Go read Head Full of Ghosts instead

I tried reading this short story as an e-book a few weeks ago and gave up 2/3rds of the way through because it was stupid (it’s only 67 pages, and I couldn’t finish it on the first try — that stupid). Then Caitlin_D bought a copy, so I thought I’d give it a try. I was really excited to see that Flynn threw in a great plot twist just after I quit reading the first time. Then it got stupid again, and while I did finish it this time, I did so grumpily.

“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. The key is to not overthink it. If you start worrying about technique, if you begin analyzing rhythm and pressure, you lose the essential nature of the act. You have to mentally prepare beforehand, and then you have to stop thinking and trust your body to take over. Basically, it’s like a golf swing.”

^^That’s the best paragraph in the whole thing. Read it, then move on with your life.

Okay, so our narrator has to stop giving hand jobs in the back of a psychic’s because she’s developing carpal tunnel. She moves to the front office, and starts reading auras and palms instead. She meets an unhappy woman named Susan, who has become convinced that some malignant force lives in her house. She has an evil stepson, and she wants our narrator to cure him. Sensing a way to bilk some money out of a rich lady, our narrator goes to the house — where she discovers the truth!!!

The truth was actually kind of cool, but Flynn ruins it a few pages later. Don’t bother reading this. Go read Head Full of Ghosts instead.