Reviews tagging 'Murder'

Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn

308 reviews

ttnnllrr's review

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

On the morning of his fifth wedding anniversary, our main character, Nick Dunne, is introduced to us as a closed off and apathetic husband who resents his wife. That same morning, his wife Amy, goes missing after what looked like a struggle in the living room of their small town Missouri home. 

At first, Nick is treated as a grieving and worried husband, desperate for the return of his wife, however noticing his strange behaviour of lying and evading questions from the police, people begin to take a new view on his character. Then when evidence slowly starts stacking up against Nick, insisting him as the culprit, Nick begins taking risks to prove his innocence. 

The book is split into three parts. 

In the first part, the reader is left completely in the dark with only our unreliable narrator Nick as company. This leaves us questioning if he is telling the truth when he claims to have no hand in the disappearance of Amy Dunne. 
In the second part, the pieces begin to fit into place and, in our first turn of events, we learn exactly what happened to Amy and how it all came to be, from the couples first meeting to their life spent together. 
The third and final part leaves the reader dizzy and reeling from the remaining twists and turns we are pulled through in order to witness the culmination of Nick and Amy’s relationship and what has come of it. 

I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book, it has been on my list for what feels like forever and I am shocked it took me so long to get to it, since it is completely and utterly worth it. Since this book is fairly old and very popular, I knew a bit about the plot and what some of the twists would be. That being said, I was so invested in this book and there were many portions I absolutely did not see coming! 

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Gaslighting, Self harm, Infidelity, Murder, Domestic abuse, and Vomit

_rowan_'s review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Torture, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Physical abuse, Body horror, Cancer, Pregnancy, Rape, Blood, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Gaslighting, Death of parent, Murder, Vomit, Toxic relationship, Medical content, Abandonment, Death, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual violence, Dementia, Emotional abuse, Gore, Suicide attempt, Confinement, Domestic abuse, Infidelity, Mental illness, Sexism, and Self harm

veryill's review

challenging dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Violence, and Rape

jane_moriarty's review against another edition

dark funny mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic relationship

Moderate: Sexual content, Blood, Alcohol, Classism, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Infidelity, Gaslighting, Kidnapping, Murder, and Self harm

Minor: Pregnancy, Rape, and Miscarriage

jus111's review

dark mysterious tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

bitches be trippin

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Gaslighting, Infidelity, Emotional abuse, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Alcohol, Sexism, Sexual assault, Dementia, and Murder

Minor: Vomit, Pregnancy, and Suicidal thoughts

ekcd_'s review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

Quick read but definitely did not live up to hype. There a few major plot points, poorly paced and wayyyy too long. The author sure loves to eat a dead horse.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Suicide, Confinement, Murder, Misogyny, Rape, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Suicide attempt, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Drug abuse, Self harm, Infertility, Suicidal thoughts, Emotional abuse, Excrement, Fatphobia, Dementia, Toxic relationship, Death of parent, Stalking, Gaslighting, Grief, Alcohol, Blood, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Vomit, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Pregnancy, Toxic friendship, and Violence

sarasreading's review

challenging dark mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

By some miracle I wasn't fully spoiled for this book. I thought I knew one thing going in,

that the main premise is a woman who fakes her own disappearance.

And even with that knowledge, I was still surprised over and over. 

I was worried I'd find it a bit boring, thinking I knew the main twist, but there were so many twists to come it really kept me on my toes! I have a harder time reading physical books, especially first getting into them. But this one was so easy, with its super short chapters and constant guessing. 

I wasn't super satisfied with the ending, but I suppose

they each sort of got what they deserved, except she deserves to be in prison, so there's that.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Infidelity, Self harm, Misogyny, Dementia, Gaslighting, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Injury/Injury detail, Toxic friendship, Emotional abuse, Death, Violence, and Cursing

Moderate: Physical abuse, Terminal illness, Murder, Cancer, Domestic abuse, Kidnapping, Suicidal thoughts, and Blood

sare1125's review

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content, Violence, Infidelity, Murder, and Cursing

Moderate: Pregnancy

fleabagb's review

adventurous challenging dark mysterious sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

0.5

 I hate to say this because this book was on my list for so long and I truly was enjoying myself so very much until I hit this part with a chapter from the perspective of Amy she had described two fat people in such a horrific way I annotated it how disappointed I was and that I truly thought that was the end of the road with me and this book. After sitting on it for a few days I have decided to DNF this book because of the verbiage used to depict characters of a bigger size. I was heartbroken reading this. It was downright fatphobic, harmful and absolutely unnecessary as these character were literally just filler, so it felt like an even bigger hit when Gillian chose to hit on that topic in a scene where it added nothing but a bad taste in my mouth. I guess it just goes to show just how casual fatphobia is and has become in our social environment. And I can't speak for you, but for me, for myself, my own sense of self and pride - I absolutely cannot forgive someone for writing characters that let's be honest, look like me, in such a wrenching way. Not to mention the characters she chose to shame had no big impact role in the story other than this hatred-spewing spiral she went on about "how dare a fat mushroom tummied person utilize the same resources as she does, how dare they be sitting down and fat, who knows if they're disabled but to hell with them!" Shame on you Gillian, shame on you. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Violence, Alcoholism, Sexual harassment, Gaslighting, Infidelity, Pregnancy, Fatphobia, Cancer, Classism, Body shaming, Domestic abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Rape, Sexual content, Blood, Body horror, Bullying, Death, Dementia, Murder, Physical abuse, Death of parent, Mental illness, and Sexual assault

katies77's review

3.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder and Blood

Moderate: Rape