Gone Girl Character Analysis

Nick Dunne

Nick Dunne is the handsome, charismatic, and duplicitous dual protagonist and antagonist of the novel. For the first half of the book, it seems as if Nick Dunne has perhaps murdered his wife Amy—she… read analysis of Nick Dunne

Amy Elliott Dunne

Amy Elliott Dunne is the diabolical dual protagonist and antagonist of Gone Girl. Amy is wealthy, beautiful, and born and bred in New York. When readers first meet Amy through her diary entries, she… read analysis of Amy Elliott Dunne

Margo “Go” Dunne

Nick’s twin sister, Go, is the co-owner of The Bar in downtown Carthage, and Nick’s first and best friend. Go is unconventionally attractive and marches to the beat of her own drum—a little bit… read analysis of Margo “Go” Dunne

Desi Collings

Amy’s ex-boyfriend from boarding school. A prim and proper “dandy” of a man who appreciates the finer things in life, Desi was accused of having a fatal attraction to Amy and attempting suicide in… read analysis of Desi Collings

Andie

Nick’s very young mistress and one of his twenty-three-year-old journalism students. They begin an affair which lasts over a year, and Nick relishes Andie’s normalcy, her impressionable nature, and the way she regards him… read analysis of Andie

Tanner Bolt

Nick’s lawyer. Tanner Bolt is a cheesy but well-known criminal lawyer who has made a career of getting guilty men—often men who have killed their wives—acquitted of their crimes. Tanner has a healthy sense… read analysis of Tanner Bolt

Rhonda Boney

The lead detective assigned to Amy’s disappearance case. With her partner, Gilpin, Boney establishes a careful rapport with Nick over the course of the investigation. She knows he’s essential to uncovering the truth… read analysis of Rhonda Boney

Rand Elliott

Amy’s father, a gregarious man who, along with his wife, has constructed an empire and accumulated a massive deal of wealth by plagiarizing Amy’s childhood as fodder for a series of educational children’s books… read analysis of Rand Elliott

Marybeth Elliott

Amy’s mother, a slightly shrill and prim woman who has always demanded perfection of her daughter. After suffering upwards of five miscarriages and stillbirths, Marybeth finally gave birth to Amy—and Amy feels the pressure… read analysis of Marybeth Elliott

Tommy O’Hara

A man accused of raping Amy in New York. Once Nick realizes that Amy is trying to frame him for murder (as revenge for his affair with Andie), Nick gets in touch with Tommy… read analysis of Tommy O’Hara

Hilary Handy

A woman accused of stalking Amy in high school and threatening to kill her. Like Tommy, Hilary reveals Amy’s penchant for framing people when they wrong her in the smallest of ways. Hilary eventually… read analysis of Hilary Handy

Greta

A resident at the extended-stay motel in the Ozarks where Amy hides out after running away from Carthage. Greta has a split lip and claims to have fled an abusive relationship with a no-good man… read analysis of Greta

Minor Characters

Jeff

A fisherman who lives at the extended-stay motel in the Ozarks where Amy is hiding out. There is something sinister about him, and he eventually teams up with Greta to rob Amy and take her savings.

Jim Gilpin

The second detective assigned to the case of Amy’s mysterious disappearance. Gilpin is affable but occasionally tough, and seems to be less attuned than Boney is to picking up the disconnect created by the odder details of the case.

Ellen Abbott

A hack reporter with a large following—mostly Southern white women—who has a reputation for airing sensationalized and factually questionable news reports.

Rebecca

A kind, young reporter who films an interview with Nick in a bar—an interview in which he speaks tenderly about missing his wife. The interview goes viral, and Nick credits Rebecca with rehabilitating his reputation in the public eye.

Sharon Schieber

A respected veteran newswoman who sits down with Nick for an exclusive interview as he and Tanner scramble to fix Nick’s public image and get ahead of the evidence Amy has left behind to incriminate her husband.

Bill Dunne

Nick’s father, an Alzheimer’s-riddled raging misogynist who abused Nick’s mother, Maureen, for years.

Maureen Dunne

Nick’s mother and Bill Dunne’s late wife. She dies of cancer prior to the events of the novel.

Dorothy

The woman who runs the front desk at the extended-stay motel complex in the Ozarks where Amy, in disguise, seeks refuge.

Shawna Kelly

A Carthage native who alternately wants to cozy up to Nick and lambast him in public when he refuses her advances.

Lonnie

A junkie living in the abandoned Carthage mall. On Valentine’s Day, he says, Amy came to him to try and buy a gun.

Stucks

One of Nick’s high school friends who joins the effort to search for Amy.

Officer Riordan

A police officer in Carthage who is one of the first people on the scene after Amy’s disappearance.

Officer Velasquez

A police officer in Carthage who is one of the first people on the scene after Amy’s disappearance.

The Hillsam Brothers

A pair of Carthage natives who accompany Nick, Rand, and Stucks to the abandoned mall to hunt for clues to Amy’s whereabouts.

Betsy Bolt

Tanner Bolt’s wife, a tall and imposing optics expert who helps Nick prep for his high-stakes Shannon Schieber interview.

Jacqueline Collings

Desi’s mother. A moneyed woman who has a strangely close relationship with her son.

Noelle Hawthorne

Nick and Amy’s pregnant neighbor, who is dim-witted and extremely loyal to Amy. Noelle is instrumental in Amy’s plan to fake her own pregnancy.

Gone Girl

Gillian Flynn

Gone Girl Characters