Gone Girl

By: Gillian Flynn

Narrated by: Julia Whelan, Kirby Heyborne

Length: 19 hrs and 57 mins

Publisher's summary

What are you thinking, Amy? The question I've asked most often during our marriage, if not out loud, if not to the person who could answer. I suppose these questions storm cloud over every marriage: What are you thinking? How are you feeling? Who are you? What have we done to each other? What will we do? Just how well can you ever know the person you love?

These are the questions that Nick Dunne must ask himself on the morning of his fifth wedding anniversary, when his wife Amy suddenly disappears. The police immediately suspect Nick. Amy's friends reveal that she was afraid of him, that she kept secrets from him. He swears it isn't true. A police examination of his computer shows strange searches. He says they aren't his. And then there are the persistent calls on his mobile phone.

So what really did happen to Nick's beautiful wife? And what was in that half-wrapped box left so casually on their marital bed? In this novel, marriage truly is the art of war.

©2012 Gillian Flynn (P)2012 Random House

Slow start but then a head of steam

A Great book once it got going captivated the reader, well researched and clever themes, will there be a sequel?

Dark and brutal

A book that constantly made you question the narrators and their motives. Very intriguing as it gave a new spin to the the thriller/murder mystery genre.

Get fit

Well this certainly out me out for my work every morning... Amazing Amy 😮😮😮 what will Nick do 🤔🤔🤔

Sick and disturbing.

It's so sick, dark and disturbing that you might actually feel depressed if you thought about what you just read, even for a second after completing it.

Amazing

Excellent performance from both readers. Using matching genders is incredibly ingenious. I really enjoyed all 19 hours. Amazing!

Almost the masterpiece I'd hoped for

The story unfolds in parts, with wonderful narration. The use of two (talented) voice actors is perfect for the book.

Part 1 is a cracker of a whodunnit. Gillian Flynn has mastered the art of parallel story-lines, a skill honed in Sharp Objects and wielded here to perfection.

But wait! There's more - a psychological suspense-thriller in the final parts as the protagonists grapple with the consequences. And while Gillian Flynn's second book, Dark Places, fell a bit flat due to improbable coincidences and a largely unsympathetic cast, Gone Girl had me totally sucked in.

I felt so sure this book would be 5 stars and a heart.

That is, until the final climax; the final few pages. WTF? I am underwhelmed and unconvinced.

Perhaps the silver lining is that Gone Girl was almost - but not quite - the ultimate masterpiece in the style that Gillian Flynn has been evolving over three stories to date, so I am left eagerly looking forward to her next. Will that be "The One"?

Novel spoiled by narration

How could the performance have been better?

I do realise that Amy's voice was meant to sound perky at times, but really, listeners are not 8 year olds that need bedtime-story narration with lots of modulation and emotion. It honestly hurt my ears. It is a book for adults please read it like adults. Both characters were in their late 30s but sounded like 16 year olds.

Was Gone Girl worth the listening time?

For story yes.

I enjoyed it but didn't love it.

I'm struggling with this one as I did enjoy it and did find myself wanting to hear more, but then I found myself just wanting it to end about 3/4 of the way through. It's very long. Clever plot but felt like it needed some condensing and Im also left not loving the ending.

Very surprising! Love the structure of the book

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

I loved the way the book was structured, not only shifting back and forth between narrators but back and forth in time as well.
The narrators did a great job. They enhanced the content, you always knew exactly who was talking. I've listened to some bad performances recently, so I absolutely appreciated the lack of effort I had to put into concentrating.
I also liked that the ending is not your typical everyone lives happily ever after and it's kind of up in the air.

Which character – as performed by Julia Whelan and Kirby Heyborne – was your favorite?

I think Amy was brilliant. Seemed kind of flat at first, but that was part of her unpredictable character, wasn't it?

Any additional comments?

Would definitely recommend. It's a refreshingly different read!

Expected more

After reading all the rave reviews over this book, I figured it must be really good. The first part of the book really bored me - I even skipped a few hours. I started listening again in Part 2 and only here did the story grab me. The middle part of the book is really excellent and you are completely pulled into the book and I found myself listening non-stop. The story had such an immense build-up, but the ending was just so unbelievably disappointing! I had a jaw-drop-"no-this-cant-be-the-end"-moment* when I heard the familiar voice "thank you for listening to audible". Even though the story was gripping, I'm not sure I would recommend it due to the awful ending.