Gone Girl: A Novel Audiobook, by Gillian Flynn Play Audiobook Sample

Gone Girl: A Novel Audiobook

Gone Girl: A Novel Audiobook, by Gillian Flynn Play Audiobook Sample
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Read By: Kirby Heyborne, Julia Whelan Publisher: Random House Audio Listen Time: at 1.0x Speed 13.33 hours at 1.5x Speed 10.00 hours at 2.0x Speed Release Date: June 2012 Format: Unabridged Audiobook ISBN: 9780307990402

Quick Stats About this Audiobook

Total Audiobook Chapters:

73

Longest Chapter Length:

45:45 minutes

Shortest Chapter Length:

13 seconds

Average Chapter Length:

16:23 minutes

Audiobooks by this Author:

4

Other Audiobooks Written by Gillian Flynn: > View All...

Plot Summary

On the surface, a good-looking successful writer married to the gorgeous woman who understands how to be "one of the boys". However, as the first-person accounts through their private notes reveal in the beginning of the book; the reality of the happily connected couple in the audiobook Gone Girl: A Novel is far from the image they show to the public. This suspense filled narration is a swim in the icy waters of a marriage gone terribly bad. As personalities are revealed, the clues take you on a dark journey to a possible murder.

Nick and Amy Dunne have moved back to his hometown in Missouri. Leaving their New York social and professional lives behind when the economy sours and their jobs along with it; they find themselves ready to celebrate five years of what is perceived as wedded bliss in a Mississippi River rental home. When his beautiful wife disappears, her parents and the police want answers that Nick does not seem willing to provide. His twin sister Margo may believe in his innocence, but the locals begin to wonder how well they really do know their loved ones. With a twisting psychological plot that keeps you in suspense, and the cutting wit that reveals how poisonous a relationship really can be; author Gillian Flynn maintains her status as mystery writer extraordinaire with her third novel.

Flynn's ability to bring her wretched characters to life and walk us through her dark unnerving plots keeps us wanting more. The daughter of two college professors; she was born in Kansas City, Missouri and spent much of her childhood reading and enjoying movies. After a failed attempt at earning a living as a crime reporter after completing her master's in journalism, Flynn headed to New York and was hired as a writer for Entertainment Weekly magazine. Her first book, Sharp Objects, won multiple Dagger Awards and the movie rights were purchased.

"I can honestly say that this is the best novels I've read in many years. There are so many brilliant twists and surprises that you're constantly left guessing up until the very end and then BAM! - you get the best comes-out-of-nowhere surprise ending I've ever read in a novel. I know I'm gushing but this novel is really just that good."

— SarahF. (5 out of 5 stars)

Publisher Summary

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • The “mercilessly entertaining” (Vanity Fair) instant classic “about the nature of identity and the terrible secrets that can survive and thrive in even the most intimate relationships” (Lev Grossman, Time). NAMED ONE OF THE MOST INFLUENTIAL BOOKS OF THE DECADE BY CNN AND ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE DECADE BY TIME AND ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY NAMED ONE OF THE TEN BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY Janet Maslin, The New York TimesPeopleEntertainment WeeklyO: The Oprah MagazineSlateKansas City StarUSA TodayChristian Science Monitor On a warm summer morning in North Carthage, Missouri, it is Nick and Amy Dunne’s fifth wedding anniversary. Presents are being wrapped and reservations are being made when Nick’s clever and beautiful wife disappears. Husband-of-the-Year Nick isn’t doing himself any favors with cringe-worthy daydreams about the slope and shape of his wife’s head, but passages from Amy's diary reveal the alpha-girl perfectionist could have put anyone dangerously on edge. Under mounting pressure from the police and the media—as well as Amy’s fiercely doting parents—the town golden boy parades an endless series of lies, deceits, and inappropriate behavior. Nick is oddly evasive, and he’s definitely bitter—but is he really a killer? NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY San Francisco ChronicleSt. Louis Post-DispatchChicago TribuneHuffPostNewsday

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Quotes

  • “Gone Girl is delicious and intoxicating and delightfully poisonous.”

    — Scott Smith, New York Times bestselling author of The Ruins and A Simple Plan
  • “Gone Girl is one of the best ­and most frightening ­portraits of psychopathy I’ve ever read.”

    — Tana French, New York Times bestselling author of Faithful Place and Into the Woods
  • “Gone Girl manages to be so many stellar things all at once—suspenseful, inventive, chilling, funny, unsettling—as well as beautifully plotted and fiercely well-written. Gillian Flynn is a thrilling writer.”

    — Kate Christensen, New York Times bestselling author of The Great Man  
  • “With Gone Girl, [Flynn has] placed herself at the top of the short list of authors who have mastered the art of crafting a tense story with terrifyingly believable characters.”

