Book Review: Gone Girl

What's up, y'all?  I'm busy getting ready for Valerie and Nick's wedding, so I decided to schedule this book review post for you!  It seems that Saturdays are when I like to post book review, so why not continue the trend!

Today, I want to review Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn.

The book begins on Nick and Amy Dunn's 5th wedding anniversary.  Amy usually sets up a scavenger hunt for Nick, highlighting romantic moments from the year and leading him to his gift.  Nick receives a phone call from a neighbor that the door their house is open and the cat is outside.  He hurries home to find that his wife is missing.  The crime scene leads police to believe that Nick had something to do with it.

The first part of the book alternates between Nick's perspective of dealing with his wife's disappearance and Amy's diary, detailing their marriage and her perspective of moving from New York City to Nick's rural hometown.

I kind of had a hard time getting through the first part of the book.  Nick's character frustrated me, since he wasn't behaving the way I expected a man searching for his missing wife should be.  I was intrigued by Amy's diary entries, hoping that I would better understand why Nick was acting so aloof.

***This part of the review DOES contain spoilers (just because of the nature of the book), so please skip down to the bottom if you just want to read my opinion.***

Then came the HUGE TWIST at the beginning of part two. 

I just couldn't believe how Amy faked her own disappearance.  The way she planned everything down to the last minute detail was just insane to me.  I wanted to like her (considering we share a name, and I felt like I could relate to her in her diary entries), but I just couldn't.

The story did keep me engaged until the end.  There were so many twists and turns throughout the story that I just couldn't stop reading the book.  I must admit: I was pretty disturbed by the ending.  It was believeable due to the fact that both Nick and Amy seemed a little mentally unstable, but it left me a little unnerved and concerned for their future (I don't want to give everything away...). 

My overall opinion of the book (no spoilers here):
Gillian Flynn is a talented writer.  Her story kept me engaged and it was well-written.  I think my biggest problem with this book was that I didn't really connect with any of the characters (like Julie and Katie).  I love a story where I can put myself in a character's shoes and suck myself into the story that way.  Since I didn't connect with these characters, I didn't get wrapped up in the book as I expected I would.

I am happy that I read it, though.  It's definitely a psychological thriller, and I enjoy stories like that.  I've been reading a lot of chick-lit lately, so this one was good to throw in for something different!

I recommend that you read this book, but it's not an automatic favorite of mine.

Question for you: Have you read Gone Girl?  What'd you think?  If not, do you have any psychological thriller books that I should read?

I'll be back tomorrow evening to talk to y'all about the end of Summer Best Body Bootcamp!