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The Grownup

Gillian Flynn

87 pages

A wicked, bite-sized haunted house story wrapped in a deeply cynical psychological thriller.

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What it feels like

Reading this novella feels like stepping into a trap you can see closing, yet being entirely unable to look away. It opens with a sharp, darkly comedic edge, grounded by a fiercely cynical narrator whose biting observations make you instantly complicit in her cons. But as the narrative shifts from a gritty urban hustle to a suffocating Victorian mansion, the atmosphere thickens into genuine, claustrophobic dread. The prose is razor-sharp and propulsive, pulling you through a labyrinth of manipulation where the lines between psychological thriller and supernatural horror blur completely. It is a wicked, bite-sized experience designed to keep you constantly off-balance, perfect for readers who delight in unreliable narrators, toxic dynamics, and endings that leave a lingering, delicious chill.

Mood
  • unsettling
  • claustrophobic
  • creepy
  • paranoid
Tone
  • cynical
  • wry
  • darkly comedic
  • sharp
Pace
propulsive
Themes
deception and manipulation · the nature of evil · blurred reality · toxic family dynamics
The writing
Biting, conversational, and darkly witty, driven by a fiercely observant and unapologetic voice.
The arc
Moves from cynical, detached amusement into a spiraling sense of genuine dread, culminating in a deeply ambiguous, lingering unease.
Who it's for
Fans of wicked, fast-paced psychological thrillers who delight in deeply unreliable narrators and stories where everyone is a little bit terrible.
Content notes
  • manipulation and gaslighting
  • implied child abuse
  • sex work references
  • violence

About the book

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.

Description from Open Library.

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