The promise of a twist in domestic suspense is the marketing equivalent of a shirtless hunk on an erotic romance cover. If you are going to move books, you have to deliver what you are selling. Suspense fans expect the unexpected.
That said, there is nothing new under the sun. I have been reading in this genre for a while and am starting to see a few trends. Here is a list of some common twists. (Don’t worry: I won’t reveal what books they are in.)
- Someone Presumed Dead Is Really Alive. This has become a suspense staple. After spending the first half of the book grieving for a loved one, the protagonist is in for a shock when they discover they aren’t dead. I have seen people emerge from plane crashes, alley stabbings, lakeside attacks. Alas, these reunions often turn sour when it is revealed why they disappeared.
- Someone Presumed Alive Is Actually Dead A lot of suspense writers owe a debt of gratitude to M. Night Shymalan. There are a lot of heart-to-hearts that turn out to be hallucinations with dead people.
- The Narrator Is Mentally Ill. A fraternal twin of #2 and a distant cousin of the unreliable narrator, this twist can be an effective mind f#@k.
- A Lawyer Has Been Hired Because The Client Knows They Are Incompetent. I think Hitchcock’s Scottie Ferguson is the inspiration for this surprise. The reader is conditioned to think that no one would hire someone who is bad at their job. It turns out that that depends on what outcome they’re reaching for.
- Unbeknownst To The Reader, The Timeline Is Nonlinear. I think of this as the This Is Us twist. A seemingly straightforward story is actually being presented to the reader out of sequence. The day will come when I get tired of it, but for now I have only seen it done effectively.
This week’s book, The Other Woman, promised “the twist of the year” which is no small achievement. It is a page-turner with some tonal problems. For the first third it felt like a mashup of Bridget Jones and Fatal Attraction. The protagonist, Emily, is a London headhunter who falls quickly and madly for Adam, an IT consultant she meets in a bar. The problem is his mother, Pammie, who conspires to split them up while gaslighting her never-to-be daughter-in-law.
As Adam and Emily’s relationship progresses, the tension rises. It was engrossing enough that I was willing to go with it.
Books Smitten 