THE KALEIDOSCOPE TURNS -- A REVIEW

Imagine, if you will, a happily-ever-after kind of marriage that slowly turns into a worst-case-scenario: a minefield of hidden explosives. You would then understand a little bit about the lives of Nick and Amy Dunne.

She was the main character in her parents' Amazing Amy series that made them rich. She was the only child, spoiled, receiving all the attention, yet craving something more.

And there is Nick, born in the Midwest and dreaming of a special kind of life. A writer, someone who could also claim the spotlight. But then the economy collapsed. He and Amy both lost their New York jobs and that life. It's back to Missouri to Nick's hometown for the two of them, and the slow dismantling of the perfect life begins.

Suddenly a dramatic shift: it's their fifth anniversary and Amy is gone. The search, the spotlight on Nick as a killer, and the now flat and devastated turf of their lives is shown to the clamoring public.

Told through alternating points of view, we see Nick's story and what he shows us in bits and pieces; then we see Amy's tale told through diary entries.

But in several surprising twists and turns, we begin to form a new picture of each of them. Gone Girl: A Novel reminds me a bit of the kaleidoscope toy I enjoyed in childhood: you turn it one way, and the pieces assemble. Then, with another shift, you have something entirely different.

Gillian Flynn kept me captivated all through this story, and I kept guessing about how things would unfold, but she surprised me still again. Could I even imagine how it would all turn out? No...but then again, grab your kaleidoscope and watch it all reassemble in still another way. Five stars!