Bookshelf: Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn.

Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn. £3.80, discounted from £7.99 here.

'Who are you? What have we done to each other? These are the questions Nick Dunne finds himself asking on the morning of his fifth wedding anniversary, when his wife Amy suddenly disappears. The police 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 weren't made by him. And then there are the persistent calls on his phone. So what did happen to Nick's beautiful wife?'

Okay, Gone Girl. This is a bit of a tricky review to write because I almost don't know how I feel about this book. There has been a lot of hype surrounding it and ultimately the reviews I read that stated it had a shocking ending that they didn't see coming had me thinking 'yep, this is definitely a book for me' and I picked it up as soon as I saw it in my local charity shop. I had barely opened my front door or taken my coat off before I eagerly immersed myself in the story, I expected to be gripped from the first page and to completely and utterly love it. But... I didn't. And I'm not exactly sure why, but I'll try and figure it out.

I really like the differing perspectives throughout the narrative, one from Nick's point of view and one from Amy's. It keeps it interesting but I think those differing perspectives are there to make my opinion of each of the characters alter as the narrative progresses. Unfortunately I hated both of the main characters from the start, I continued to hate them both throughout and I even still hate them a little bit now, which is a shame because I'm fairly sure I was supposed to like Amy at the beginning and feel sorry for Nick in a few places. The strange thing is I couldn't really tell you why I hated them, so I'm not necessarily sure this really matters because at least it shows I was involved in the story enough to have such strong feelings for the characters.

Ultimately I think it's the plot that ended up falling a little short for me. Don't get me wrong, I liked the book, at least I think I liked it. It was a page turner, one of those I struggled to put down and I zoomed through it in a few afternoons. But I think I was expecting something a little creepier and a little more subtle, but unfortunately I kind of had the rest of the book figured out about a third of the way through and from there on there weren't many surprises for me. It's one of those books I can't really say too much about because I'll end up ruining it for you if you want to read it but I'll just say that I think I've watched way too many episodes of CSI and way too many psychological thrillers. It is quite disturbing in a 'can you ever really know anyone completely' kind of way, I just expected more I suppose. The last few paragraphs are brilliant, definitely don't skip to the last page and read it first!

Gillian Flynn's writing style was something I did love. Even though there were a few points I thought she gave a little too much away in one go, I think her attention to detail is pretty perfect and she has the ability to really build up a scene that makes you feel like you're there, looking in on the lives of the characters. Despite this book not quite living up to my expectations, I will definitely be reading more of her work.

I had a hard time giving this book an overall rating, at first I thought it was a solid 3 out of 5, but it seemed a little mean. I liked the idea, I liked the writing & it kept me interested until the end. I would absolutely recommend it, I think it's definitely worth a go if it sounds like something you think you would like. So, I guess in the end I did like it, but I expected to love it & I'm a little disappointed I didn't.

Have you read Gone Girl?

What are you currently reading?

Love, Jennie

xoxo