Gone Girl (Gillian Flynn)

I strongly suggest to author Gillian Flynn that she lock herself in a room with puppies, rainbows, apple pie, and other happy things.  The bestselling author of Sharp Objects and Dark Places has done it again with the enormously successful, grotesque (in a good way) Gone Girl.  When I say enormously successful, I was 895th on the library’s waiting list.  It’s the heartpounding account of a marriage gone bad, and like a train wreck, I couldn’t look away and always came racing back for more.

It's impossible to say much about Gone Girl without giving key parts of the plot away.  What I will say is that Flynn has created a mindboggling tale, which is dripping with suspense and twists you never see coming.  I felt a cloying sense of claustrophobia while reading Nick and Amy's story, but that didn't stop me from coming back to it night after night.  The key characters are realistic but over-the-top at the same time.

I apologize for this being short and sweet, but the less I say about this book the better, lest I give too much away.  But Gillian Flynn, seriously...puppies.

MY RATING - 5

Sharp Objects (Gillian Flynn)

After reviewing another Flynn novel, "Dark Places", a few posts ago, I was a little hesitant to do another one. Don't get me wrong. Flynn is a very talented author, but you really have to be in the mood for her. Her books are not frivolous beach reads, filled with rich girls shopping and sleeping around to their hearts content. Flynn's novels are dark and messy. The covers are jet black, with one small picture in the middle. I have to say that of the two, I preferred the book I am about to review, "Sharp Objects".

This is the story of Camille Preaker, a Chicago newspaper reporter. Camille is sent back to her hometown in Missouri to report on the murders of two preteen girls. While there, she must deal with family ghosts...a mother who never loved her, a half-sister she has never met, and a sister who died long ago. Her past is not pretty, but she must confront it if she wants to report on the murders and get on with her life.

"Sharp Objects" is hard to put down but not a fun read. Gillian Flynn just needs to go on vacation somewhere and relax to get away from her dark side. I will be reviewing "Twenties Girl" by Sophie Kinsella, the queen of chick lit, very soon! I need to get back into "summer" mode!

MY RATING - 4

Dark Places (Gillian Flynn)

I stumbled across "Dark Places" one day in the library. It immediately struck me how similar Gillian Flynn's style is to one of my favorite authors, Jennifer McMahon. There is one key difference, however. The reason you cannot stop reading a McMahon novel is because you just have to find out what happens. The reason you cannot stop reading a Flynn novel is quite the opposite. You actually DON'T want to find out what happens, but you are powerless to stop yourself. As the king of macabre, Stephen King, says in a blurb on the jacket of "Sharp Objects" (which I am currently reading and will review in a future post), "I found myself dreading the last thirty pages or so but was helpless to stop turning them."

Let's start with the main character, Libby Day. When she was seven years old, most of her immediate family was murdered in front of her. She testified that her brother, Ben Day, was the killer. Fast forward twenty-five years later. Ben is in prison, and Libby lives off the money she makes from her trust funds. You know Libby is a not-so-nice girl when she regrets new murders that occur because they will take attention away from "her".

The Kill Club, a group of people obsessed with famous crimes, contacts Libby when they become convinced that Ben did not commit the murders. Money-hungry Libby decides that this is her prime opportunity to make more money. She will tell the club what she knows and contact key players in exchange for hefty fees.

Who is the killer? What is the motive? What happened twenty-five years ago? Libby is certainly not a Pollyanna, and she is not a character you will root for. However, you will desperately want to find out the answers to these questions.

MY RATING - 4