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Gone Girl  By  cover art

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: Audible Essentials—The Top 100 Screen Adaptations of All Time


As the category of great page-to-screen storytelling continues to grow, we scoured our libraries, grilled audiophiles and cinephiles, and vetted the entire Audible catalog for the 100 greatest screen adaptations for watchers and listeners alike. These are the stories that inspired some of the greatest on-screen stories of all time, from Academy Award winners and cult classics to must-see TV. They're well worth the price of admission.

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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  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
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  • 4 Stars
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  • 3 Stars
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  • 2 Stars
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  • 1 Stars
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  • 3 Stars
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  • 2 Stars
    924
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Story
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
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  • 3 Stars
    4,957
  • 2 Stars
    1,874
  • 1 Stars
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  • 10-08-13

Too twisted

Both the story and the personalities were too twisted for me, and the ending was unsatisfactory. I was enticed by positive reviews to give this a try, and I'm glad I listened. Just can't say I enjoyed it a lot. Kept waiting for the ultimate clever twist, which didn't happen.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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Torture

The story itself makes you feel as if though it’s driving you into the same madness that the main character is falling into and never stops to keep surprising you every chance it gets. It’s without a doubt an absolute masterpiece.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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Simply Amazing!

Amazing...Amy!
So Happy the movie was made as well! It deserves all the recognition it got!

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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

A 5 Star Start with a 1 Star Ending...

Such a delicious beginning with an ending that leaves you with a bitter taste in your mouth. The narrators were great!

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

Slow, dragging and unsatisfying.

I mean honestly, this really dragged.

I had to force myself to finish each chapter. The build up was slow, which isnt a problem if it's interesting enough. Once the twist is revealed the story goes downhill fast and doesnt end soon enough. Not to mention the voice for nick is grating, he sounds like Sheldon Cooper. That really doesn't help. People ought to stop recommending it as a thriller. There's nothing thrilling about it. Overall disappointing, but I do like the idea of it, the writing was pleasant enough...but the characters were far too unlikable for it to be engaging and the pay off was severely lacking.

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    5 out of 5 stars
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Even better than the movie!

The movie was great but it all started with the book. And it’s outstanding. Never a dull moment. You can’t stop listening even when you know what’s going to happen. The book isn’t exactly the same as the movie. And I hope for a Gone Girl 2!

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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Top book

Meraviglioso. Si è alla continua scoperta non solo di Nick Dunne e Amy Elliot ma di se stessi. Un libro che trasporta i lettori nei meandri della loro psiche. Dire che le circa 19 ore di lettura siano volate sarebbe un eufemismo. Buona lettura!!

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    5 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars
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Editing issue

The first 1-2 words of each paragraph was cut out so it make is slightly annoying but overall it was a great book

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    4 out of 5 stars
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Interesting

A popular, well-written, and thought-out book. My personal preference is more action. The performance was monotone. I guess there was only one Stieg Larsson? A good story for a particular audience.

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Interesting…

Both characters are unlikeable but their actions keep you drawn in. It’s a long read but reasonable considering the fact that everyday is described up to a month past. Then it’s starts to jump around. The diary entries were not understood to be necessary until later on. I thought they were incredibly unnecessary until she finally explained why she did it. I’m glad I stuck around to see what was happening next but took a good 10 hours to get to something interesting. If you don’t have the patience then I don’t recommend you wasting your time. I made this an everyday read so i finished in a week and a half. Like I said before it’s a long read. But so worth it if you haven’t read anything recently that spoke to you.

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