Book cover of The Grownup: A Story by the Author of Gone Girl

Book description

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…

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Why read it?

1 author picked The Grownup as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

This is actually a short story rather than a novel, but there’s enough plot and character for a full novel. The story opens with this announcement: ‘I didn’t stop giving hand jobs because I wasn’t good at it. I stopped giving hand jobs because I was the best at it. For three years, I gave the best hand job in the tristate area.’ How can you not read on? The unnamed narrator is damaged, cynical, funny, and extremely unreliable. 

From Roz's list on both dark and funny.

If you love The Grownup...

Book cover of Born on Monday

Born on Monday by Richard R. Becker,

In Augusta, Maine, a historic nor’easter unearths sins and secrets buried deep in the town’s past. With time running out, three lives collide in a desperate fight for survival.

Billy Stevens, a quarry worker haunted by loss, is drawn into a web of betrayal when a brutal crime pins him…

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