While most bestselling books this year had us in chains and/or tears, Gillian Flynn's novel "Gone Girl" has cut its own path to success, striking away from the scores of "Fifty Shades of Grey" imitators.

With "Gone Girl," her third book, the bestselling writer and former Entertainment Weekly critic smashed all expectations, selling and otherwise this summer. The unsettling mystery, about a woman who goes missing and the husband she leaves behind, has sold more than 1.8 million copies and spent eight weeks atop the New York Times hardcover fiction bestseller list.

Thanks to that success, Flynn has signed on to write her first young adult novel for Delacourte Press. In addition to that deal, Crown has signed a contract for a fourth adult novel, slated for 2015, and an additional novel for adults after that. Release dates for her fifth adult novel and her first young adult novel have not been disclosed.

Although there are virtually no details yet about Flynn's foray into the world of young adult literature, "themes of self harm, violence, small-town prejudice, and smothering parents run through Flynn's adult novels, so it's a reasonable bet to guess that her first book for teens will go into dark territory as well," says Entertainment Weekly.

Flynn's newly announced adult novel "will be in the tradition of her darkly brilliant and gripping previous books," said Crown publisher Molly Stern. When The New York Times asked if additional plot details were available for either new book, a press representative for the publisher said in an e-mail, "Unfortunately no."

And that's just the bold type. Now, all three of Flynn's books are being made into feature films. Most recently, 20th Century Fox bought the rights to "Gone Girl" in a summer auction for a reported $1.5 million, with Reese Witherspoon, Bruna Papandrea and Leslie Dixon producing. Amy Adams is starring in the movie version of Flynn's first novel, "Dark Places" for writer-director Gilles Paquet-Brenner ("Sarah's Key"), and Jason Blum ("Paranormal Activity") is producing the adaptation of "Sharp Objects."

Witherspoon says she was impressed with the way Flynn was able to effectively tell the story from both male and female perspectives while also employing a nonlinear structure. "It's just an incredible feat that Gillian was able to accomplish," she said in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter. "You really can't anticipate where it's going, but it's one of those books you can't stop reading. Two years ago, I really decided I wanted to get back into finding projects to produce that had great female characters in them, and this is one of the first that came up."

Flynn will also enjoy a luxury most writers would kill for: she's signed on to write the screenplay herself for the movie adaptation "Gone Girl." She's excited to flesh out her characters even more on screen.

"My interest is in turning over a rock and seeing what's underneath," she said of writing to The Hollywood Reporter. "It's a personality trait more than anything; it's what made me want to become a crime reporter, even though I was not suited for it personality-wise. [I wanted to explore] those bursts of violence, where they come from and how they unite people together. I wanted to figure out what drives people to these sorts of extremes."

Flynn says she is currently writing the screenplay for "Gone Girl," and that "Dark Places" will hopefully begin shooting this winter.