Thrillers - the same old ending trope

[tobee]

Just thinking about the thing that drives me mad in (not very good) thrillers.

I’m slightly worried about writing this because I want to avoid spoilers or people posting spoilers….

… but how many times have I read a book where the killer or villain, who up until the reveal, has been a seemingly great friend of the main character. Or a seemingly “good egg” or “the quiet friend”? And then this is the bit that gets me, the last 50 or so pages, or the last 45 minutes of an audiobook, is the villain showing their true selves and kidnapping someone or torturing someone - the main character or their kid or their vulnerable relation or whatever?

Ahhh! It’s such a blooming cliche! It just feels like padding or to hype up the thrills. It’s largely totally unbelievable as well.

Lots of tv series do this. My references are probably out of date, but certainly Morse. And plenty of others. Which ones escape me right now 🤨

Maybe I should blame Holmes and his archenemy Moriarty!

Anyone else hate this cliche? I can’t think of many times where it’s done subtly and pretty much always you know the main character will escape in some highly unlikely way.

Rant over!

Also known as the Scooby Doo plot twist! 😀

lol

Listened to a few audible books like this recently. Seems all serial killers are quiet, small women.

I’ve just read one just like this. Didn’t have high hopes for it but the setting was a town I’m familiar with so I thought would give it a go. Turned out to be the Detective’s old friend and colleague.

I’ve just read the same book as you I think !! Author initials SW?! I enjoyed it though the Adele Parks one I just read was excellent and didn’t end how I expected at all and was all the better for it

Not the same author as the one I’m referring to, though it does seem to prove the point that this kind of ending is all too common.

I think I’ve been spoilt by reading Andrea Camilleri’s books.

So anyone else come across the killer/villain then holds someone hostage or tries to kill the detective or the detective’s relative? The climactic jeopardy cliche ?

There’s a well known Agatha Christie novel where this happens.

But I don’t understand your Holmes and Moriarty reference unless you mean the Young Sherlock TV series. I can’t accept that as part of the canon

There’s a tv series on one of the main channels right now that’s used this trope in more than one episode. Agree, it’s lazy.

What about Karin Slaughter’s books? Every time I finish reading one, I swear I will never pick up any of her work again, yet have 4 more titles on my kindle! I now limit myself to one of her books maybe every 3-4 months or so!

Yes I agree, I do like a thriller where I didn’t see it coming but it is a rarity. Sophie Hannah is quite good at it but her endings are so mental you would never guess them. Ruth ware, Clare Douglas, Shari Lapena, mark Edwards and Claire mackintosh are pretty good imo .
An excellent mystery/thriller gives subtle clues so when the big reveal happens it all makes sense but it is neither completely obvious or totally obscure.

I’m having this problem with tv and films as well as books. I now always read the plot so I don’t waste time on ludicrous endings. I was told it depends if a story is plot or character driven.

I really liked the Girl on the Train until the end - then the ex/husband goes all psycho and tries to kill them all. This is a man who is sneaky and underhand - not deranged killer - I’m told I’m too fussy.

I love a good thriller, but yes, the end is so often a disappointment or ridiculously improbable ( every Sophie Hannah! ) The best twist I remember reading was the end of The Burning Air by Erin Kelly. So clever.

I've broken the habit. Reading one of her books never satisfied me and I just felt wrong afterwards. Haven't picked up one of hers for 3 - 4 years now. Do it, you'll have so much more respect for yourself 😂

I was thinking of the trope of the villain and main character having a personal coming together - namely at The Reichenbach Falls; The Final Problem

Just finished a thriller with the ever so predictable ending of an identical twin being the murderer. Such an original ending. Yawn.

I was a fan of Karin Slaughter's early Grant County series when I was younger, but found I kept reading her new releases out of a weird sense of obligation and didn't really enjoy them. I felt ill after reading Pretty Girls, and then I read a Sara/Will one where an old, "harmless" filler character was suddenly revealed to have all along been performing sexual acts on dead people and I just shut the book without a finishing and wouldn't read another now.

I don't get why so many books have the big reveal and a detailed explanation of how and why the villain did what they did once they have been caught. You could almost skip the to end in a lot of books, find out what happened without even reading the rest of the story.

Yes the endings are often also a big letdown @TheBloodMoonIsRisingOnceAgain . There always seem to have to provide a “big twist” which you can guarantee some other of the genre author quote, plastered on the cover, will say they “never saw coming”. Puts me right off!

This is what knocked Elly Griffiths on the head for me-the Dr Ruth character always seemed to be chasing across the beach, either in pursuit or being chased.

Lazy.