# Most Virtuosic yet Manipulative Literary Trick Pulled by an Author **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 7, 2019, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-virtuosic-yet-manipulative-literary-trick-pulled-by-an-author/829114 "2019-02-07T14:14:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2019, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-virtuosic-yet-manipulative-literary-trick-pulled-by-an-author/829114/61 "2019-06-04T23:03:57Z")
This isn’t exactly a big emotional wallop, but a clever little nudge: One of P. G. Wodehouse’s Ukridge short stories has the main character, a work-shy but indefatigable grifter and schemer named Ukridge, falling in love with a girl called Mabel, whom he unfortunately alienates by various forms of misconduct such as stealing her father’s top-hat. The tale closes with the (temporarily) broken-hearted Ukridge telling the first-person narrator, a longtime and long-suffering friend of his, that he should use these tragic events as the plot for one of the short stories that he writes: > [@](#): > > “And, as regards a title, I should call it ‘His Lost Romance,’ or something like that. Or would you suggest simply something terse and telling, like ‘Fate’ or ‘Destiny’?” > > “I’ll think of a title,” I said. Which reminds the reader that the title of the story is in fact “A Bit of Luck for Mabel”. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Peyote\_Coyote](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/5f8ce5/32.png) [@The\_Peyote\_Coyote](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Peyote_Coyote)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2019, 1:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-virtuosic-yet-manipulative-literary-trick-pulled-by-an-author/829114/62 "2019-06-05T01:15:15Z")
Roderick Femm: If you liked those Christies, you might want to read Ellery Queen’s _The Greek Coffin Mystery._ An assistant DA is the murderer. Also, Frederic Brown’s _Martians, Go Home!_ has a delightful twist at the end. ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2019, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-virtuosic-yet-manipulative-literary-trick-pulled-by-an-author/829114/63 "2019-06-05T01:40:38Z")
The brilliant late 20th century thriller writer, Ross Thomas, was very good at this. Try the first chapter of his Edgar-Award winning 1985 novel _Briarpatch_, which ends with “Someone just blew away the landlady.” The hen read the rest of the novel. Genius stuff. Disclaimer: The five Ross Thomas novel which followed _Briarpatch_ were edited by me. He was possibly the most fascinating human being I ever worked with. ---
**Author:** ![Roderick\_Femm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/roderick_femm/32/14875_2.png) [@Roderick\_Femm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roderick_Femm)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2019, 2:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-virtuosic-yet-manipulative-literary-trick-pulled-by-an-author/829114/64 "2019-06-05T02:07:50Z")
> [@The\_Peyote\_Coyote](#): > > Roderick Femm: If you liked those Christies, you might want to read Ellery Queen’s _The Greek Coffin Mystery._ > > An assistant DA is the murderer. > > Also, Frederic Brown’s _Martians, Go Home!_ has a delightful twist at the end. As someone noted above, Christie is copied a lot. However, in this case, it is fair to note that this EQ novel was published 6 years before the AC novel. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2019, 2:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-virtuosic-yet-manipulative-literary-trick-pulled-by-an-author/829114/65 "2019-06-05T02:26:10Z")
Fredric Brown was noted for tricks he pulled on the reader, especially in his mysteries. Get hold of the collection _Carnival of Crime_. My favorite is the story where the victim of the crime is the _reader_. It’s “Don’t Look Behind You,” originally published in _Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine_ for May 1947. It appears in Carnival of Crime, in several “Alfred Hitchcock” story anthologies, and elsewhere. > **[Martians and Misplaced Clues](https://books.google.com/books?id=G7Z-t_tfPOkC&pg=PA90&lpg=PA90&dq=Fredric%2BBrown%2Bmystery%2B%22victim%2Bis%2Bthe%2Breader%22&source=bl&ots=Mg4381Id5F&sig=ACfU3U1-ZFhMXg-9sU2QpjAzEWpx6LGZPw&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjXmJHio9HiAhXRUt8KHcAYBGIQ6AEwAXoECAMQAQ#v=onepage&q=Fredric%20Brown%20mystery%20%22victim%20is%20the%20reader%22&f=false)** > > Jack Seabrook discusses The Fabulous Clipjoint in depth, as well as Martians, Go Home, The Screaming Mimi, and all of the other classic Fredric Brown novels. He provides a careful analysis of the author's short stories and poems, tracking his work... ---