    — Karin Slaughter, New York Times bestselling author of Fallen
  • “A devastating portrait of a marriage and a timely, cautionary tale about an age in which everyone’s dreams seem to be imploding.” 

    — Laura Lippman, New York Times bestselling author of The Most Dangerous Thing
  • “The plot has it all. I have no doubt that in a year’s time I’m going to be saying that this is my favorite novel of 2012. Brilliant.” 

    — Kate Atkinson, New York Times bestselling author of Started Early, Took My Dog
  • “Gillian Flynn’s Gone Girl is like Scenes from a Marriage remade by Alfred Hitchcock, an elaborate trap that’s always surprising and full of characters who are entirely recognizable. It’s a love story wrapped in a mystery that asks the eternal question of all good relationships gone bad: How did we get from there to here?” 

    — Adam Ross, New York Times bestselling author of Mr. Peanut 
  • “Ice-pick-sharp…Spectacularly sneaky…Impressively cagey…Gone Girl is Ms. Flynn’s dazzling breakthrough.”

    — New York Times
  • “What makes Flynn so fearless a writer is the way she strips her characters of their pretenses and shows no mercy while they squirm.”

    — New York Times Book Review
  • “An ingenious and viperish thriller…It’s going to make Gillian Flynn a star.”

    — Entertainment Weekly
  • “An irresistible…thriller with a twisting plot worthy of Alfred Hitchcock. Burrowing deep into the murkiest corners of the human psyche, this delectable summer read will give you the creeps and keep you on edge until the last page.”

    — People
  • “[A] thoroughbred thriller…Gone Girl begins as a whodunit, but by the end it will have you wondering whether there’s any such thing as a who at all.”

    — Time
  • “It’s simply fantastic: terrifying, darkly funny, and at times moving. The minute I finished it I wanted to start it all over again.”

    — Associated Press
  • “Gillian Flynn’s third novel is both breakneck-paced thriller and masterful dissection of marital breakdown…Wickedly plotted and surprisingly thoughtful, this is a terrifically good read.” 

    — Boston Globe
  • “Gillian Flynn’s terrific psychological thriller, Gone Girl, wanders into an alternate criminality, to the darkest corners of mind and matrimony, using Occam’s razor to slit its own throat.” 

    — Daily Beast
  • “The story unfolds in precise and riveting prose…even while you know you’re being manipulated, searching for the missing pieces is half the thrill of this wickedly absorbing tale.”

    — O, The Oprah Magazine
  • “[A] sharp, mercilessly entertaining psychological thriller.”

    — Vanity Fair
  • “Masterfully plotted.” 

    — Vogue
  • “A great crime novel.”

    — Salon
  • “[An] absorbing thriller.”

    — New Yorker
  • “Ms. Flynn writes dark suspense novels that anatomize violence without splashing barrels of blood around the pages…But as in her other books, Ms. Flynn has much more up her sleeve than a simple missing-person case. As Nick and Amys alternately tell their stories, marriage has never looked so menacing, narrators so unreliable.” 

    — Wall Street Journal
  • “Gillian Flynn’s new novel, Gone Girl, is that rare thing: a book that thrills and delights while holding up a mirror to how we live.” 

    — San Francisco Chronicle
  • “Gone Girl is as skillfully creepy as her previous work…A chilling, stylish read about another unknowable woman.”

    — Elle (UK)
  • “Part thriller, part macabre love story…The book is told deliciously…[and] the twists and turns are never obvious.” 

    — New York Post
  • “In a word, amazing.”

    — Christian Science Monitor
  • “A highly original thriller that’s also a razor-sharp depiction of a relationship gone off the rails.” 

    — Parade
  • “Gone Girl is a superbly constructed, ingeniously paced, and absolutely terrifying…A five-star suspense mystery.”

    — Reader’s Digest (UK)
  • “Deviously good.”

    — Marie Claire (UK)
  • “An unnerving, gorgeously written marital thriller that features one of the most compelling narrators in recent memory.”

    — Atlantic Wire
  • “A dark, satisfying, psychological thriller.”

    — Examiner.com
  • “A twisting, turning, zooming-up-the-charts thriller.”

    — Real Simple
  • “A satisfyingly scathing take on a marriage so broken even the truth is built on lies.”

    — Family Circle
  • “Dark yet funny with a devious twist, this is everything that made Flynn’s Sharp Objects a bestseller—but better.”

    — Redbook
  • “[Flynn has] quite outdone herself…[she] delivers a wickedly clever cultural commentary as well as a complex and driven mystery.”

    — New York Daily News
  • “Reminds suspense readers of the old Alfred Hitchcock stories…This is one puzzle you do not want to miss.” 

    — Suspense
  • “Flynn keeps us guessing with equal parts charm and menace. An addictive read.” 

