One of the great enigmas of the suspense genre is how to pull off a huge twist. I have read about a hundred-fifty mystery books and only been able to predict the plot in totality a few times. Is this because the writers are especially gifted or could it have more to do with the reader? It happens that the two most predictable ones were in the last six months. Maybe I’m learning the tricks of the trade?
As far as numbers go, a hundred-fifty books is significant. It’s about the number of books you read to get a Bachelor’s degree, after which you have a halting knowledge of a particular topic. By the time I finished college, I had a grasp on the Western Canon.
I think by now I have a pretty good grasp on the suspense genre as well. For instance, you can expect a double cross. It’s also very likely that someone presumed dead will turn up alive. Don’t trust journals, letters, or scenes involving only two people in a private place. (One could be a hallucination.) Also be aware that the events you’re reading may be non-linear.
Here are two books I could figure out and one I couldn’t.
1.
Simon shows up to detention with four of his classmates: Nate, Addy, Cooper, and Bronwyn. It’s all very Breakfast Club until he falls to the ground, dead from a peanut allergy. Who spiked his water with peanut oil?
Turns out, they all had motives. Simon helmed a Gossip Girl style website, dishing on his classmates. Police discover he had pre-written a juicy column that exposed the darkest secrets of the other four. It was set to be published soon, and someone silenced Simon to get ahead of it.
Despite the familiar themes, I could not figure this story out. It’s partly that I was too distracted by the Nate-Bronwyn romance to dissect the plot. They had actual chemistry, which I often can’t pick up on in YA. The mystery was good, too, if a bit far-fetched.
2.
Summer and Iris are identical twins, heirs to a huge fortune left to them and their five siblings by their late father. The catch is that only one of them will receive the windfall: the one to produce an heir first.
While the twins go a sailing expedition from Phuket to the Seychelles, Summer is hit by a boom and falls overboard. After a two-week search and no body, Iris has the sinister idea to impersonate her pregnant sister and collect the loot. What could go wrong?
If you know the suspense basics, this plot is easy to see through. It also contains the groaner line, “He looked at his wife, as if seeing her for the first time.” I have read this in EIGHT books in the last few years.
Overall, this was entertaining but unoriginal.
3.
Jacob Finch Bonner is a one-time literary phenom now teaching in Vermont. His writer’s block disappears when he learns that a former student has died, leaving behind a story idea he once privately confided to Jacob. Jacob steals it. When the book he writes is a hit, Jacob begins receiving threatening emails from someone who is onto him.
There are many problems with this novel. For a start, Jacob’s crime is relatively benign. If he had stolen someone’s manuscript that would be one thing, but he does actually write the book. It’s his vision of an idea, which hardly meets the plagiarism bar. Also, the plot-within-a-plot is a lot more interesting than Jacob’s plight, which consists of figuring out who is stalking him. This leads us to the biggest problem, which is that it is crystal clear whodunnit. The epilogue is telegraphed from miles away.
Books Smitten 