Picked the wrong book for my book club's thriller month

I chose a twisty psychological thriller for our October meeting over a straightforward detective novel, thinking everyone would love the surprise ending. Instead half the group spent the whole time arguing that the twist made no sense and felt cheap. Anyone else ever pick a book that bombed hard with your club?

2 comments

2 Comments

the_spencer1mo ago

Half the group arguing means it worked - a cheap twist nobody talks about is way worse than one that gets people fired up.

taylor_mitchell801mo ago

@the_spencer makes a good point actually, but man there's a difference between arguing about a twist because it challenged you versus arguing because the author pulled something out of thin air with no clues. what specific part did they say felt cheap? like was it the motive or the timing or just that the narrator lied the whole way through? curious if it was more of a "this doesn't fit the rules we thought we were playing by" kind of anger or a "this was just lazy writing" thing. i've seen both happen in my own club and it really changed how i pick thrillers now.