    — More
  • “Flynn has shown her skills at gripping tales and enhanced character studies since her debut Sharp Objects, which garnered an Edgar nod, among other nominations. Her second novel Dark Places made numerous best of lists. Gone Girl reaffirms her talent.”

    — South Florida Sun-Sentinel
  • “Brilliantly constructed and consistently absorbing…[Gone Girl], which twists itself into new shapes, works as a page-turning thriller, but it’s also a study of marriage at its most destructive.” 

    — Columbus Dispatch
  • “Gillian Flynn’s barbed and brilliant Gone Girl has two deceitful, disturbing, irresistible narrators and a plot that twists so many times you’ll be dizzy.”

    — Minneapolis Star-Tribune
  • “Flynn’s third noir thriller recently launched to even more acclaim than the first two novels, polishing her reputation for pushing crime fiction to a new literary level and as a craftsman of deliciously twisting and twisted plots.”

    — Kansas City Star
  • “A good story presents a reader with a problem that has to be resolved and a few surprises along the way. A great story gives a reader a problem and leads you along a path, then dumps you off a cliff and into a jungle of plot twists, character revelations and back stories that you could not have imagined. Gone Girl does just that.” 

    — St. Louis Post-Dispatch
  • “Flynn’s characters bloom and grow, like beautiful, poisonous plants. She is a Gothic storyteller for the Internet age.”

    — Cleveland Plain Dealer
  • “One of the summer’s best.”

    — Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel
  • “Gone Girl is a superbly crafted novel by a talented and daring young writer and it will keep you guessing until the very last sentence.” 

    — Cincinnati City Beat
  • “Full of midnight-black wit and gorgeous writing.”

    — Dallas Morning News
  • “A psychological thriller reminiscent of Hitchcock.” 

    — Aspen Daily News
  • “Devilishly clever he said/she said thriller.”

    — Atlanta Journal Constitution
  • “The ending…is one of the most chilling we've seen in recent years.”

    — Sacramento Bee
  • “It’s one of those books you will feel the need to discuss immediately after finishing because the ending doesn’t just come; it punches you in the gut.”

    — Amazon.com, editorial review
  • “Compulsively readable, creepily unforgettable, this is a must read for any fan of bad girls and good writing.”

    — Publishers Weekly (starred review)
  • “Once again Flynn has written an intelligent, gripping tour de force, mixing a riveting plot and psychological intrigue with a compelling prose style that unobtrusively yet forcefully carries the reader from page to page.”

    — Library Journal (starred review)
  • “Both a compelling thriller and a searing portrait of marriage, this could well be Flynn’s breakout novel. It contains so many twists and turns that the outcome is impossible to predict.” 

    — Booklist (starred review)
  • “One of those rare thrillers whose revelations actually intensify its suspense instead of dissipating it. The final pages are chilling.”

    — Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
  • “A fiendishly clever tale of a marriage gone toxic and revenge exacted to a disturbingly lethal degree.” 

    — BookPage

Awards

  • A #1 New York Times bestseller
  • A USA Today bestseller
  • A Publishers Weekly bestseller
  • A 2013 Women's Prize for Fiction Nominee
  • Selected for the June 2012 Indie Next List
  • A 2012 Barnes & Noble Best Book for Fiction
  • A 2013 Edgar Allan Poe Award Nominee for Best Novel
  • One of Audible’s Best Audiobooks of 2014: Narrator of the year
  • A Library Journal bestseller
  • A 2013 Anthony Award Nominee for Best Novel
  • A 2013 Barry Award Nominee for Best Novel
  • A Washington Post bestseller
  • A #1 Los Angeles Times bestseller
  • A 2012 San Francisco Chronicle Best Book for Fiction
  • A 2012 Kansas City Star Top 100 Book for Fiction
  • A 2012 Library Journal Best Book for Fiction
  • A 2012 Kirkus Reviews Top 25 Book for Fiction
  • A 2012 People Magazine Best Book for Fiction
  • A 2012 USA Today Best Book
  • Winner of the RT Award for Best Suspense/Thriller Novel
  • A 2013 Macavity Award Nominee for Best Mystery

Gone Girl Listener Reviews

Overall Performance: 3.36363636363636 out of 53.36363636363636 out of 53.36363636363636 out of 53.36363636363636 out of 53.36363636363636 out of 5 (3.36)
5 Stars: 4
4 Stars: 3
3 Stars: 0
2 Stars: 1
1 Stars: 3
Narration: 3.8 out of 53.8 out of 53.8 out of 53.8 out of 53.8 out of 5 (3.80)
5 Stars: 2
4 Stars: 2
3 Stars: 0
2 Stars: 0
1 Stars: 1
Story: 3.8 out of 53.8 out of 53.8 out of 53.8 out of 53.8 out of 5 (3.80)
5 Stars: 2
4 Stars: 2
3 Stars: 0
2 Stars: 0
1 Stars: 1
Write a Review
  • Overall Performance: 5 out of 55 out of 55 out of 55 out of 55 out of 5 Narration Rating: 5 out of 55 out of 55 out of 55 out of 55 out of 5 Story Rating: 5 out of 55 out of 55 out of 55 out of 55 out of 5

