Summer Reading

I really debated whether I should write about this book. It falls somewhere between the literary fiction I usually write about and pop fiction. And it's not as if I'm alerting you to a book you might otherwise miss, since Gillian Flynn's Gone Girl sits atop many bestseller lists and on the laps of many summer vacationers. It reminds me of the summer when every time I turned around I saw someone reading Scott Turow's “Presumed Innocent”.

And it bears some resemblance to that novel, since both have at their center a married couple in which both spouses are keeping secrets. Flynn's characters, Nick and Amy Dunne, are unreliable narrators, and they both kept me whipsawed as I tried to stay ahead of their maneuverings. Flynn cleverly sprinkles clues that sometimes clarify and sometimes obfuscate, and though occasionally the plot turns strained credulity, I never stopped enjoying the twists.

Her book certainly qualifies as a suspense novel, but it is also the dissection of a marriage where outside pressures and personality conflicts contribute to a meltdown with massive repercussions.