Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn (4.5 stars)

Let me start by saying that you should just go read this, it's a great novel. Don't read any reviews, don't read the blurb on the back, don't read about the author's other work, just read it with no preconceptions as I did. Now, I'm going to assume you've read it so here come the SPOILERS.

Firstly, I hear a few people are complaining that the major plot twist was too obvious. Honestly, I think this shows poor appreciation for the art that Flynn put into the tone and style of Amy's diary entries. The Amy of the diary was so in love, so puppy-like, so obviously the victim. It never occurred to me, until the reveal, that she was a diabolical sociopath who took great joy in carefully planning the destruction of other people's lives for the slightest perceived infraction. How could it? I think those who picked this twist were spoiled in some way ("there's a huuuuuge twist"), or perhaps familiar with Flynn's writing style from other books. All cues for an unreliable narrator point to Nick, he openly admits lying on a number of occasions, but not what the lies are, making the reader distrust him. In comparison, Amy of the diary seems all the more trustworthy.

The reveal of Andie was masterfully played, and she instantly became my prime suspect. So needy, so incredibly into Nick, that making his pesky wife disappear would be completely plausible. But, I was wrong, and I was relishing the fact that I had completely no idea where this crazy story was going to go next. When I reached Part Two: Boy meets girl and the scope and cunning of Amy's intricate plan is revealed I found it extremely difficult to put the book down.

Once Amy is done telling us how amazingly clever she was, I found myself enjoying the novel less. We watch Amy make some very risky decisions with two down-and-out randoms she finds staying in the mountain cabins. Flynn tells us she's putting on another one of her personas, presumably to fit in, but even if this new persona is a risk-taker the behaviour still seems implausible. She watches news coverage about her own death with strangers, showing little regard for what being recognized will mean for her multi-year husband-destruction project. Inevitably this behaviour leads to crisis, which is good because it would have been pretty boring if she just won the game.

Unfortunately the next sequence with Desi, while interesting, had a number of holes:

• She chooses the worst possible meeting place for someone on the run: a casino, where she is probably captured on dozens of cameras. While Amy isn't carrying an identifiable mobile phone, Desi almost certainly is, and so his movements could be investigated after his murder by looking at cell-phone-tower logs.
• It is very likely that Desi had an alibi for the supposed kidnapping timeframe, but the police seem to never investigate this.
• Pulling off a second perfect murder frame-job without the benefit of a year of pre-planning is exceedingly unlikely, especially when you are a prisoner, and also the number one suspect in the eyes of the police.
• Desi's palatial lake house didn't clean and launder itself. It's likely there were some staff present, or involved peripherally, whose testimony could have weakened Amy's claimed timeline of events.

And the ending. It's almost universally hated, and I have to admit I was a hater at first. But it stuck in my mind, and after some reflection I've come around to respect. Nick makes what seems to be a bizarre choice, feeling trapped by his need to protect an unborn child from his psychotic wife, and a real fear of reprisal for leaving her. It seems unlikely that Amy could pull off another outlandish frame-job, but bad choices are completely consistent with Nick's character. As for Amy, she has finally found a way to manipulate a man into exactly what she wants. Thank god it isn't a hollywood ending where the baddies all get caught and go to jail.

I've focused mostly on plot here, but the writing is magnificent, I'll leave you with some of my favourite quotes:

Ironic people always dissolve when confronted with earnestness, it's their kryptonite.

...

There's something disturbing about recalling a warm memory and feeling utterly cold

...

But there's no app for a bourbon buzz on a warm day in a cool, dark bar. The world will always want a drink.

...

Sleep is like a cat: It only comes to you if you ignore it.

4.5 stars