gone girl by gillian flynn

a chilling page turner. I had trouble putting it down.

Ice-pick-sharp ¦ Spectacularly sneaky ¦ Impressively cage ¦ Gone Girl is Ms. Flynn's dazzling breakthrough. It is wily, mercurial, subtly layered and populated by characters so well imagined that they're hard to part with even if, as in Amy's case, they are already departed. And if you have any doubts about whether Ms. Flynn measures up to Patricia Highsmith's level of discreet malice, go back and look at the small details. Whatever you raced past on a first reading will look completely different the second time around. - Janet Maslin, New York Times

An ingenious and viperish thriller ¦ It's going to make Gillian Flynn a star ¦ The first half of Gone Girl is a nimble, caustic riff on our Nancy Grace culture and the way in which ''The butler did it'' has morphed into ''The husband did it.'' The second half is the real stunner, though. Now I really am going to shut up before I spoil what instantly shifts into a great, breathless read. Even as Gone Girl grows truly twisted and wild, it says smart things about how tenuous power relations are between men and women, and how often couples are at the mercy of forces beyond their control. As if that weren't enough, Flynn has created a genuinely creepy villain you don't see coming. People love to talk about the banality of evil. You're about to meet a maniac you could fall in love with. - Jeff Giles, Entertainment Weekly

USA Today says: Affleck lands 'Gone Girl': Gone Girl has found its Nick Dunne. Deadline reports that Ben Affleck is in negotiations to play the lead in David Fincher's adaptation of Gillian Flynn's best-selling thriller (which is still in the top 20 of USA TODAY's Best-Selling Books list more than a year after its debut). With Fincher directing, Reese Witherspoon producing and Affleck co-starring, it's sure to be an A-list affair. Which leaves readers wondering, who will score the role as the maniacal Amazing Amy? The Wrap reports that Charlize Theron, Natalie Portman and Emily Blunt are all eyeing the part.

(Thanks Sarah!)