"The Grownup," by Gillian Flynn

Have you ever read a mystery story with scary surprises, a lot of twists and a confusing plot? Of course you have because The Grownup by Gillian Flynn is right here to help you. It's a short story but it has so much information in so little pages. A smart but fake psychic is hired by a depressed rich woman to clear a creepy haunted house. Once there she realizes that it might not just be the house that's haunted.

The author who wrote such a crazy story could only be Gillian Flynn who's super famous for her mystery books. You’ve probably heard of them: Sharp Objects, Dark Places, Gone Girl and The Grownup. She was born in Kansas in 1971, and worked many jobs in her lifetime. She attended Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism and earned her degree in 1997. First she was a journalist but then was a writer because she said it would give her better experience. This is probably why she knows how to make stories so exciting.

The story is about a young woman who makes money pretending to read people’s aura . One day a rich lady named Susan comes because she thinks her old house is haunted. Susan is scared that the ghost haunting the old place is making her stepson do terrible things. The narrator thinks this is the perfect opportunity to make a lot of money off of who she thinks is a depressed rich lady. She goes to the house to do a fake cleaning, thinking it’ll be easy money until she gets trapped in a real-life horror movie.

The main conflict starts when the narrator realizes she isn't in control of this house. At the beginning it's just her trying to trick Susan so she can make some bank but as the story progresses it turns into a scary guessing game of who to trust. The narrator gets stuff between Susan who's acting controlling and crazy and Miles who acts spooky, creeping the hell out of the narrator. She has to figure out if the house is actually haunted or if the family is just playing tricks on her but by the end of the book the story has exploded in a confusing plot twist.

The narrator is an interesting character to me because she always makes the best out of a bad situation. She comes from poverty and raised by her lazy, manipulative mother, she uses those skills to make her way up, obscuring truths to seem amazing. In the end, the title is ironic as a person who is unreliable and only doing stuff for her own pleasure, has to become the grownup in such a situation.

I liked how funny the book is. It's very interesting and funny, and I was hooked once I really got into it. It didn't take long for me to be interested since it was a short read. I read it whenever I had time, on my way to school or at my friends house or during lunch. The story was ambiguous leaving the interpretation wide open but it was an interesting read; definitely in my top 10 short stories.

You should totally buy The Grownup. It's an interesting story that could have anybody hooked, especially if they're into mystery. It is the perfect book for anyone older than the age of 10, easy language, not hard to understand and a hooking plot. If you’re looking for a crazy plot twists story that you can read in less than 2 hours, then this is the book for you.

Overall The Grownup is a great story for anybody who likes a good mystery novel with a hint of humor.  It will leave you staring at your ceiling wondering what just happened in the story. Go read it now by looking at your local library.