Most Virtuosic yet Manipulative Literary Trick Pulled by an Author

[Aspidistra]

Lionel Shriver’s We Need To Talk About Kevin does some absolutely masterful redirection.

The story is told as a series of letters written by the main character, the mother of a school shooter, to her absent husband, after their world has been blown apart by what the son, Kevin, did. She segues back and forward between descriptions about how it’s been for her in the aftermath, and tracking through their life together, trying to figure out how they got there, and how Kevin got to be the way he is

About half way through, unexpectedly, it’s revealed that they had two children, and as she describes the birth of her younger child, a daughter, and how different she was from her brother, naturally after a while you come to suspect that the daughter is dead and Kevin killed her. Because she doesn’t come into the ‘present day’ part of the narrative anywhere

[spoiler] And then at just the right time, there’s a throw away line, something like “You never really understood her. I’m glad you’re getting the chance to know her better now.” Oh, thinks the reader, so that’s what happened. After the shooting, they divorced and the father got custody of the remaining child.

But of course not. The last thing Kevin does before heading to school on that fateful day with is guns is to murder his sister … AND his father[/spoiler]

[Dale_Sams]

@divemaster

Stu Redman was one of the beloved characters in Stephen King’s The Stand. Towards the end, he and a couple of his friends (Larry and Ralph?) are heading out West to confront Flagg. They are obeying God’s orders via Mother Abigail. She has told them that at least one of the three “will not make it.”

Stu busts his leg up bad on the way. Broken. He’s in pain. They see the writing on the wall; they know the score. God even forewarned them. The other two leave him there, in the gully he fell into. They give him some pain pills and a loaded gun. As the other two continue the trek, devastated, King ends the chapter: “And they never saw Stu Redman again.” Full stop.

It’s a gut punch. Poor beloved Stu.

But here’s the kicker…

You stole mine. King will often do a “prophecy/ future event” sucker punch.

Dead Zone: “But fate had other plans”

Pet Semetary: “It was the last happy time they would spend together”

Then we wait chapters for the shoe to drop.

[Roderick_Femm]

@Ukulele_Ike

Roderick Femm:. If the second Poirot novel you cite is a favorite of yours, read Thomas Burke’s short story “The Hands of Mr. Ottermole” (1931).

It’s been called the greatest mystery story of all time by folks like Dorothy L. Sayers, and Alfred Hitchcock had it adapted for his teevee show in the 1950s.

Burke may be best known for his story “The Chink and the Child,” which was the basis of D.W. Griffith’s great 1919 film Broken Blossoms.. And “Ottermole” is another masterpiece of authorial sleight-of-hand.

Thanks, I’ll look for it.

[Dale_Sams]

@jaycat

Except that I guessed that maybe 20 pages in. Some trick.

I guessed the twist in Sixth Sense just knowing there was a twist. Me and a friend were joking about “Oh it’s probably blah blah blah”…and it’s like figuring out a truth. It just slides into place.

[ITR_champion]

G. K. Chesterton’s The Man Who Was Thursday is basically an entire novel in which the plot is intended to be a big joke, but it’s extremely well done. The idea being that it begins with a police officer in disguise infiltrating a gang of violent criminals. Then he learns that one of the other criminals is also a police officer in disguise. Then

the entire gang turns out to be police officers in disguise.

And after that there’s another killer plot twist at the end. But the entire novel cleverly makes you think that you have it all figured out at each step along the way.

(Full text here)

[Les_Espaces_Du_Sommeil]

Some good examples here, thanks. I particularly like CalMeacham’s.

@LoneRhino

John Irving uses the same technique in The Hotel New Hampshire and to some degree in A Prayer for Owen Meany. One of the many reasons he is one of my favorite authors.

That’s good to know. I’ll probably get some more of his books if I get the chance, although knowing he reuses this trick will certainly spoil it.

[Gyrate]

@divemaster

Stu Redman was one of the beloved characters in Stephen King’s The Stand. Towards the end, he and a couple of his friends (Larry and Ralph?) are heading out West to confront Flagg. They are obeying God’s orders via Mother Abigail. She has told them that at least one of the three “will not make it.”

Stu busts his leg up bad on the way. Broken. He’s in pain. They see the writing on the wall; they know the score. God even forewarned them. The other two leave him there, in the gully he fell into.

The other three - Larry, Ralph and Glen.

@Roderick_Femm

In Agatha Christie’s The Murder of Roger Ackroyd

Yeah, I’m not bad at guessing murderers in stories but Christie completely surprised me on that one.