    — Rose Franke, 2/14/2022
  • Overall Performance: 4 out of 54 out of 54 out of 54 out of 54 out of 5 Narration Rating: 4 out of 54 out of 54 out of 54 out of 54 out of 5 Story Rating: 4 out of 54 out of 54 out of 54 out of 54 out of 5

    — Louise LaPoint, 5/8/2020
  • Overall Performance: 1 out of 51 out of 51 out of 51 out of 51 out of 5

    " This book has received RAVE REVIEWS. I'm not sure why. I found this book to be horribly boring, but only listened to the first two chapters (twice). I would give this book ZERO stars if I could. "

    — Julie, 10/29/2019
  • Overall Performance: 2 out of 52 out of 52 out of 52 out of 52 out of 5

    " This book gets two stars instead of zero because for one, the audiobook is well executed by both readers and for two, I found the “unreliable narrator” format brilliantly done. Pretty much everything else about “Gone Girl” is flat-out depressing. Sure, awful things happen in good stories. And, sure, it’s realistic to have blurred lines between fact and perception. But this saga of one treachery after another (with no characters the reader actually likes or trusts) concludes without any glimmer of the justice and redemption we all long for at the end of the tunnel. It left me with a feeling of, “Ummm, ok?? That was creepy…” "

    — Jenna, 6/15/2019
  • Overall Performance: 5 out of 55 out of 55 out of 55 out of 55 out of 5 Narration Rating: 5 out of 55 out of 55 out of 55 out of 55 out of 5 Story Rating: 5 out of 55 out of 55 out of 55 out of 55 out of 5

    " This book is twisted and crazy. You stay riveted to this book. Once you start the book you cannot stop and you wont regret it once you make it to the end... "

    — Melissa, 4/19/2016
  • Overall Performance: 1 out of 51 out of 51 out of 51 out of 51 out of 5 Narration Rating: 1 out of 51 out of 51 out of 51 out of 51 out of 5 Story Rating: 1 out of 51 out of 51 out of 51 out of 51 out of 5

    — Frank, 12/2/2015
  • Overall Performance: 4 out of 54 out of 54 out of 54 out of 54 out of 5 Narration Rating: 4 out of 54 out of 54 out of 54 out of 54 out of 5 Story Rating: 4 out of 54 out of 54 out of 54 out of 54 out of 5

    — Diane, 10/26/2013
  • Overall Performance: 1 out of 51 out of 51 out of 51 out of 51 out of 5

    " I honestly do not understand all of the gushing praise for this novel on this and other book sites. The characters are despicable and the plot is an outlandish mess. I hated it and consider the time spent on it to be an absolute waste. Total rubbish! "

    — Candace P., 8/2/2012
  • Overall Performance: 4 out of 54 out of 54 out of 54 out of 54 out of 5

    " Dark and twisted, just like I like my thrillers. A very good book from a gifted author. I would have given it 5 stars except for the fact that it takes a little while to get going. "

    — Kerry Washington, 7/18/2012
  • Overall Performance: 5 out of 55 out of 55 out of 55 out of 55 out of 5

    " I've never read a novel that had so many brilliant twists. The suspense just never ends and the ending is awesome. I downloaded this on a whim - so glad that I did now. I can't stop recommending it to all of my friends. "

    — David Evans, 7/7/2012
  • Overall Performance: 5 out of 55 out of 55 out of 55 out of 55 out of 5

    " This one really blew me away. It's an awesome suspense novel with a brilliant twist about halfway in that turns the book into a real thrill-ride. "

    — Allie D., 6/14/2012

About Gillian Flynn

Gillian Flynn is the chief television critic at Entertainment Weekly. Her debut novel, Sharp Objects, was an Edgar Award finalist and the winner of two Dagger Awards. She lives in Chicago with her family.

About the Narrators

Kirby Heyborne is a musician, actor, and professional narrator. Noted for his work in teen and juvenile audio, he has garnered over twenty Earphones Awards. His audiobook credits include Jesse Kellerman’s The Genius, Cory Doctorow’s Little Brother, and George R. R. Martin’s Selections from Dreamsongs.

Julia Whelan is a novelist, screenwriter, lifelong actor, and multiple award-winning audiobook narrator. She graduated with a degree in English and creative writing from Middlebury College and Oxford University. She is a former child actor who has appeared in multiple films and television shows.