79 pages
English language
Published Dec. 1, 2015
A young woman is making a living faking it as a cut-price psychic (with some illegal soft-core sex work on the side). She makes a decent wage mostly by telling people what they want to hear. But then she meets Susan Burke. Susan moved to the city one year ago with her husband and 15-year-old stepson Miles. They live in a Victorian house called Carterhook Manor. Susan has become convinced that some malevolent spirit is inhabiting their home. The young woman doesn't believe in exorcism or the supernatural. However when she enters the house for the first time, she begins to feel it too, as if the very house is watching her, waiting, biding its time ...
A young woman is making a living faking it as a cut-price psychic (with some illegal soft-core sex work on the side). She makes a decent wage mostly by telling people what they want to hear. But then she meets Susan Burke. Susan moved to the city one year ago with her husband and 15-year-old stepson Miles. They live in a Victorian house called Carterhook Manor. Susan has become convinced that some malevolent spirit is inhabiting their home. The young woman doesn't believe in exorcism or the supernatural. However when she enters the house for the first time, she begins to feel it too, as if the very house is watching her, waiting, biding its time ...
I read this years ago and completely forgot most of it. Does not seem to have interested me enough to remember, sorry gang. Like Flynn's other works, this may likely suffer from Gone Girl's success in comparison.
I read this years ago and completely forgot most of it. Does not seem to have interested me enough to remember, sorry gang. Like Flynn's other works, this may likely suffer from Gone Girl's success in comparison.
 [a:Gillian Flynn|2383|Gillian Flynn|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1232123231p2/2383.jpg]'s 2014 [b:The Grownup|26025580|The Grownup|Gillian Flynn|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1441679582l/26025580.SY75.jpg|45948939] is a short ghost story that was, the cover says, "A special gift from the Book of the Month Club." It origionally appeared in George R.R. Martin's Rogues anthology with the title What Do You Do? I'd never read anything by Flynn, so I figured this was my chance.
 It's fine for its genre, but writing about it now, nearly a month after reading it, I realize I've forgotten most things about it. The main thing I remember is that it begins describing how its main character, a female sex worker, came to leave that line of work. I have no objection to that kind of thing, but in this current era of idiots wanting to ban books, I couldn't help seeing this as a poor marketing decision.
 I like the way Flynn writes, though.
 It lurked. It was …
[a:Gillian Flynn|2383|Gillian Flynn|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1232123231p2/2383.jpg]'s 2014 [b:The Grownup|26025580|The Grownup|Gillian Flynn|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1441679582l/26025580.SY75.jpg|45948939] is a short ghost story that was, the cover says, "A special gift from the Book of the Month Club." It origionally appeared in George R.R. Martin's Rogues anthology with the title What Do You Do? I'd never read anything by Flynn, so I figured this was my chance.
It's fine for its genre, but writing about it now, nearly a month after reading it, I realize I've forgotten most things about it. The main thing I remember is that it begins describing how its main character, a female sex worker, came to leave that line of work. I have no objection to that kind of thing, but in this current era of idiots wanting to ban books, I couldn't help seeing this as a poor marketing decision.
I like the way Flynn writes, though.
It lurked. It was the only remaining Victorian house in a long row of boxy new construction, and maybe that's why it seemed alive, calculating. The mansion's front was all elaborate, carved stonework, dizzying in its detail: flowers and filigrees, dainty rods and swooping ribbons. Two life-sized angels framed the doorway, their arms reaching upward, their faces fascinated by something I couldn't see.
I watched the house. It watched be back through long, baleful windows so tall a child could stand in the sill. And one was.
That was bad. And not good.
As an exercise in clever rapid fire multi-layer plot twists, it's a fun quick read.
As an exercise in clever rapid fire multi-layer plot twists, it's a fun quick read.
This feels like an experimental novella she wrote in her 20s and that just got published just to appease her fans. I'll give her points for creativity: the protagonist earns her living giving hand-jobs and reading people's futures - and both of these are oddly relevant to the plot. It's short, it's suspenseful, and it feels like an early work from someone who would go on to write Gone Girl.
This feels like an experimental novella she wrote in her 20s and that just got published just to appease her fans. I'll give her points for creativity: the protagonist earns her living giving hand-jobs and reading people's futures - and both of these are oddly relevant to the plot. It's short, it's suspenseful, and it feels like an early work from someone who would go on to write Gone Girl.
Without a doubt, one of the most unique opening lines I've ever read.
Without a doubt, one of the most unique opening lines I've ever read.
I obviously know about the permanently-famous Gone Girl book, written by Gilllian Flynn. However, I’ve never read the book nor watched the movie (something that I don’t like doing if I feel like the book is worth my reading time). So while searching the shelves of English titles, I saw this little thing.
It’s a pretty small book, with a nice cover. I decided to take it home with me without reading the summary (as I often do). It took me a few months to get to it, but when I did, I read it in one sitting. After all, it’s a tiny book and the beginning of the story is very well developed. Like I said, I didn’t read the back cover for the summary, so I had no idea what I was getting myself into.
The unnamed protagonist is a street-smart and, to some degree, a book-smart person …
I obviously know about the permanently-famous Gone Girl book, written by Gilllian Flynn. However, I’ve never read the book nor watched the movie (something that I don’t like doing if I feel like the book is worth my reading time). So while searching the shelves of English titles, I saw this little thing.
It’s a pretty small book, with a nice cover. I decided to take it home with me without reading the summary (as I often do). It took me a few months to get to it, but when I did, I read it in one sitting. After all, it’s a tiny book and the beginning of the story is very well developed. Like I said, I didn’t read the back cover for the summary, so I had no idea what I was getting myself into.
The unnamed protagonist is a street-smart and, to some degree, a book-smart person that has no shame whatsoever in conning people for a living. That already makes a great plot start. As the book progresses and we start to visit the Mansion where most of the story takes place… Well… Things start to fall apart.
And that ending was very disappointing, specially for the speed it was delivered. Maybe if we had more built up between the two possible versions of what really happened in the Mansion, the dubious ending could’ve been amazing, but as it is written… Pfff. Totally eye-rolling.
Do I recommend it? Maybe, but just because of the beginning. Many nice lessons about character development there. Other than that, no.
Hey! I read a Gillian Flynn story and liked it! Though everything I despised about "Gone Girl" is present in this story. I guess I can handle terrible, horrible, no good, absolutely bad people in small doses.
Hey! I read a Gillian Flynn story and liked it! Though everything I despised about "Gone Girl" is present in this story. I guess I can handle terrible, horrible, no good, absolutely bad people in small doses.
