Finished Mo 2/6/17
This is a book that I picked up for free on South Interlacken on We 5/18/16, the day before my hernia surgery. I got several great books that afternoon.
I had read this novel before- probably a library copy, and also I saw the movie, but the writing was so well done, that it was just as good the second time around.
Nick (Lance) Dunne and Amy Elliot are married. Amy's parents are psychologists and children's book authors. They created a series of very popular books based loosely on Amy's life- THE AMAZING AMY series.
Amy and Nick live in NYC, and Nick was a writer and Amy had a job writing psychological quizzes, but she basically was a 'trust fund baby'. They both lose their jobs during the Dot Com Depression, and they move back to Nick's hometown in rural Missouri. He borrows money from Amy to start a bar. It's ironically called 'The Bar'.
Amy is a sociopath and has been acting the role of 'the perfect girl that every guy would love'. For a time, Nick held up his part of the bargain, but when his feelings started to change, Amy plots to get even. Nick understands that nobody could live under such 'enforced perfection', but Amy is so damaged that it is the only alternative for her.
She comes up with a plan to fake her murder and pin it on Nick. It's a plot that involved years of calculated, fiendish planning that leaves nothing to chance.
Nick tries to help the police find out what happened to her, because in the beginning he has no idea what's going on. But, soon he learns that Amy is not at all what she seems, and has a history of plotting intensely cruel revenge scenarios for various people that have tried to become close to her.
When Nick makes a public declaration of his love for Amy and his wish to make it up to her (he's just lying to clear himself from a possible murder charge), she reappears. She had been "a kept woman/the prisoner" of an old boyfriend, Desi Collings, in a swank suburb of St. Louis. This guy viewed it has 'giving her everything she needed, and there was no reason for her wanting to leave- Ever'! She slits his throat and claims that she had been his prisoner, but she had really sought him out and was only using him.
When she comes back, Nick realizes that he's trapped- in almost every sense of the word. Amy gets pregnant from his frozen sperm and he realizes that he must stay to protect his unborn child from Amy's diabolical cunning.
Nick to Amy when he admits that he doesn't love her, but he feels sorry for her-
"Because every morning you have to wake up and be you". And, Amy answers to herself...."I really, truly wish he hadn't said that. I keep thinking about it. I can't stop....I just wanted to make sure I had the last word. I think I've earned that."
I think that Nick's horror is just about to begin.
The author's page at wikipedia-
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gillian_Flynn
The novel's page on wikipedia-
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gone_Girl_(novel)
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