Review: Before We Met and Gone Girl

Having recently read both, I believe that Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn and Before We Met by Lucie Whitehouse are both fantastic and essential reads. They are both galloping suspense thrillers, created by two brilliant minds and they both have that quality that makes you beg other people to read it so that you can talk about it with them.  I'm going to try and explain which I like best and why. It's Before We Met. (Sorry, the suspense was killing me).

Gone Girl was published in 2012 by Crown Publishing (part of RH), it tells the story of Nick and Amy Dunne and their five year marriage that has been steadily going south for nearly two years. When Amy disappears on the afternoon of their fifth anniversary, Nick calls the police. As the case unfolds Nick is the only suspect. It is always the husband, right? The story is co narrated by both Nick and Amy, giving the reader some insight into the developing case from both sides.

Before We Met was published in 2014 by Bloomsbury.  Set in London, with a single narrative voice, this psychological suspense thriller had me on the edge of my seat the whole time. Hannah and Mark are the perfect couple, in a perfect house, in a perfect and newly formed marriage. And then one day Mark doesn't show up at the airport from New York.  Hannah's parents divorced after her Mother's persistent paranoia of infidelity unhinged the marriage, determined not to follow that example, Hannah struggles to remain calm.

One reason I prefer Before We Met could be that I read it first. Which in the case of these two books is probably going to be rare. Gone Girl was a success in 2012 and is still being read and discussed two years later.  Before We Met's paperback only came out this month so most people will have read Gone Girl first. Before We Met was marketed with a quote from Glamour Magazine that if you loved Gone Girl you will love Before We Met. The two are linked forever.

They both look deeply into what it means to be married, and what can happen if you end up being married to someone mentally unstable, and someone very very dangerous. Both Nick (Gone Girl) and Hannah (Before We Met) are damaged in obvious, gender stereotyped ways. Hannah is paranoid, despite her best efforts, that her husband might be having an affair, she hates this suspicion as she sees herself reenacting her mother's (and every archetype woman's) actions.  While Nick's flaw is his very young, very pretty mistress (because he's a weak and male).

But what Before We Met did that Gone Girl didn't do, is that it started from a happy marriage.  Hannah's struggle with her paranoia in the face of normality made my heart thump harder than the scenarios in Gone Girl. While reading Gone Girl, at no point did I think: "Gosh, I hope my boyfriend never frames me for his murder like this."  It is undeniable that Gone Girl's Amazing Amy has a criminal and highly functioning mind. It is an unusual situation to find one's self in. But Before We Met, if you cant get through to your significant other one lunch time or what ever, I instantly thought: "My God. It is happening, it is happening to me.*checks bank balance*"  Before We Met's story is rooted in such placid normality that it made it more real and more effective.

I would definitely recommend both books. But if you want a real thriller that will mess with your mind in a deliciously talented way, it has to be Before We Met.