Sutton is married to Ethan. They are both writers, and love stories. They tell different stories of their relationship, in alternate sections. The story starts with Sutton disappearing, and Ethan at first believing she has left him, and then worrying something terrible has happened. We hear stories about how they met, their families, their friends, and their pasts, but not all the details agree, and we are left wondering what is true. But the main suspense is not in the story itself, but in the game the author J.T. Ellison plays with the readers. We wonder whether it will really be a completely duplicate of Gone Girl, or will there be some twist that makes it different? There are some quirks of the plot that make it distinctive from the start: Ethan is English, and they live in the US. We get to see the point of view of the young female detective working the case, who wants to believe Ethan’s story when her superiors are skeptical and just want to arrest him. Eventually the story moves on from Gone Girl territory, and gets a little more complicated, as well as a great deal more implausible.

The unabridged audiobook, performed by one man and three women, lasts for nearly 12 hours. The hardcopy is over 400 pages long. One wonders how much longer it can go on. While the plot moves fast with lots of flashbacks and changes of setting, it’s a laborious work that is short on character. It is instructive to see the divergence of opinion among Amazon reviewers: some testify they found it a great read, while others denounce the book as a worthless waste of time. While the book is proficiently crafted, ultimately it lacks wit or charm, and much of the plot is just silly.

© 2017 Christian Perring

Christian Perring teaches in NYC.