GONE GIRL by Gillian Flynn

Nick Dunne seems to be about as despicable as you can get, and now there's a big cloud of suspicion hanging over him, as his wife Amy has gone missing on their fifth anniversary.  Their marriage is on the rocks, especially after having relocated from NYC to Nick's Missouri hometown, and Nick doesn't have an alibi for the morning of Amy's disappearance.  The media are documenting his every smirk as evidence that he must have wanted to get rid of his wife.  He readily admits to the reader that he's lying about his whereabouts on the morning in question and about the argument the neighbors overheard the night before.  He's also not sharing with the cops the solutions to all the riddles Amy has left behind in her annual treasure hunt.  Amy, on the other hand, is the inspiration for her parents' wildly successful children's book series, Amazing Amy.  You'll have to reserve judgment about Amy until the second half of the book, but the manner in which the author presents the facts surrounding Amy's disappearance is just brilliant.  The first half of the book sets the stage, alternating between Nick's story and Amy's diary, but your jaw will drop as the plot unfolds in the second half, completely reshuffling the deck.  There are plenty of other shady characters that could have offed Amy, but their stories get rewound as well.  This is not your typical thriller, and there's no one here to carry the standard for truth, justice and the American way.  It's creepy and twisty, yet easy to follow, but the really mind-blowing way in which the author draws and then redraws the characters is what makes this book such a hit.