There was another Christie book that I thought was even worse, i.e. more unfair, I’m not sure but it might have been Hercule Poirot’s Christmas.

Sounds like “The Mousetrap”. The play continues to run in the West End, as it has since 1952. The “twist” remains a loosely-guarded secret in the UK, although obviously anyone wanting to know could look it up.

[Annie-Xmas]

If you’re talking movies, #1 has to be The Chief’s “Thank you.” If you haven’t read the book, those two words are definitely a jaw dropper.

[typoink]

@Gyrate

Sounds like “The Mousetrap”. The play continues to run in the West End, as it has since 1952. The “twist” remains a loosely-guarded secret in the UK, although obviously anyone wanting to know could look it up.

I’d actually been avoiding that spoiler for a few years now, intending to possibly try to see The Mousetrap with fresh eyes in the not TOO distant future.

Then I read “Three Blind Mice” without realizing it was the same story. Didn’t live up to the hype; what a corny ending.

[Shodan]

The other ultimate twist in Christie is in Curtain. AC wrote it early in her career, but wouldn’t let it be published until after her death. For obvious reasons. No, I won’t spoiler it. It deserves to be read. But it’s like The Murder of Roger Ackroyd - she plays fair with the reader.

Regards,
Shodan

[Gyrate]

@typoink

Then I read “Three Blind Mice” without realizing it was the same story. Didn’t live up to the hype; what a corny ending.

It’s corny now. In 1950 it was innovative. The thing to remember about Christie is that a lot of her twists have become clichés, but they weren’t clichés when she invented them.

[Ukulele_Ike]

@Annie-Xmas

If you’re talking movies, #1 has to be The Chief’s “Thank you.” If you haven’t read the book, those two words are definitely a jaw dropper.

Along the same lines, see Walter Matthau’s “God bless you!” in The Taking of Pelham One Two Three (1974).

[Dale_Sams]

@ukulele ike

along the same lines, see walter matthau’s “god bless you!” in the taking of pelham one two three (1974).

a bump bump bump

[Les_Espaces_Du_Sommeil]

@Ukulele_Ike

Along the same lines, see Walter Matthau’s “God bless you!” in The Taking of Pelham One Two Three (1974).

Not exactly what I’m looking for, but that scene had me laugh out loud when I saw the movie. The look on Matthau’s mug is priceless.

[RealityChuck]

@jaycat

Except that I guessed that maybe 20 pages in. Some trick.

So you were slow on the uptake?

On page 5, Portnoy says “This, Doctor, are the earliest impression I have of my parents.” How could that not be a man talking to his psychologist?

It was prominently mentioned in every single review of the book. The NY Times review even has the line “Doctor, this is my only life. I’m living it inside a Jewish joke.” as a pull quote.

Roth was upfront about the premise. The ending was not in any way supposed to be a surprise.

[Malleus_Incus_Stapes]

A month or two back, I read “Welcome To Your Authentic Indian Experience”, by Rebecca Roanhorse. When I reached the ending, as soon as realized what it implied about the story as a whole, I went :smack: Oh, that’s why it was written in second person.

[ivylass]

For me, the final line of King Rat by James Clavell always give me chills.

It’s about British and American POWs during WW2. Clavell does a jaw-dropping tie-in of one of the scams a POW was running on the officers to the men themselves with just three words.

Among the rats.

Clavell was himself a POW during WW2 and the book is based on his experiences.

[typoink]

@Gyrate

It’s corny now. In 1950 it was innovative. The thing to remember about Christie is that a lot of her twists have become clichés, but they weren’t clichés when she invented them.

It’s actually not the twist that bugged me, it’s the infantile regression of the killer and IIRC some goofy coincidences that were misdirection and the quasi-abusive relationship between the innkeepers that’s immediately resolved and washed overDidn’t feel like her best writing by a long shot, and I think at least some contemporary reviews agreed.

[Penfeather]

@Shoeless

“The Gone-Away World” by Nick Harkaway, when it becomes apparent about 2/3 of the way through the book who the narrator is.

I liked the trick Harkaway pulled in Tigerman, when you first realise just who Bad Jack actually was all along. I mean, in hindsight the set-up seemed so obvious, but I was completely blindsided by it, and yet it was perfect. Harkaway’s clever.

[Randolph]

@Ukulele_Ike

Along the same lines, see Walter Matthau’s “God bless you!” in The Taking of Pelham One Two Three (1974).

(“Gesundheit.”)