Review: Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn

Title: Gone Girl
Author: Gillian Flynn
Published: August 26th 2014
Source: Audiobook
Pages: 560 (19 hours)

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 from their rented McMansion on the Mississippi River. 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?

As the cops close in, every couple in town is soon wondering how well they know the one that they love. With his twin sister, Margo, at his side, Nick stands by his innocence. Trouble is, if Nick didn't do it, where is that beautiful wife? And what was in that silvery gift box hidden in the back of her bedroom closet?

REVIEW

First up, let me just highlight the fact that this audiobook is 19 hours long. Yup, nearly one entire day. Until now, I don't know if I regret spending all that time. On one hand, I really enjoyed the mystery, the weird and the psychological aspects of it but gah it dragged on for forever!!! The pacing really killed the story for me. It was so bad that at one point where there were twists and revelations (that were supposedly very shocking), I did not feel anything at all. I just wanted the book to be over. I had enough of all the crazy and excessive swearing in the book.

I actually really liked the psychological thriller aspects but it just took way too long to get there and the writing did not help. During the first half of the book (nearly 10 hours of audiobook) all you hear about is a couple having #firstworldproblems and how much they sucked at communicating. Imagine watching a 10 hour vlog about a couple's day to day arguments about random things. Not only that, you also read about every single mundane conversation that Nick has with people that really didn't matter in the grander scheme of things. For example: there was this lady that kept flirting with Nick throughout the investigation. I don't understand her significance in the entire story and it is even more annoying that I had to listen to her flirt and Nick trying to respond nicely. I don't get it?!

I've always thought of myself as being okay with unlikable characters but Gone Girl really challenges your patience. There is NOTHING likeable about Nick or Amy. They are whiney, immature, narcissistic, crazy adults and it did not help that the narrator for Amy narrated in a really annoying way. It was very condescending and her quiz-style diary entries were a pain to listen to. Had I read this book, I would've skipped all the stupid quizes. Also, the problem with hating these characters is that you can't root for anyone in the book. I was very distant and just didn't care about the characters. This is kind of problematic because its a thriller! You are supposed to be afraid that someone would be killed but I was ready for both characters to drop dead anytime.

Has this book been 100 pages shorter, I would've been so much more tolerable of Nick and Amy and the swearing. Did I mention how much swearing there is in this? It was so unnecessary and it was honestly a turn off. If you can't stand a couple of f-bombs in real life you will cringe and suffer through this book.

Many people do not seem to like the ending but I thought that it suited the story quite well! It is open ended and it kind of continues the thriller aspect of the story which I thought was pretty genius. And since the characters were so unlikable, a well wrapped up ending would have been too fake. :P

VERDICT

I feel like I am not getting Gone Girl. So many people rave about it and yes it was rather interesting and different but it did not really work as a whole. If I were to rate just the plot itself, it would be a solid 4 stars but there are so many other elements that just didn't work for me.

As you can see from Goodreads, Gone Girl is a hit or miss. Read it if you are curious, it is quite different from the usual mystery thrillers. Try to avoid the audiobook if you can, it is easier to skip the boring bits/incessant swearing when you are actually reading the book. ;)

I would recommend this to anyone that loves unlikable characters and/or psychological thrillers.

Plot:4/5 

Pacing: 1/5

Originality: 4/5 

Writing style: 2/5

Characters: 2/5 

Feels: 3/5
Enjoyment: 2.5/5

Cover: 3.5/5

Overall rating: 

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Review: Timepiece by Myra McEntire

Title: Timepiece

Author: Myra McEntire
Publisher: Egmont USA
Published: June 12th 2012
Series: Hourglass #2
Source: ebook (provided by Egmont USA via Netgalley for review)

Goodreads | Amazon

Summary: A threat from the past could destroy the future. And the clock is ticking...

Kaleb Ballard's relentless flirting is interrupted when Jack Landers, the man who tried to murder his father, timeslips in and attacks before disappearing just as quickly. But Kaleb has never before been able to see time travelers, unlike many of his friends associated with the mysterious Hourglass organization. Are Kaleb's powers expanding, or is something very wrong?

Then the Hourglass is issued an ultimatum. Either they find Jack and the research he's stolen on the time gene, or time will be altered with devastating results.

Now Kaleb, Emerson, Michael, and the other Hourglass recruits have no choice but to use their unusual powers to find Jack. But where do they even start? And when? And even if they succeed, it may not be enough...

The follow-up to Hourglass, Timepiece blends the paranormal, science fiction, mystery, and suspense genres into a nonstop thrill ride where every second counts.

Review: :( I was so so so disappointed. Everything was just meh.

Emerson and Kaleb sounded the same argh! Even though I knew even before I started reading that it was going to be in Kaleb's POV, I kept forgetting even up till chapter 15 and I got really confused when it sounded like Emerson was in love with Lily. Emerson and Kaleb were 2 very different characters but they had the same narrative style. It was done poorly especially since I read Hourglass recently.

