Rob Price
Gutbrain Records
rob + gutbrain.com = email

2020 January 15 • Wednesday

Is Gone Girl a good book and/or movie?

I don't know, but it's made enough of an impression that I don't think it's possible to write the name Gillian Flynn without also writing "author of Gone Girl".

See? I just did it myself. Gillian Flynn, author of Gone Girl.

Of course as much as her publisher appreciates her success, they probably get a little impatient waiting for more Gone Girls. Some people might reach for the bourbon to take the edge off, while others might take a short story and publish it as a slim hardcover volume.

Such is the case with Gillian Flynn, author of Gone Girl. Her short story The Grownup, winner of an Edgar award (usually a good sign), is available for purchase and even for reading!

And this is a good thing because The Grownup is a delight, a charming and assured riff on the ghost story, laced with irony and wit.

It makes references to several classics of both the ghost and gothic genres: The Turn of the Screw, The Haunting of Hill House, The Woman in White and even Rebecca, if memory serves.

Even the tiniest bit of too much information will take away some of The Grownup's pleasant sting, but the gist of it is about a phony psychic who wants to take advantage of somebody who believes her house is haunted.

The first line is "I didn't stop giving hand jobs because I wasn't good at it".