Gillian Flynn's books (Dark Place,Sharp Objects) keep getting better. She writes psychological thrillers. Her newest, "Gone Girl," reflects the same intensity of pacing as her earlier novels with the added substance of strong insight into the often polar forces within marriage.

When we meet Amy and Nick in the first chapter, Amy is missing. It's their 5th anniversary, and anniversaries have always been a big deal to Amy. As the investigation opens into her disappearance, we get the lovely back story of their courtship, the odd little twists and turns of fate that have brought them together despite a disparate past. New York City is just the right place for this attraction of opposites where Amy writes quizzes for women's magazines and Nick writes for a small paper. Then, WHOMP! Both jobs are chopped, Nick's mom is ill, and he persuades Amy to try life in Carthage, Missouri. Bad move.

The chapters unfold in Nick's voice, Amy's diary voice, and eventually, Amy's own. As anyone who watches crime shows knows, Nick will be suspect #1. He doesn't have much to save him. He lies to the police; he has a number of secrets. His twin, Margo (Go), knows him best, and even she begins to wonder. But there are a plethora of suspects from Amy's past that the police are just sitting around ignoring: the weirdo homeless people from the closed-down mall; the stalker roommate, the alleged rapist, the disconsolate high school boyfriend. Since none of these seem to interest the police, Nick doesn't stand a chance against the mounting evidence. The rustic police department seems content to let him hang himself.

To prevent spoilers, I will not go into the other aspects of the investigation or Amy's diary, parents, or marriage mythology. Suffice it to say that Flynn presents us with a marriage that was not made in heaven with two flawed main characters that we love at first and watch with a kind of knowing dismay in their unraveling.

A book to keep you up late into the night and then to make you wonder, how well do we know that spouse of ours? What secrets does any marriage hold?