I’m re-publishing my 2012 review and looking back at the Far-Reaching Influence of Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn. This book inspired over a decade of reader gaslighting, “Girl” books and more. Let’s look back and discuss!
Jen’s Quick Take on Gone Girl
- Moved suspense fiction into a new direction with:
- Unlikeable and unreliable characters
- A “he said, she said” narrative
- Inspired many, many “Girl” and “Woman” books like The Girl on the Train, All the Missing Girls, The Woman in the Window, and more!
Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn
Published on December 6, 2012 by Crown Books. Thanks to the publisher for the review copy.
The Far-Reaching Influence of Gone Girl
I’ve been a huge fan of Gillian Flynn since her debut novel, Sharp Objects. But back then, I felt she hadn’t been “discovered” yet and was excited to request Gone Girl as a brand new book reviewer in 2012.
Here’s What I Said About Gone Girl in 2012:
Flynn is an amazing writer of dark, edgy books filled with creepiness and suspense and black humor.
Gone Girl is no exception. It’s different from her prior books. Instead of the narrator being a smart, mordant girl, this book is narrated by a guy, Nick.
It’s Nick’s fifth wedding anniversary and he’s excited to spend it with his wife, Amy.
No, their marriage isn’t perfect, but what marriage is? There’s just one small problem: Amy’s gone missing.
The police think he must have had something to do with her disappearance. I mean, in these cases, isn’t the culprit always the husband?
For anyone who follows those missing wife stories on Dateline, etc., this part of the story is interesting enough. But Flynn cleverly brings the missing Amy into the narrative by interspersing Nick’s POV with excerpts from Amy’s journals.
Through Amy’s writing, we see her falling in love with Nick five years before, read about her reluctance to leave New York and move back to his small hometown — all the small compromises and arguments that begin to tarnish their shiny new love.
Gone Girl is a page-turner.
I kept changing my mind over and over. No, he couldn’t have killed her. Yes, he definitely kllled her.
Flynn’s touch as as deft as ever and her mind is as as twisted! I look forward to whatever she writes next!
Back to Jen in 2024:
What did Gillian Flynn write next? I looked and … sadly, nothing. She was supposed to write a YA book, but that never happened.
Gillian Flynn now has her own book imprint/publishing company, Zando. I reviewed one of the books on her list, Scorched Grace.
Gone Girl was a career-defining book, a runaway bestseller with a movie starring Ben Affleck, Rosamund Pike, Neil Patrick Harris, Tyler Perry, and Carrie Coon (from The Gilded Age!)
Doing a “gone girl” became slang that everyone understood. Was Flynn making a feminist statement that women could be just as diabolical and conniving as men?
I love an unreliable narrator, but after Gone Girl it seemed like every book had one. I love a twist, but the competition for twistier twists seemed to be fierce.