Hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl
As usual, I’m focusing on the positive for this week’s prompt. Here are ten books from various genres that have fantastic plot twists.
No, I won’t give any hints about what they are, and I’m requesting that everyone reading this to do the same if you’re already familiar with any of these stories.
Some things are best left for new readers to discover on their own.
If anyone knows of some great contemporary diverse authors who write fantastic plot twists, please share! A lot of these are older books and therefore not as representative as what I’d normally pick.
1. I Am the Cheese by Robert Cormier
2. Fight Club by Chuck Palahniuk
3. The Stepford Wives by Ira Levin
4. The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde
5. And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie
6. Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman
7. Shutter Island by Dennis Lehane
8. Johnny Got His Gun by Dalton Trumbo
9. Beloved by Toni Morrison
10. Life of Pi by Yann Martel
So many of these including Eleanor and Dorian and the Agatha Christie and Life of Pi are favorites of mine, too.
Nice!
And Then There Were None is my absolute number one book for the “surprise ending” prompt. I never saw that one coming.
Hmm, more modern books with twists… here’s a few thoughts:
* Starter Villain by John Scalzi (a more silly twist than many)
* The Outcast Crown by Dave Dobson has a bit of a twist at the end (but is book 2 in a series)
* Kenai by Dave Dobson has a bigger twist, but it comes more in the middle of the book
* Comeuppance Served Cold by Marion Deeds
* Memory and Dream by Charles de Lint is kind-of a twist and kind-of just confusing
* The Tunnel Under the World by Frederik Pohl isn’t exactly modern, but I loved it
Thank you so much! Once my library’s website is back up, I’m going to be looking these up.
I’ve always meant to read Shutter Island, I really like the movie.
Wasn’t it a great film? 🙂
The Picture of Dorian Gray is great! Surprisingly, I’ve never read any of Agatha Christie’s work. I need to fix that! Here is our Top Ten Tuesday. Thank you.
Cool!
I remember being so surprised by the Fight Club plot twist too!
I know, right?
And Then There Were None was so good!!
Exactly!
Eleanor Oliphant was so good! I was surprised by how much I liked that one! Great list.
Thanks. 🙂
Fight Club and also my favorite, Invisible Monsters!
😀
Great list, Lydia. I still haven’t read Shutter Island, but we saw the film in the theater. And Then There Were None is another book I want to read. Our daughter’s dance class once designed a routine around book plots and used that Christie novel for inspiration. Thanks for sharing.
You’re welcome. That dance routine sounds cool!
Good list! Eleanor Oliphant was certainly filled with surprises I never excepted in book titled and sold like it was. However the cover in the UK edition gave some away. Beloved–absolutly surprised me.
I didn’t know that cover gave away hints. Interesting.
I need to read some Agatha Christie! I do enjoy (and often have fun trying to solve) the period productions inspired by her works so it’s well past time to read some. 😉 Thanks a bunch for visiting my list!
You’re welcome. 🙂
Great list! I”ve loved so many of these. Life of Pi has an amazing twist. I remember how disturbed I was for weeks after reading Johnny Got His Gun back in high school.
Same here!
I love Life of Pi, And Then There Were None, The Picture of Dorian Gray, and Shutter Island for everything about them, including those surprises!
Yes! 🙂
I recently went and saw a play of And Then There Were None. I want to read the book now!
Ooh, that sounds fun.
And Then There Were None I still need to read at some point!
Hope you like it.
I read “I Am the Cheese” when I was in 8th grade. So I don’t remember a lot about it, other than the fact that we had a hard time finding it in the bookstore.
Pam @ Read! Bake! Create!
https://readbakecreate.com/the-ks-have-it-ten-titles-starting-with-k/
Interesting. It’s something I should reread sometime, too.
Great list, Lydia! I loved Eleanor Oliphant. I’ve seen the Shutter Island movie, and it was good too. I hope you have a wonderful day!
Thanks. You, too!
I’m glad you included Eleanor! I was going to suggest it. The twist was jaw dropping and caused me to do an immediate reread! 💖brave Eleanor💖
😀
I’ve read five of the books on your list and thought they were all amazing! I’m curious to read the rest of the books on your list, I’m sure they’ll be equally amazing!
Thank you very much. 🙂
Oh wow, you have a wonderful list! I have watched the movie but never read the books for Stepford Wives and Fight Club. And I haven’t even thought about Johnny Got His Gun since I read it in middle school (not for school, I was just always a reading nerd). That book had a huge impression on me.
Thank you. Yeah, that was such a memorable read!