So I read Girl Gone by Gillian Flynn and loved it. Then I proceeded to read all her other books, which I also loved. Then I was desperate for more books and I remembered I had a book on my wishlist by an author I had never read before- Lisa Gardner. The book was Hide. I read that book. Loved it. Then I proceeded to read all her other books, which has led me to The Neighbor. Almost right away I started getting déjà vu. Wife goes missing, strange scene at the home (where she was last seen), even the damn cat is the same, story changes perspectives throughout, female and male detectives, husband comes off as unlikable, then you're led to believe maybe it's the wife that is unlikeable and has a deep, dark secret past, wife shows up alive- after killing stalker, semi-happily ever after, etc. I find the similarities too many and too close to be coincidence. I really liked Gillian Flynn as an author, but I have to say that my respect for her has just gone down a few notches. I understand authors steal from each other all the time, but this isn't just taking the seedling of an idea- it's a uprooting an entire friggin tree!
I did a quick google search of both authors names together and got one sort of hit (the person writing the review got the story in The Neighbor wrong by writing the husband had a son to protect, but it was actually a daughter, and that's not a typo or a misunderstanding- it's central to the story so I have doubts on the authenticity of that reviewer, needless to say. Anyway, I was surprised there wasn't more internet buzz about this and I'm not sure why. It was a total coincidence that I found these two authors because I had the Lisa Garnder book on my wish list from two years ago and had totally forgotten about it until after I read Gillian Flynns' books, which was only last month, and needed something else to read. I didn't even start with The Neighbor, but read Hide first. Well, it's comforting to know that Lisa Gardner has a ton of books and I've only been through two so far and really like them. That should keep me busy for another month at least!
