If you haven't heard of "Gone Girl" by now, you might be living under a rock. In which case, please come out and discover the awesome woman who came up with it.
Many people have seen the film adaption of "Gone Girl," which was great, but I'm here to tell you why should read not only this novel but Gillian Flynn's other novels as well. If you're looking for a drama or rom-com that ends happily, then this is not for you. Flynn is one of the women standing out in the writing game by creating endings that are sort of wrapped up in a bow, but a barbed wire one, and characters that are so complex, you can't love or hate any of them. And the best part is, all the main characters are women, and women who don't take anyone's crap at that. These are strong female characters that you can't help but respect, even if you don't quite know how to feel about them.
Not only does she write strong female characters, but Flynn is also not afraid to be gross. She's not afraid to get things dirty and make you question your own morals as a human being. There is nothing delicate, nothing chaste, silent, or obedient about Flynn's writing, her characters especially. Not to mention that the plots that she comes up with, especially in "Gone Girl," are impressively clever. There's also an incredible quality of reality in her work and I think it's largely because the realistic complexity and imperfections of her characters and also her incredible sense of place and the nuances of human nature. Balanced with just the right amount of wit, it's pretty much a fact that the girl's got style.
So far, Flynn has written three novels and is currently working on a collection of short stories. Aside from "Gone Girl," she has also written "Dark Places" and "Sharp Objects." If I had to rank them, I would in the order that I just listed them, although they're all fantastic. I found myself in a sort of fascinated horror or appall in each of these novels and to be able to successfully evoke that strange combination of emotion is quite a feat, in my opinion. Flynn does a fantastic job of reeling you in and then proceeding to play a game of cat and mouse with your brain.
So, please, if you aren't opposed to psychological thrillers and morally ambiguous tendencies, read Gillian Flynn.