The Grownup (2015)

The Grownup by Gillian Flynn is a twisted tale featuring a haunted house, a beleaguered family and a grifter who dabbles as both a psychic and a sex worker. The grifter, seeing easy pickings, agrees to help “clean’” the house spiritually but soon realizes that this job requires much more than she can provide. The terrified mother believes a malevolent presence has taken control of her stepson and that they are all in danger.

The author builds the suspense to a nice level and then totally turns the story around leaving us not knowing who or what to fear. Is the stepson with his disturbing manner possessed? Or could this be a hoax set up by the stepmom? In guessing where the evil truly comes from, has the grifter met her match and will she escape?

Infused with the author’s witty black humor, The Grownup is a fun and dark short story that is intense and squirm inducing. ( )

Entertaining short story with some great lines, but not a patch on Flynn’s excellent novels. I really liked the first half and the ending is great, but the third act felt a bit clumsy and rushed to me. Worth a read though, as long as you don’t pay the exorbitant cover price. ( )

Voilà une nouvelle qui propose une jolie manière de se mettre la tête en bas, de n’y rien comprendre, de ne pas savoir ou l’on va, de se tromper, de s’égarer et d’y aller avec plaisir.

En plus ça commence délicieusement drôlement bien

https://www.noid.ch/nous-allons-mourir-ce-soir/ ( )

Starts out strong in typical Flynn fashion and plays out smartly but too quickly towards the end. You wonder what Flynn could do with the bones of the story if she stretched it out into a novel, feature, or mini series. ( )

Im not sure if I liked this story or not...I appreciate its nods to classic horror but there were a couple of annoying plot holes (who wouldnt google their house if they thought it was haunted?) and Im a bit meh on it overall. ( )