The book started off interesting enough - a man comes home on his 5th anniversary to find the house showing signs of struggle and his wife missing. As evidence is found, it seems to point more and more to the husband as the prime suspect. Throughout the first part of the book you learn how Amy and Nick's relationship began and what their life together was like over the last 5 years. You learn about their personalities and quirks both through the husband's reflections as well as intermittent diary entries from the wife. By the end of this section of the book, the police are positive that Nick (the husband) is their man even though he keep protesting he is innocent. There is a huge twist, which I will not mention here so I don't spoil it for anyone who want to read the book, but it is quite big and forms the remaining half of the book.
I was not a big fan of this book. In my opinion, the 3 parts can be broken down like this: Part 1 - Ridiculously clichéed Dateline episode; Part 2 - Actually interesting and worth reading; Part 3 - The Author ran out of steam, yet couldn't let the villain get their just desserts, so it just fizzles out into a crap ending. I get that the author was trying to be different and deliberately not end happily, but I feel that the book really suffered because of it. The book went from being well formed and well written to feeling forced. Also, the two main characters are "realistic" to the point of being unlikable. I will say that it was eloquently written, though there was quite a bit of language that I didn't love, the large part of the book was almost poetic at times and very to the point. All in all, it left a feeling of "Ugh" when I finished it, so I definitely will not be venturing further into the world of Gillian Flynn novels. I give this book 2 out of 5 stars.
Hurrah!!!
ReplyDeleteA book review that isn't all roses and peaches! Thanks for committing your honest thoughts and feelings about both the plot and the writing style!