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Gone Girl is one of the most craftily plotted stories I've read in some time. My original gracing of stars was going to be 4. I'm not quite certain when it became 5. It might have been when I realized I didn't have all the answers. It could have been when I went to swipe from one page to the next on my Nook and...I can't tell you what happened as it could ruin it for you.

Gone Girl sports an old story line. On the day that Amy and Nick are to celebrate their 5th anniversary, Amy disappears. Gone Girl! but where did she go? It's amazing that a such a simple, nothing new story can become such a pleasure to read when handled by a gifted author.

Gone Girl is a thriller but one that builds slowly and is sly. Flynn uses some interesting devices to move her story forward and I loved them. There is the diary that Amy kept which gives us a picture of her life with Nick and the days leading up to her disappearance. There are limericks, quizzes and even a ritual anniversary treasure hunt with clues. There's Amy's parents, psychologists who have written a series of books about a character named of all things, Amy, Amazing Amy at that. There's Nick's twin sister Go, short for Margo, and his dying mother and father who suffers from memory loss. There are so many great passages that I wish I could read them all to you. Like when a female character is introduced as having "an unnecessarily loud voice, a bit of a bray, like some enchanted, hot donkey". Or when another female is depicted in this passage;"I stared at the hollow of her neck and wondered why she wasn't wearing a noose of pearls. Women like these always have thick strands of pearls to click and clack. I could smell her, though, a female scent, vaginal and strangely lewd."

I was on the edge of my seat one minute, smiling the next, getting socked by an OMG moment yet another, and in the end, I held back not wanting to finish because I didn't want it to end. Gone Girl is a psychological roller coaster ride that reminds me of...Sorry! Can't say as I don't want to give too much away.

My sincere thanks to Crown Publishing for providing Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn in e-galley format, due to be published June 5, 2012.