Edward G.
kickbox
Gone Girl, by Gillian Flynn (Crown 2012), is simply the best book I’ve read this year. Flynn is a relatively new author, having published only three novels so far. Her first, Sharp Objects came out in 2007, and Dark Places came out three years later. Gone Girl was published in June of this year, and has risen meteorically as an Amazon bestseller. What makes this novel so worth reading is what makes all great novels worth reading: an engaging story told with superb writing.
Gone Girl is a story about marriage in the extreme, and like so many far-out tales of fictional relationships, it serves to illuminate the constituents of real marriage in real life: what is expected, what is owed, and what will be taken if not given. Gone Girl is Hemingway writing War of the Roses. It’s a funny, intriguing, and revealing story about those aspects of a dysfunctional marriage that remind us the worst damages often come from the hands of those we trust the most. Gillian Flynn holds nothing back.
There are two main characters, Nick and Amy. Amy, the famous inspiration behind the Amazing Amy series of children’s books co-authored by her parents, goes missing and is presumed dead. An investigation is launched by the police and the FBI (and the reader, of course) to find the kidnapper/killer. Naturally, the husband is always suspect number one. What ensues is a game of cat and mouse that will have you saying OMG! with each new chapter and each new twist. I wish I could go on, but I can’t describe the story any further without spoiling it for you. So, I will leave it to you to read the book for the rest of it. Nevertheless, the second half of this book’s greatness is the writing.
When it comes to the writing, Flynn is a master at using the English language to convey her clever insights. This is the hallmark of an expert writer, and Flynn is the definitive expert. Her sense of pacing, tension, suspense, transitions, and diction are on par with some of the greatest writers I’ve ever read. I honestly believe we’ll see a lifelong career from this author as she goes on to write books that become top movies and one day earn her a Pulitzer Prize. In fact when I chose to review Gone Girl, I chose it over the 2011 Pulitzer Prize winning author, Jennifer Eagan, simply because the writing of Gillian Flynn was more captivating than what I found in A Visit From the Goon Squad.
I highly encourage anyone looking for a great mystery thriller to grab a copy of Gone Girl. I can easily stake my reputation on the assertion that you’ll not be disappointed with the work of this American author. Now is the time to start following her. Gillian Flynn is one of the best.
Way to go, girl!
Gone Girl is a story about marriage in the extreme, and like so many far-out tales of fictional relationships, it serves to illuminate the constituents of real marriage in real life: what is expected, what is owed, and what will be taken if not given. Gone Girl is Hemingway writing War of the Roses. It’s a funny, intriguing, and revealing story about those aspects of a dysfunctional marriage that remind us the worst damages often come from the hands of those we trust the most. Gillian Flynn holds nothing back.
There are two main characters, Nick and Amy. Amy, the famous inspiration behind the Amazing Amy series of children’s books co-authored by her parents, goes missing and is presumed dead. An investigation is launched by the police and the FBI (and the reader, of course) to find the kidnapper/killer. Naturally, the husband is always suspect number one. What ensues is a game of cat and mouse that will have you saying OMG! with each new chapter and each new twist. I wish I could go on, but I can’t describe the story any further without spoiling it for you. So, I will leave it to you to read the book for the rest of it. Nevertheless, the second half of this book’s greatness is the writing.
When it comes to the writing, Flynn is a master at using the English language to convey her clever insights. This is the hallmark of an expert writer, and Flynn is the definitive expert. Her sense of pacing, tension, suspense, transitions, and diction are on par with some of the greatest writers I’ve ever read. I honestly believe we’ll see a lifelong career from this author as she goes on to write books that become top movies and one day earn her a Pulitzer Prize. In fact when I chose to review Gone Girl, I chose it over the 2011 Pulitzer Prize winning author, Jennifer Eagan, simply because the writing of Gillian Flynn was more captivating than what I found in A Visit From the Goon Squad.
I highly encourage anyone looking for a great mystery thriller to grab a copy of Gone Girl. I can easily stake my reputation on the assertion that you’ll not be disappointed with the work of this American author. Now is the time to start following her. Gillian Flynn is one of the best.
Way to go, girl!
