Title: The Grownup by Gillian Flynn

Pages: 64

Genre: Thriller

Published by: Crown (Nov. 3rd, 2015)

Summary

A canny young woman is struggling to survive by perpetrating various levels of mostly harmless fraud. On a rainy April morning, she is reading auras at Spiritual Palms when Susan Burke walks in. A keen observer of human behavior, our unnamed narrator immediately diagnoses beautiful, rich Susan as an unhappy woman eager to give her lovely life a drama injection. However, when the “psychic” visits the eerie Victorian home that has been the source of Susan’s terror and grief, she realizes she may not have to pretend to believe in ghosts anymore. Miles, Susan’s teenage stepson, doesn’t help matters with his disturbing manner and grisly imagination. The three are soon locked in a chilling battle to discover where the evil truly lurks and what, if anything, can be done to escape it.

The Grownup is the first book I’ve ever read by Gillian Flynn, so going into it, I didn’t quite know what to expect.  I knew her books were a wild ride, but I did not know quite how wild this book would be!

I have so many mixed emotions about this book.  On one hand, I really enjoyed the concept of the mystery.  On the other hand, I didn’t necessarily love how it all played out.

First, I do just want to let it be known that there’s quite a bit of sexual content in this book, despite it’s small size.  The main character is a sex worker.  While there’s nothing super graphic, I know some people prefer not to read books with that type of content, so I just wanted to put that out there.

Another thing I didn’t love – and this is because I can’t decide what to think about it – was the ending.  I don’t want to give anything away, but I just wish there was a little more.  Honestly, I feel like The Grownup could have easily been developed in to a full novel, which I think would have really given me more feelings about this book and I would have been able to better understand my thoughts about it.

That being said, there is quite a bit I did enjoy.  Gillian Flynn managed to create such memorable characters in only 64 pages.  They all felt so fully developed and well-written.  The actual plot of this story was so gripping, too.  I really did not know what to think while reading it!  I didn’t know who to trust, what was real, and what was actually going on.

Overall, I did enjoy The Grownup, but I found myself wanting a little bit more.  After reading this short story, I definitely think I’d like to try another Gillian Flynn book in the future.  This story was so twisty, well-written, and I flew through this one so fast!  I would recommend The Grownup to fans of thrillers who are looking for a super quick read.