Last year’s break-out hit is worth reading just to see if the hype is justified – and it’s soon to be a film starring Ben Affleck and Rosamund Pike. Nick and Amy are a golden New York couple when the recession hits and they have to move back to Nick’s small home town, where he takes a teaching job. But then Amy disappears. Where is she? At first it’s told in Nick’s first-person point of view, and it’s clear there are things he isn’t telling us. Then we move into extracts from Amy’s diary, which seem to reveal a different type of truth.
You should read it for the expert use of viewpoint to create suspense and twists – in a way the book is made by its viewpoint choices. Read it too for a chilling portrayal of a toxic marriage, and an insight into how the recession has shattered individual lives.
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