Gone Girl
Gone Girl is a 2012 crime thriller novel by American writer Gillian Flynn. It was published by Crown Publishing Group in June 2012. The novel became popular and made the New York Times Best Seller list. The sense of suspense in the novel comes from whether or not Nick Dunne is involved in the disappearance of his wife Amy.
Flynn has refuted the notion that she was inspired to write the novel by the 2002 murder of Laci Peterson in California, saying that although she saw parallels between that real-life case and her story, she makes a point not to rely on specific true accounts for her stories.[1][2] Portraying her principal characters as out-of-work writers, she made use of her own experience being laid off from her job as a writer for Entertainment Weekly.[3]
Critics in the United States positively received and reviewed the novel. Reviewers praised the novel’s use of unreliable narration, plot twists, and suspense.
A film adaptation was released on October 3, 2014, directed by David Fincher, and written by Flynn herself, with Ben Affleck and Rosamund Pike starring in lead roles. The film was met with both commercial success and widespread critical acclaim.
The narrative alternates between the point of view of Nick and Amy Dunne, formerly Amy Elliott before she was married. Nick’s narration begins shortly after arriving home on his fifth wedding anniversary to find Amy is missing from their home; there are signs of a struggle. Amy’s narration comes in the form of her diaries and follows the earlier stages of their relationship.
The diary entries describe how Amy met Nick in New York City, where they both worked as writers. Nick was a journalist who wrote movie and TV reviews, while Amy wrote personality quizzes for women’s magazines. After two years of dating, they married. The couple lived in a beautiful brownstone home in Brooklyn where they were happy.
In 2009, both Nick and Amy lost their jobs following the Great Recession; Amy’s parents Rand and Marybeth, meanwhile, had written a successful childhood book series called “Amazing Amy,” based on Amy’s life experiences. However, when sales from the books started declining and Rand and Marybeth didn’t curb their spending, they also started facing financial issues. Their solution was to ask Amy for money from the trust fund they started for her.
Eventually, Amy and Nick relocate to Nick’s hometown of North Carthage, Missouri, to take care of Nick’s sick mother, Maureen. With permission, Nick used what remained of Amy’s trust fund to open a bar with his twin sister, Margot a.k.a. “Go.” Nick also finds work teaching journalism for North Carthage Junior College. The state of their marriage deteriorates; Amy describes how she hates being a housewife and resents Nick for making her move. Her diary comes to portray Nick as an aggressive, moody, idle, and threatening husband, and indicates that she fears for her life.
In Nick’s narrative, he views Amy as a needlessly difficult, anti-social, controlling perfectionist, and an unwelcome obligation, but is concerned about her disappearance. Nick becomes a suspect in the investigation, led by Detectives Rhonda Boney and Jim Gilpin. During the course of the investigation, Nick faces intense media scrutiny, exacerbated by his lack of obvious emotion and apparent flippant attitude. It’s also revealed by Amy’s supposed best friend from the neighborhood, Noelle Hawthorne, that Amy was pregnant (which Nick was unaware of) and the couple’s finances, though Nick downplays their relationship issues. Nick has serious credit card debt, which he claims to have been unaware of, and Amy’s life insurance was recently increased by Nick, which he claims was her idea. It becomes apparent to Nick that his wife had secrets from him.
