Book No. 18 of 2020
Wow, I devoured this book. When Gone Girl was big I didn’t bother reading it because I get weirdly contrary when books are surrounded by a lot of hype, but I heard enough references to it or the movie to have a vague idea of what goes down in the story. Even then, this was a dark, twisted page-turner.
The book’s protagonists are people you never really like even as you begrudgingly respect the things they do or understand where their actions are coming from—this is extremely my jam. Probably the most jarring thing about the characters is that I found myself actually relating to them; it’s always striking to remember that monsters are people just like you!
Gone Girl’s themes about narrative and about who we are in our relationships with each other were also really compelling (and disturbing) food for thought.
Finally, I always love a brilliantly planned out heist/trap/scheme, and this delivers that in spades, with cleverly layered hidden meanings to boot.
Similar Reads
For a (slightly less twisted) murder whodunnit, check out Olga Tokarczuk’s Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead.
For a similarly dark foray into the story of a murder and the sliminess under the veneer of perfect domesticity, I recommend Leila Slimani’s Lullaby (titled The Perfect Nanny in the US).