**Author:** ![ianzin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/ed655f/32.png) [@ianzin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ianzin)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2019, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-virtuosic-yet-manipulative-literary-trick-pulled-by-an-author/829114/66 "2019-06-06T15:44:15Z")
One of the very finest examples I know is in ‘Walking On Glass’ by Iain Banks. The book contains three separate narrative strands, one of which is a fairly standard Boy Meets Girl story. Graham meets Sara, really likes her, is hoping that maybe things will get romantic. This story contains a twist that kicks like a mule, particularly if you happen to be male and can identify with young Graham. The way Banks lays the trap and then springs the surprise is hugely impressive. I’m not going to provide a spoiler because the twist is just too good to give away. Also, because it wouldn’t work. Just giving it away here in a line or two wouldn’t convey any of the majesty, the subtle brilliance with which the ‘trick’ is pulled off in the book. You have to experience it for yourself. Sorry. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2019, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-virtuosic-yet-manipulative-literary-trick-pulled-by-an-author/829114/67 "2019-06-06T17:34:01Z")
Bob Randall’s The Fan. The book, not the movie. The sequence of events is mind blowing ---
**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2019, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-virtuosic-yet-manipulative-literary-trick-pulled-by-an-author/829114/68 "2019-06-06T17:48:28Z")
N K Jemisin’s _The Fifth Season_. Her chapters rotate between a handful of main characters, each of whom has an ongoing story arc. The _main_ main character’s tale is written in the 2nd person. (“He stares at you. You keep walking…”) There’s a thread in common linking these characters. They are the same person at different stages of her life ---
**Author:** ![The\_Stafford\_Cripps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_stafford_cripps/32/7167_2.png) [@The\_Stafford\_Cripps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Stafford_Cripps)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2019, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-virtuosic-yet-manipulative-literary-trick-pulled-by-an-author/829114/69 "2019-06-06T20:32:39Z")
> [@ianzin](#): > > One of the very finest examples I know is in ‘Walking On Glass’ by Iain Banks. The book contains three separate narrative strands, one of which is a fairly standard Boy Meets Girl story. Graham meets Sara, really likes her, is hoping that maybe things will get romantic. This story contains a twist that kicks like a mule, particularly if you happen to be male and can identify with young Graham. The way Banks lays the trap and then springs the surprise is hugely impressive. Aw, she’s pretending she isn’t stuck in the window. How sweet… I actually thought you were going to cite “What happens when the immovable object meets the unstoppable force?” It would work here as well. ---
**Author:** ![Stephe96](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Stephe96](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stephe96)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2019, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-virtuosic-yet-manipulative-literary-trick-pulled-by-an-author/829114/70 "2019-06-06T20:45:32Z")
I could’ve sworn I mentioned this in this thread but apparently not. The most virtuosic yet manipulative literary trick ever is in “The Athenian Murders” by Jose Carlos Somoza. To even hint at the nature of the trick would give the game away. ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2019, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-virtuosic-yet-manipulative-literary-trick-pulled-by-an-author/829114/71 "2019-06-06T21:20:53Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > Fredric Brown was noted for tricks he pulled on the reader, especially in his mysteries. Get hold of the collection _Carnival of Crime_. > > My favorite is the story where the victim of the crime is the _reader_. It’s “Don’t Look Behind You,” originally published in _Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine_ for May 1947. It appears in Carnival of Crime, in several “Alfred Hitchcock” story anthologies, and elsewhere. I love that one. Have you ever read “Instructions” by Bob Leman? That one packs a wallop. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Peyote\_Coyote](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/5f8ce5/32.png) [@The\_Peyote\_Coyote](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Peyote_Coyote)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2019, 11:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-virtuosic-yet-manipulative-literary-trick-pulled-by-an-author/829114/72 "2019-06-06T23:17:28Z")
Andy L, yes I have. I’ve got that issue of “The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction.” It’s hilarious. Leman did some good work back in the 80’s. ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2019, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-virtuosic-yet-manipulative-literary-trick-pulled-by-an-author/829114/73 "2019-06-06T23:39:18Z")
