Gone Girl

Nick’s mother dies. “Angry Nick” is back, and Amy fears for her marriage again, particularly now that she believes that she is too old for him. Amy is four years older than Nick. She reveals that Nick only wants to have sex with her on his terms, usually quickly and without affection. Despite the distance between them, Amy asks Nick if they can try to have a baby. Nick says no; he cannot handle another stressor, or he will explode.

Nick attends a candlelight vigil for Amy at a local park with Go and the Elliotts. The media has begun to turn on Nick; suddenly, he is the prime suspect.

The Elliotts are unraveling emotionally, but they still appear supportive of Nick. However, at the vigil, after Nick has gotten done speaking eloquently about his love for his wife and his desire to have her back home, Noelle Hawthorne storms to the microphone and grabs it from Nick. She announces that the police need to ask Nick what he’s done to his pregnant wife.

This bombshell stuns everyone, including Nick. Nick sees his mistress, Andie, at the back of the crowd. She has heard everything.

Amy goes to the mall to try to get a gun: something is terribly wrong with Nick, and she is afraid of him. He shoved her, knocking her down, two days before. 

Since the detectives already knew about the possible pregnancy and hid it from him, Nick realizes that they believe he killed Amy. Go takes Nick to her house. Rand Elliott calls asking if Nick knew Amy was pregnant.

Go and Nick discuss Amy’s possible pregnancy. Over the years, Nick had told Go that he didn’t want kids, but now he confesses that it was really Amy who didn’t want them. They had tried to have kids at an earlier stage, and even pursued fertility treatments, but Amy decided not to continue trying.

Go confronts Nick about his lies and says that he has had a problem telling the truth since he was a little boy. Go doesn’t know what to believe, since she has caught him in so many lies herself. She question many of Nick’s claims, including his denial that credit cards with over $200,000 charged on them in his name aren’t his, and that he was at the beach the morning Amy disappeared, when Go knows he hates the beach.

Andie calls, demanding to see Nick and he agrees to meet her in a park. After meeting her, he returns to his home, which is being staked out by the media. Detective Boney arrives to confirm that Amy was pregnant when she disappeared; her doctor’s records, subpoenaed by the police, prove it.

Amy writes in her diary that she is pregnant. She is happy and excited and runs to Noelle to show her the pregnancy test stick. She plans a treasure hunt with a baby cradle at the end for their anniversary in a few days. She wishes that she had been able to get a gun, because she is afraid her husband will kill her.

Nick hires a defense attorney, Tanner Bolt, who is famous for getting guilty spouses off for the murder of their partners. Nick flies to New York for his appointment with Bolt. Nick calls Marybeth Elliott and tells her that he didn’t know Amy was pregnant and that he’s hiring a lawyer.

Bolt tutors Nick on how to turn public opinion around and start forming an alternate theory about who may have kidnapped Amy. Nick discovers that Amy accused a man named Tommy O’Hara of date-raping her in 2005. Nick reveals that he’s having an affair. Bolt insists the he has to break off this relationship immediately, but without alienating Andie.

Nick agrees to do everything Bolt tells him to do. He is out of love with Andie, just like that. He admits to himself that he never has loved anyone the way he loved Amy; he realizes he was a better man with her because he wanted to earn her love and admiration. He understands that he cracked under the pressure and fell into an easy affair. He blames himself for becoming what he says Amy is: a “righteous ball of hate” (214).

On the plane home, he solves the fourth clue. When he arrives back in Carthage, he goes straight to the shed at the back of Go’s house.