On the morning of Nick and Amy’s fifth wedding anniversary, Amy disappears and foul play is suspected. As the police investigate, fingers are pointed straight at Nick; all the evidence suggests that he has hurt Amy (or worse), and as he protests his innocence, nobody, including the reader, is sure who to believe.
There is a split narrative, with Nick describing events on the day of and the days following the disappearance, and also talking about his marriage to Amy, and through Amy’s diary entries leading up to their fifth wedding anniversary. Through their two voices, a tale is told of two people who meet, fall in love and get married, and seem to have it all – until they don’t. Until job losses, financial worries and parental problems threaten their happiness, and slowly but surely, the truth is revealed.
It’s really hard to review this book, because I think it is absolutely essential that there are no spoilers for anyone reading it. However, I will say that I really really liked the first part, where it was never quite clear what had happened. Then comes a twist, and a change of pace, which I initially was quite disappointed by, and I thought that the book would suffer because of it – but I was wrong. The level of tension was kept up, and I found the book hard to put down.
I thought the characters were really well written, even if I didn’t particularly like some of them. (Nick was not that likeable, and Amy’s parents were vomit inducing!)
My only gripe with this book was the ending, which, while well written, and which was actually very clever when I look back at it, didn’t satisfy me, but I can’t say why without giving away important plot points. Overall though, this book was a terrific read, and I will be seeking out Gillian Flynn’s other works.
(Author’s website can be found here.)
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