AIBU to have had a gut full of "psychological thrillers"

OP I completely agree with you.
I've had my fill now.

They've become too formulaic for me and lack any depth or substance.

For me, it was a phase that I enjoyed at the time (probably over last 5ish years).

I'm guessing it was just a way to set up a light-hearted, chatty thread. Which I for one was enjoying.

OP, with your "AIBU,' are you seriously asking whether it's acceptable to have reading preferences?

Yes I suppose that’s true - I don’t think there’s one book on good reads with only 4/5 star reviews. Even books I think are amazing will have 1 star reviews.

I agree an author ama would be really cool. I’d love to find out whether authors use their reviews or if it affects their work and lots of other things.

I agree with the two posters who mentioned "The Maidens" bought that full of expectations that it would be good, but very disappointing.

On the other hand Lisa Jewell's latest I really liked, similarly I'm enjoying much of Louise Candlish's books.

For the life of me I can't understand the appeal of The Thursday Murder Club, it's seems to have topped the book charts since around Christmas time. I thought it massively over hyped, for such a mediocre offering.

Some of these sound great so I’m marking for the good ones!!

I was just reading a review of Jane Corry's "'I made a mistake'' and the reviews are so divided! Either five start or one star. And the people who gave it one start complaining that there was no twist.

If there was no twist why did it have to be marketed in the psychological thriller genre when it was a book about .... an emotional assault and its legacy on the family of a woman who was coerced in to lying in court (I think. Piecing that together from reviews).

I'm totally fed up with the obligatory twist.

More often than not it's not a twist, it's a plot development.

Or it's a contrived twist that just irritates.

The clever psychological novel is a rare beast.

Agreed; it must be truly soul destroying to have your work judged so publicly.

Yes, as Brene Browne would say to those writers, all her books are the same you went in to the arena, that takes bravery! and people in the front row who criticised you, that doesn't require bravery.

I wonder if they do. I couldn’t, I’ve read some absolutely scathing reviews on goodreads and if that was my work I’d never write again! I suppose it’s a bit like performing though, you need to have a very thick skin and just think ‘oh well different strokes.’

I'm sure low-ranking and mid-ranking writers must obsessively read their Amazon reviews!

I left a scathing review for one of Peter James books….probably on Amazon and he (or someone pretending to be him) wrote a sarcastic and quite bitter response to me.

And yes same as @NoOtherShadeOfBlue for me - mostly I endorse those I love. It's not for money and there is not a black market. Occasionally I will endorse a friend (most authors are colleagues to me - I assume @NoOtherShadeOfBlue and I know each other) as a favour. Because I'd never end a proper friendship over refusing to give a blurb

@Notradespeopleareavailable it definitely is rich in stories and voices but mostly I use it for the same reasons anyone else does! Because I'm a normal person and I like reading it

Well, I can’t speak for all authors! But I guess any proof I get sent has been loved enough by an agent to sign the author, an editor to buy it, a sales team convinced enough to acquire it - a lot of people have had to be passionate about its merit to get it there. It doesn’t mean I’ll love it; I might scratch my head about how it got through the process (in which case I won’t quote for it!) though that doesn’t happen often because I’ll be offered books by people whose taste I trust. So I do think it’s very subjective.

Assuming all authors are absolutely candid and sincere in their "reviews" and have no agenda or ulterior motive, I'm even more disappointed!

I see the constant hyperbole of "I read this masterpiece in one sitting, holding my breath and was floored by all the twists and turns", only to be offered a mediocre effort with plot holes and bad writing.

It's fair enough to say we all appreciate different things and have disparate tastes, but this goes beyond that.

I’m also not on MN for storylines; I write historical fic. I’m here for procrastination!

I don’t get paid to blurb other authors’ novels, I get sent loads and only quote for the ones I read and enjoy. It’s not in exchange for positive blurbs for my books either! It’s a perk of the job to me; I get free books, I get to see my name on the cover of great books, I get to share books I love with other readers. I’m sure there are people who read books I endorse and don’t like them but that doesn’t mean I didn’t really like them either and I’m lying about it! We all have different tastes. Go on goodreads (I can’t, it’s too psychologically scarring for me) and you will see incredulous one-star reviews of books you love too professing absolute amazement that anyone could possibly like them. It takes all sorts.

And no, publishers do not buy their authors onto the bestseller lists.

I really dislike how every single one of these books has a prologue that starts (chronologically) at the end of the story and tries desperately to be shocking and/or misleading.

Also hate the way books don't seem to have a brief synopsis at the back anymore (although this is not the authors' fault, I'd imagine).

It's all "A twist you'll never see coming!" or similar nonsense.

I really lost respect for many excellent authors who vigorously endorse shit books.

I loved the ending of that book, genuinely had a twist I didn't see coming