Gone Girl: A Novel

On a warm summer morning in North Carthage, Missouri, it is Nick and Amy Dunne's fifth wedding anniversary. Nick's wife disappears while presents are being wrapped and reservations are being made. Nick's behavior draws suspicion. While his daydreams about his wife reveal his own preoccupations, passages from Amy's diary suggest she was a perfectionist who could have provoked tension in those close to her. As police and media pressure mount, along with scrutiny from Amy's devoted parents, Nick displays a pattern of lies, evasions, and inappropriate behavior. He is bitter and defensive, but the question remains: is he responsible for his wife's disappearance? The novel explores the nature of identity and the secrets that can exist within intimate relationships through interweaving Amy's diary entries with Nick's first-person account, depicting both the unraveling of their marriage and the recession-affected Midwest setting.