I don’t usually gravitate toward thrillers, but a couple of weeks ago I was looking for a book that would provide me with a bit of escapism, and a friend recommended Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn.

As the novel opens, Nick Dunne, former Manahttan writer and current Missouri bar owner, returns home on his fifth wedding anniversary to find his wife, Amy, is gone. There are signs of a struggle, but according to the police, the struggle looks wrong: blood was spilled but mopped up in an odd way, and the living room furniture looks pre-arranged. A gift left upstairs for Nick reveals the beginning of a treasure hunt that Amy sets up for Nick each year on their anniversary. As Nick follows each clue to the next location, he begins to suspect what really happened to his wife, and in the process, his own secrets get revealed. Meanwhile, the reader is treated to excerpts from Amy’s diary from the time she met Nick up until right before she disappeared- but there’s something odd about the diary’s claims.

I liked this book because the characters were constantly outsmarting themselves, each other, and the reader. It kept me guessing, and even after I learned the biggest secret about Amy’s whereabouts, I still couldn’t have predicted the ultimate ending. There’s a writer’s adage that the best ending is the one where the reader couldn’t predict it, but when it’s over, feels that it couldn’t have concluded any other way. That’s how I felt about Gone Girl.

This book is also slated to be released as a movie in October 2014: Gone Girl movie info and cast

What’s the best “escapist” novel you’ve read recently?