Twists and Turns are very popular in the blurb of so many books lately. Do you want to know there is going to be a twist or a turn?
Twists and Turns are very popular in the blurb of so many books lately. Do you want to know there is going to be a twist or a turn?
Doesn’t really bother me now, they all seem to say it and most of the time it never happens. There are very few books I have read with an amazing twist etc ?
Those few books with an amazing twist sets a benchmark for the rest I think @Carol.
I agree Susan, Lisa Hall has a lot to answer for!
@Carol, we tend to assume a lot!
As long as there aren’t too many twists and turns …!
And some have one too many, don’t they @Val?
They sure do @Susan??
I have to admit saying there is a twist in it will usually have me buying it if the blurb sounds good. Only down side is, is that the twists can be quite obvious and sometimes i would enjoy the book more if i wasnt expecting some brilliant twist because if it ist a good one i feel let down x
Yes @Sarah. I therefore have high expectations of a brilliant twist, but turns out not so brilliant. Or even a twist too far in some books.
Just read ‘Duplicity’ Sibel Hodge – not sure if it advertised twists and turns but there were plenty in this book!! I do sometimes buy books that say they have twists and as you say, it doesn’t always happen!
This was a really good read
Love Sibel’s books, think Untouchable is my favourite ?
Yes, like that one too!
@Carol, that is my favourite too.
I’m still waiting for twists n turns at the last page in some books!
The last page twist is usually a shocker
Not really, as if I like the blurb I’ll pick up the book and expect in most crime thrillers/ psych thrillers to be a twist or two. I just read them to enjoy. Is good when they don’t say and you don’t see a book. It’s more annoying when people tell the % of where the twist is in the book! But I tend to not read reviews until I’ve finished the book.
I agree. The books I usually read have a twist even the crime thrillers. I just think the twist is hyped too much for too many books. Especially after I Let You Go.
I think I’d rather it didn’t say “twists and turns”. Could also do with losing the word “gripping”. A lot of books turn out to not be gripping and the supposed twists are too obvious.
Quite a few “gripping” books have not gripped me at all!
Not too sure it does work! Lol. I know exactly what you mean though
Twists/turns/gripping have become so cliched- everybody says it. I must admit I tend to ignore those phrases. I read the synopsis on the back and make a decision from that- in a real book shop I read the first page
Noooooooo
Part of me wants to say “well duh – I should bloody think so to.” Saying a Crime book has twists and turns is like saying you buy this pizza “Because it has CHEESE in every bite.”
Haha. There is usually a twist in crime books and always has been in my opinion. A mystery or whodunnit often ends with a different culprit
It just seems a silly thing to say to SELL a book. I don’t mind reviews saying it, like my lovely reviews, as it shows that clearly the twists worked and the readers enjoyed them. But to put in the blurb seems a little…um…desperate.
@Colin Far too many mention a twist. I like to find out for myself.
Yeh, you want to caught by surprise. The “fun” of the twist is in the “whoa, no way, didn’t see that coming” not the “Oh right, okay, yeh, here’s the twist.”
@Colin Exactly!
Even programmes like CSI began branching out. The double twist is fun. You present the reader/audience with a likely main suspect, then halfway through, give them a twist away from that suspect. Then right at the end, twist back. Now THAT is fun if/when it works.
@Jo I often do the look inside if it’s an author I haven’t read before.
I think that it’s a mistake to tell a reader there’s going to be guaranteed twists and turns or how the book will make them feel or react – an author can’t know if an individual will become as involved as they were when they wrote it. And perhaps the expectation level is so high prior to reading a book that it’s setting itself up for a fall if it doesn’t deliver. I think reviews give a better indication to a reader of what to expect so perhaps the blurb should just hint at the plot – not promise miracles.
I rather more twists than turns.
The taglines can get to be too much but I know marketing and if it helps sell books that’s a good thing. My mind now switches off after the title and doesn’t look at that tagline
I absolutely hate being told that there is a shocking twist at the end. It’s not that shocking if you know it’s coming. You expect thrillers to have twists and turns but I don’t want them signalled up front.
I think it’s also possible for a book to be a good, absorbing read without twists. It’s not always the identity of the killer, for example, which makes the book absorbing, but the why and the how they are detected which interests me. Get fed up of reviews which say ‘too easy to guess the killer’. Police can’t ‘guess’, they have to detect 🙂 Sometimes even if they know someone is the guilty party, it is impossible to bring a case which will stick.
Very good point @Lesley. I have often guessed the killer but for the wrong reasons. I enjoy the detecting.
@Susan That’s what police procedurals are all about 😉 And without wishing to get too political here, Britain’s history is littered with examples of miscarriages of justice where too much reliance has been placed on guesswork, then making a case to fit around the guess.
All countries I think have that. In fact there is a book that I read called justice miscarried which is all about wrongful convictions in Canada. Amazing read and kind of scary.
I don’t mind if I know who the culprit really is because it’s all about the journey of those solving the case.
agreed!