The Grownup - Gillian Flynn

I'm sort of an unapologetic Gillian Flynn fan. I like her writing. (You can read my review of Sharp Objects here, and Dark Places here). I like the tone of voice she uses for her narrators. They sound real to me, even if they always are a little bit too weird to be real. I love how she always keeps you guessing.

The Grownup is no exception. Part of a larger anthology edited by George R.R. Martin called "Rogues", I picked up this little nifty story as a kindle single for $1.99. The narrator remains nameless as we learn her backstory of growing up the child of a con-artist, pan handler, which eventually led her to working in the back room of a psychic's parlor giving handjobs for three years before finally graduating to the dubious task of reading people's auras. 

Enter Susan Burke, who has a bit of a problem with a possible haunted house, a disturbed stepson, and an absentee husband. Thinking to make a quick easy buck, the narrator coaches Susan along and eventually is invited to the home to "cleanse" it. 

In true Gillian Flynn fashion, it would be giving too much away to go into the rest of the plot, but I will say that the technique, the pulling one over on the reader is a feat accompli once again. Although at one point I thought to myself, "Hmmmm she's getting a little explain-y at the moment." (See, I'm on to you Gillian Flynn). The narrator is the passive observer of Susan Burke and her stepson Miles and then must contemplate which reality she will inhabit when it comes to these characters' actions and motives. 

The ending is deliciously ambiguous as the narrator struggles with her own discomfort at being in such a situation in the first place, but that's all to Gillian Flynn's writing. And I'm just immensely pleased with the whole show.

4/5 Stars.