“I never understood why when you died, you didn’t just vanish, everything could just keep going on the way it was only you just wouldn’t be there. I always thought I’d like my tombstone to be blank. No epitaph, and no name. Well, actually, I’d like it to say ‘figment’.”

Those were the words of the late Andy Warhol. I’d come across that quote quite some time ago, yet I’d never been able to decode it. However, after reading and viewing Gone Girl, Mr. Warhol’s words suddenly made a great deal of sense.

I’d just finished Gillian Flynn’s third novel about ten minutes past the hour, and raced down to the theater to catch the film 40 minutes later. As I drove down the street, I don’t believe that I’d yet processed what I’d read. It all just kind of.. hit you. I pulled into the lot of my local Harkins Theatre, parking, and thinking “..what!?” And that’s when I realized Gone Girl was quite the piece of work.

It is a tale set in suburban Missouri. Nick and Amy Dunne relocate to a small town — Nick’s birthplace — from New York City, after both losing their writing jobs. Internet casualties, Nick frequently reminds the reader.

The story, almost immediately, flashes back to the beginning of Nick and Amy — instant honeymoon phase. But as is nature, life happens and the Dunne’s relationship is repeatedly tested to the brink. Then suddenly, Amy Dunne vanishes from their home — and foul play is suspected — with all clues pointing to her husband, Nick; setting the story up for a thrilling whodunneit.

Ben Affleck and Rosamund Pike portray the Dunne’s in the 2oth Century Fox film adaptation. Both Affleck and Pike seize their roles, unblemished, and embody nearly every aspect the reader had imagined of the fictitious characters. Released in theaters on October 3rd, the film also co-stars Tyler Perry and Neil Patrick Harris.