show us instead?

I don't want to suggest there weren't very good passages, but they were outweighed by the passages that were either frustrating, incomprehensible, or boring.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

WOW, what a story!

Would you consider the audio edition of Gone Girl to be better than the print version?

Yes, because the different voices of the characters make it feel more real.

Who was your favorite character and why?

My favorite character was probably Nick, because regardless of his flaws, I still liked him. He was basically a good person who made mistakes, while his wife was just plain crazy, conniving, dangerous, and sociopathic.

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

The Dangers of Marriage

Any additional comments?

This book was an enjoyable, slow burn which kept you guessing through a good part of the book. When the reader understands what is going on, it is a shocker.

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