Easy as, what books do you recall giving you a surprise ? Bought myself a book "blind" for a journey to visit my son, 16hrs train time, finished it. Very near the end I realise I'm reading the tale of a paedophilic catholic priest. Naieve or not, the case could be argued, it was a shock/surprise to me. Any more that people recall ?
I read a lot of thrillers so plenty tend to give me a surprise. I can't remember the exact book (as there's at least a dozen of them) but in Patricia Cornwell's series about Kay Scarpetta I was completely shocked when I turned the page one day to discover that her dead husband wasn't dead but in witness protection. That made my head spin for a bit. So that book about the paedophilic catholic priest, was it one I take it that sucked you in and you were feeling like you could relate to the character to only find out that he was some pervy priest? Do you remember what it was called? just morbid curiousity really. It's unfortunate I can't think of more books that have really shocked me. I remember loving O'Henry when I was a teenager because his short stories always had a surprising twist. But other than the sort of surprise from a "whodunnit" well can't say I've read too much "shocking" literature recently.
I love twists in books, which is why I've been surprised by and have enjoyed all of the Harry Potter books except Order of the Phoenix (by far the worst book - I can't remember a single surprise in it)....
I'm not sure I've ever been surprised by a book But then I haven't read what you'd call a thriller for many, many years
A gentle man he was. Got emotional with a 15 year old boy, tried to kiss, sexual assault, paedophilea. Andrew O'Hagan - Be Near Me And another - Wasp Factory - Iain Banks, boy meets girl meets boy meets girl, all as the same person, very strange.
Philip K Dick's Time out of Joint - to begin with you think it's about a guy going crazy in the 1950s, but it turns out that he starts out crazy in the 21st century and is actually becoming sane in the course of the novel. I was also somewhat surprised when one of the characters quoted Goethe's Faust in the original German, and when I subsequently learned that the title is a quote from Hamlet. This didn't fit my ideas of science fiction.
That Wasp Factory book sounds really interesting. Is it a sort of split-personality or multiple personality disorder story? May have to look for that one.
if nobody speaks of remarkable things, jon mcgregor. i have only read this once back in 2003 and i haven't re-read it yet, but i remember being completely absorbed in it. it wasn't a surprise in the way a thriller is, but i was shocked at how moving it was. i wonder if i would feel the same reading it again. another one that had me completely gripped was the perks of being a wallflower, stephen chbosky. the character in the the fuck up, arthur nersesian was a complete surprise, because i just didn't think he would pull through.
I know I mentioned this in my "Filth" thread, but realized I didn't think to mention of it here. The ending to Irvine Welsh's "Filth" was such a surprise that my jaw dropped and I sat stunned for several minutes. Truly a great surprise of an ending.
Woohoo! I found this book at the boot sale today, so I've now put it on my next to read list (once I finish this mammoth Clancy book I'm working on - only half through). I also got his book Whit. So, hopefully that will not disappoint.
