What the heck did I just read??? 
 When the Gone Girl film came out several years ago, I was interested in reading the book. The movie caught my eye, and I try to make it a point to read the book before watching the film. Anyway, I don't know how...either I wrote about wanting to read Gone Girl on my Facebook...or I entered to win a free copy on Goodreads, but one day I came home and there was an Amazon package on my doorstop. The package was addressed to me and inside was a copy of Gone Girl. There was nothing else. It was all very strange, but I put Gone Girl on my book shelf and kept it there to read in the future. I knew it was going to be an undertaking, and I tried reading the first chapter several times. The book seemed strange, convoluted, repulsive, and intriguing. Nick writes about the shape of Amy's head, and how he wants to open up her skull and sift through the membranes of her brain to figure her out...*shudder*. 
 Gone Girl is a creepy novel. The beginning plays out as a psychological thriller, which I love, but then it quickly turns into a murder whodunnit, which I am not a fan of. Fortunately, just as I think the book is going in one direction, the book turns a 180 at the halfway point. I commend Flynn for that. Also, I greatly appreciate the mall at night scene. The scene feels creepy and ominous, almost Evil Deadish. Not to mention the whole scene points a scary finger at how we as a society have turned. I feel like someone can dedicate an entire book about what goes on in the abandoned malls of America when the lights go out. 
 Throughout reading the book, I can picture the characters so vividly, I play out the scenes in my mind. I can see Nick picturing Amy's bloody head--there is one part where Nick sees Amy lying on the floor of their house with her head bashed in, and I am left wondering if he is imagining her like that, or if he is having a flashback of actually seeing her. 
 All in all, I love the book. Gone Girl reminds me of every bad relationship I've been in that had gone south. The manipulation. The arguments. The awkward silences. The dearth of love and compassion. Thinking about it all right now, I have plenty of material to write my own Gone Girl book, Gone Boy a soured gay relationship that ends tragically. All joking aside, I unfortunately connect with a lot of the scenes. The only difference is my scenes end with a lot of crying, and the scenes of the book end with a lot of stoic faces. 
 I suppose that is what I find so intriguing about our anti-hero. What is Nick thinking? Why is he so stoic about Amy missing? I can't wait to watch the movie now because I can imagine how well it can excel in the fact that we the viewer are not being able to peer inside Nick's mind. (I haven't seen the film yet, so I can't help but imagine the film being perfect.) 
 Long story short, I greatly enjoyed Gone Girl. I would have given it 5 stars if it didn't have so many red herrings. Just give us a good story. Let the characters create ambiguity instead of giving us strange plot lines. A nitpicky criticism I admit. I suppose I just don't like being led on. Yet, that didn't stop me from reading the book in 3 days, a feat I rarely do (typically it takes me a month to read a novel). I look forward to checking out Flynn's other novels. If they are as good as this one, I'll definitely read them in the future. Also, I am so curious to watch the film now. Hopefully it is as good as the novel.