Gone Girl – and I’ll say it straight out – is not the easiest book to review. There are more curves than a rollercoaster and the plot never neatly goes where you think it’s heading. So it’s important to review gingerly, without giving spoilers.

Suffice to say this: Gone Girl is the most mature and compelling of Gillian Flynn’s works so far. Through this book, she elevates herself from somewhat superior suspense writing to prose that is steeped in psychodynamics and onrushing tension.

Parts of it are downright brilliant. The protagonists are Amy Elliott Dunne – the prototype for the Amazing Amy child book series – and her husband of five years, Nick Dunne. They are the perfect couple, attractive, charming, clever, and in love. And then Amy goes missing.

The toxicity of their marriage – and how they complete each other in the ugliest possible way – is only gradually revealed. Just when you think you “get it”, you find out that you don’t, not really. The narrative goes back and forth from Amy’s oh-so-happy diary entries to Nick’s evasiveness. But what is true and what is lies? The reader is soon sucked into their toxic game and the suspense kept me turning pages late into the night.

Gillian Flynn rounds out this danse-a-deux with some incredibly realistic police officers, a Nancy Grace clone, and a celebrity lawyer named Tanner. She has much to say bout the twenty-four-hour news cycle and media vultures, the cultural messages that women are subjected to (“bleed-and-clean”), and the biases we harbor after watching too much CSI and Law And Order.

The ending may be too contrived for some. It was for me. There will likely be discussion about whether it works or not. As a result, the book fell into the 4.5 category and it was my choice whether to bump the rating up or down.