gone girl by gillian flynn

A can't-put-it-down literate thriller for summer, Gillian Flynn's latest entry in her collection of disquieting tales tells the story of a picture-perfect marriage gone horribly wrong. Dark handsome midwestern transplant Nick and perfect blonde New Yorker Amy meet at a swank writers' soiree in Manhattan, exchanging the kind of repartee familiar to fans of Nick and Norah Charles. She thinks he's smitten, but in a heavy dose of foreshadowing, he doesn't call her for months; they reconnect after she accidentally runs into him at a local market. Their chemistry kicks in, they get married, and live fairly happily in a lovely flat owned by Amy's parents. When the recession hits their industry (they both write for print publications), they lose their jobs, and when Amy's parents inform her that they need to 'borrow back' her trust fund to avoid bankruptcy, things quickly head south. Or west. They pack up and retreat to Nick's hometown of Carthage, Missouri, and that is when the nastiness simmering under the surface of their marriage begins to boil. Give this one to fans of literate thrillers and pair it with Adam Ross's Mr. Peanut for an incredibly dark look at marriage. Don't miss the audiobook version - it fully brings to life the happy couple's alternating points of view. Click here for a full review. Grade 11+

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