I listened to The Grownup audiobook as part of a readathon called #Lalathon (check out the hashtag on Twitter and Instagram). Because it’s so short I feel like it’s best to go into this one without knowing too much, but I have included the synopsis for those curious minds who need to know a bit about a book before diving in.

Title: The Grownup

Author: Gillian Flynn

Publisher: Penguin Random House Audio Publishing Group

Date of Publication: November 2015

Genre: Adult Short Story, Horror, Mystery, Psychological Thriller

1 Hour 18 minutes (audiobook)

“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.” https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/28074530-the-grownup

I’m not going to give any extra info about setting, plot, characters other than what is stated in the synopsis (above). This is an incredible roller coaster ride of a short story. I’ve never read anything like it before. It’s told in the first person from the perspective of the unnamed narrator. The audiobook narrator, Julia Whelan, is great, I would love to listen to more of the books she’s been a part of. Flynn has a talent for giving accurate, blunt observations about human behaviour, and making me love unlikable characters. Highly recommend this one to fans of intense short stories. The Grownup will leave you mind-boggled, in a good way.

Plot: 4/5
Characters: 4/5
Writing: 5/5
Overall: 4.33/5 (rounded down to 4 on Goodreads, When will Goodreads let us use decimals?!)

“Gillian Flynn is an American author and television critic for Entertainment Weekly. She has so far written three novels, Sharp Objects, for which she won the 2007 Ian Fleming Steel Dagger for the best thriller; Dark Places; and her best-selling third novel Gone Girl.

Her book has received wide praise, including from authors such as Stephen King. The dark plot revolves around a serial killer in a Missouri town, and the reporter who has returned from Chicago to cover the event. Themes include dysfunctional families,violence and self-harm.

In 2007 the novel was shortlisted for the Mystery Writers of America Edgar for Best First Novel by an American Writer, Crime Writers’ Association Duncan Lawrie, CWA New Blood and Ian Fleming Steel Daggers, winning in the last two categories.

Flynn, who lives in Chicago, grew up in Kansas City, Missouri. She graduated at the University of Kansas, and qualified for a Master’s degree from Northwestern University.”

https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/2383.Gillian_Flynn

http://gillian-flynn.com/