The Grownup by Gillian Flynn is a short novel about an unnamed con artist who pretends to be connected with the spiritual realm. When a rich, affluent, and unhappy woman enters her business, our narrator attempts to help her with her problems. In doing so, she goes over to their Victorian mansion to “cleanse” the building from malicious spirits when she begins to encounter issues that seem improbable. From there, it becomes a question of what is real and what is not.
Gillian Flynn is known for writing Gone Girl and Sharp Objects, two famous works of mystery and intrigue, the themes of which are present in this book as well. Susan Burke enters the spiritual shop where the protagonist works because of issues regarding her family, especially her troubling stepson. After being invited into the imposing Victorian mansion, our narrator begins to feel unsettled by both the house and the inhabitants of it. Even though she strikes a friendship with Susan Burke, the narrator cannot seem to shake off a feeling of wrongness within the building and the family.
While there are not many human characters in the book, the Victorian house seems like its own imposing character in the narrative. From the descriptions of the house to the feelings created from the building, Flynn is able to create a rich atmosphere around the house itself. The characters themselves, despite the short length of the book, also seem fleshed out and flawed. The fact that the book is short could have been a detriment to its storytelling, but Flynn is able to manipulate the length to fit what she wanted. Anything we know, or more specifically, don’t know, is on purpose.
True to her style, Flynn fills this book with multiple twists, leaving you to question what you believe about the characters and the events of the story. From the beginning to the end, Flynn has you questioning what is going to happen to the narrator and to the family she is “helping”. Each character is their own mystery, and since the story is purposefully short, we are not given enough information about each character to truly know who they are. When the twist occurs, it falls unto the reader to think about what we believe is happening and who is to blame.
If you are a fan of audiobooks, The Grownup is a good option to listen to. It is short enough to listen to in one sitting and the eeriness of the story is translated well in audiobook format. The physical book is also short enough to read in one sitting, which is useful for a mystery novel. Once you start reading, you want to reach the end as fast as possible to see how the story will unfold. I recommend this book to anyone who wants to reach for a mystery novel with horror undertones. While not exactly a horror novel, there are elements of creepiness that emanate from the story. I actually enjoyed this aspect of the book because it created more depth to the mystery and gave more personality to the setting. However, if you are not a fan of open-ended or ambiguous endings, this book may seem unsatisfying to you. The Grownup is both a mystery novel and an exploration into the genre. Flynn tries to accomplish a lot in a short amount of time and it is ultimately up to the reader to determine if it was successful or not. Like all mystery stories, not everyone is going to be happy with the ending. However, I highly recommend this book to anyone who wants to read a quick and thrilling mystery novel.