> [@The\_Peyote\_Coyote](#): > > Andy L, yes I have. I’ve got that issue of “The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction.” It’s hilarious. Leman did some good work back in the 80’s. Heh. I’ve got just the same issue. Leman’s “Loob” also puts the reader through the wringer. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2019, 11:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-virtuosic-yet-manipulative-literary-trick-pulled-by-an-author/829114/74 "2019-06-06T23:46:22Z")
I loved “Instructions” because of the pure virtuosity of the POV. ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2019, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-virtuosic-yet-manipulative-literary-trick-pulled-by-an-author/829114/75 "2019-06-07T14:42:13Z")
> [@BlankSlate](#): > > Ka is a wheel. Do you say so, sai? ---
**Author:** ![Wallet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e99b99/32.png) [@Wallet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wallet)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2019, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-virtuosic-yet-manipulative-literary-trick-pulled-by-an-author/829114/76 "2019-06-07T17:54:15Z")
> [@Stephe96](#): > > I could’ve sworn I mentioned this in this thread but apparently not. > > The most virtuosic yet manipulative literary trick ever is in “The Athenian Murders” by Jose Carlos Somoza. To even hint at the nature of the trick would give the game away. I just finished reading this book, based upon _your_ recommendation in this thread: [https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=855682](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=855682) (“Looking for complex and/or smart detective fiction”) It truly was an entangled, deep, and thought-provoking story. Thanks for your excellent recommendation 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Lamoral](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lamoral/32/16078_2.png) [@Lamoral](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamoral)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2019, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-virtuosic-yet-manipulative-literary-trick-pulled-by-an-author/829114/77 "2019-06-07T18:03:43Z")
> [@jaycat](#): > > Thanks. It wasn’t hard. > > I found Portnoy’s Complaint to be one of the most overrated and annoying books ever. I agree, it’s horrible. Maybe at the time, people were not accustomed to books, or movies, or shows, or anything, that showed the inner depravity and perversions of a really fucked-up protagonist, and so it created a huge stir and skyrocketed Roth to the top of the A-list. But today it just reads like a rant that might be posted in a forum for sex addicts. ---
**Author:** ![Stephe96](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Stephe96](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stephe96)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2019, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-virtuosic-yet-manipulative-literary-trick-pulled-by-an-author/829114/78 "2019-06-07T18:45:02Z")
> [@Wallet](#): > > I just finished reading this book, based upon _your_ recommendation in this thread: > [https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=855682](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=855682) (“Looking for complex and/or smart detective fiction”) > > It truly was an entangled, deep, and thought-provoking story. > Thanks for your excellent recommendation 🙂 Glad you liked it. See what I mean about a “literary trick?” ---
**Author:** ![Dendarii\_Dame](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bbce88/32.png) [@Dendarii\_Dame](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dendarii_Dame)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2019, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-virtuosic-yet-manipulative-literary-trick-pulled-by-an-author/829114/79 "2019-06-12T20:21:29Z")
Another Ellery Queen with a great twist is Cat of Many Tails. A serial killer has struck multiple times, with a wide variety of victims: men, women, rich, poor, middle-aged, young, etc. In every case, the victim (despite publicity) let the murderer into their home. Ellery Queen figures out what the victims have in common… They were delivered by the same doctor. He confesses to the crimes. And then… Judge insists on appointing him a lawyer, who discovers the doctor was working at the hospital every single night a murder took place. His wife, who couldn’t have children of her own (and her husband wouldn’t let her adopt) was the killer. She committed suicide (and so did he) before the police could stop them. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2019, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-virtuosic-yet-manipulative-literary-trick-pulled-by-an-author/829114/80 "2019-06-13T01:43:06Z")
Queen (or rather, Theodore Sturgeon) pulled off another virtuoso twist in _The Player on the Other Side,_ where someone is blackmailed into murder. The identity of the blackmailer is a complete surprise, even though the clues are all there. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-virtuosic-yet-manipulative-literary-trick-pulled-by-an-author/829114.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-virtuosic-yet-manipulative-literary-trick-pulled-by-an-author/829114.md?page=5)