There was very little actual time traveling other than baddies popping in and out at random moments. Which was confusing, I still don't really get how it works. I felt like I was reading material for school because I had to remember all the rules and all the ways in which things work. Like rips, portals, different abilities, different characters that rarely contribute, funky technology etc. There was a lot of information dumping because Em and gang were trying to piece things together.

I couldn't relate to anyone except Lily. I honestly didn't care for anyone. Kaleb kept talking about how others felt which meant that there was close to no progress in terms of character development since all we got were one-word emotions from everyone. Kaleb didn't even talk about his own feelings. :/ 

The ending was the worst out of all the problems in the book. 
*SPOILER ALERT*
*SPOILER ALERT*
So that evil lady (forgot her name) is supposed to wholeheartedly believe in someone (Lily) who stole her cool device? And she didn't notice her precious device was missing all this time??? Wasn't she trying really hard to open it? And cool-headed Lily didn't know that she could just lie to baddie until her hot-headed boyfriend told her to?
*END OF SPOILER*

Initially I was going to give Timepiece 3.5 stars but after listing all these down, it only deserves a 2.5.
So what gave it the 2.5 stars? Timepiece was exactly like Hourglass, there really wasn't that much of a progress. The only real progress that took 300 pages is the thing about why Jack wants to go back in time (which was stupid and I couldn't relate to since he is supposedly 'rotten to his core') and the Infinityglass. I guess if you really really liked Hourglass you would probably enjoy Timepiece since its the same thing, just with a different couple. The pacing was also as good as in Hourglass. I kept turning the pages even though I wasn't really into the story. Myra McEntire just has a way with words. 

Overall it was just really boring and forgettable. I don't think I would be reading the sequel.

My rating:  
Recommended for anyone who gave Hourglass 5 stars. No point reading this esp if you were on the fence for Hourglass.

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Review: The Killables by Gemma Malley

Title: The Killables
Author: Gemma Malley
Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton
Published:  March 29th 2012
Series: The Killables #1
Source: paperback (borrowed)

Goodreads | Amazon

Summary: Everyone accepted that people were different physically. But inside? Inside, they were different too. You just had to know how to tell, what to look for.

Evil has been eradicated. The City has been established. And citizens may only enter after having the 'evil' part of their brain removed. They are labelled on the System according to how 'good' they are. If they show signs of the evil emerging, they are labelled a K . . . But no one knows quite what that means. Only that they disappear, never to be seen again . . .

Review:  The first 2 pages of The Killables were extracts from a Wikipedia article. Apparently the entire book was based on an unreliable source, nice. I decided to overlook that because I was just so intrigued by the premise!

The first few chapters were pretty good, world building was a little lacking but The City sounded really interesting. However, I started thinking. How does one define evil? Is it not evil for a mother to despise her own child? Is it not evil that people are made to judge each other? And yet, it is evil to feel angry. Evie seems to think that everything she does and thinks is evil. That was really hard to grasp and her constant self loathing was really getting on my nerves. And then there is Raffy. He did not forgive his brother, up till the end. Really? Holding a grudge for someone that saved your ass, not cool bro. Both Evie and Raffy doesn't seem to grow as characters, they remain child-like despite going through so much. Their relationship is also really odd, it is built on comfort/habit, there isn't a real connection between them. Lucas on the other hand was a much better character. He grew throughout the novel and he was so much deeper, much more human-like. Evie doesn't seem in love with Raffy and she seems to be forcing herself. She is just giving into whatever Raffy says or wants, can we please have a stronger female character. Damsels in distress is such an overused character. I don't get the whole love triangle trend going on in all dystopian novels and I think it is starting to spoil my appetite for this genre. 

Another issue I had with The Killables was the constant repetition! Evie's dream was repeated for about 4-5 times? It was a copy and paste of the ENTIRE scene without any changes. Even the epilogue was that same scene -.- At least a few words were changed up...
The explanations of the ranks, the Evils, The City etc. was constantly tossed around every few chapters. WHY? It was unnecessary and tiresome to constantly be reading about the same things that have been slight rephrased. 


Obviously it was not all bad since I finished the book in about 2 days. The storyline was good, pretty interesting actually and it was the main reason I actually bothered finishing the book. I was hooked to the storyline and it helped me ignore the bad bits in the book. The twists in the story were amazing! I did not expect all the truth revelations. This story would have worked perfectly in a less touchy topic, what a pity.


Overall it was a very disappointing read, I was so excited for it! I kept turning the pages hoping for something, anything to save the book but I was left with an emptiness. I guess I just wasn't convinced enough that Gemma Malley knows the definition of evil and that the system is really that awesome. It's difficult to flow with the story when you don't believe in it.

My rating: 
Recommended for anyone who enjoys a good plot with adventure and of course die-hard dystopian fans!

The Killables has successfully forced me to put on hold the rest of my dystopian TBR books. Reading 4 books of the same genre in less than 2 weeks was a bad idea and I've learnt my lesson. I need some time to 'recover' from my overdose of dystopia. :P This may have affected my review for The Killables because so many people seemed to have enjoyed it. :/ So don't let my review deter you from checking it out!

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