When I talk about books in public, I try to stick to the ones I like. But I’ve just finished a "guy book" that upset me a lot. So I want to discuss it a little. I won’t tell you the name of the book. But it was about a woman lawyer whose husband was accused of murder. She loved him and defended him at his trial. During the course of the book, I got to know and like the heroine. Several times during the story, she questioned whether her husband was really innocent. But each time, she regained her faith in him. She won an acquittal, and they joyfully went home again. Then the author had the brilliant idea of having her find out that the guy was really guilty. Not just guilty, but a psychopath. When she confronted him, he tried to kill her. And she ended up shooting him in self-defense.
What fun! Not.
I’d gone through a deeply emotional experience with the heroine. I rooted for her to win the court case–in the face of a hostile judge and a lot of dirty tricks from the prosecution. Not only that, during the trial, she almost gets fired from her job. But she triumphed over all of that.
What was her reward? Her life was destroyed. Why? Because it was a neat twist for the end of the book?
As I read, I started suspecting that the author was going to pull a zinger at the end. But I kept hoping for the best and I kept going because I liked the heroine and wanted her to win–and walk away happy. I was involved with the story, but now I’m really upset with investing so much time and emotional energy in the plot–and the characters.
There is no way in hell I’d ever write a story like that. I put my hero and heroine through terrible trials. I test their resolve and their character and their love for each other. But I end the story with them happy together. Because that’s what I want to read. And write. There’s enough bad stuff going on in the world without inventing more.
So what do you think? Do you hate being jerked around by an author who gets you hooked, then pulls the rug out from under you?
Rebecca
Yes actually and it was recently. A male author that I’ve just started reading last month did that to me too. The woman really cared about the tough “cop”, (who is usually a womanizer, but seemed really devoted to her in this book) goes through the whole book pulling the guy from his depression and trying to help him make sense of his life while he tries to catch the serial killers in this novel. In the first book, the author let the “cop” save his current girlfriend “just-in-time” and he never speaks to her again (it makes sense if you read it) this time the “cop” didn’t get there in time. Instead of going over like he thought about doing, he checked out a lead instead. He got to walk into a blood bath. Nice huh?
Comment by Jen — December 28, 2006 @ 3:28 pm
I agree with you completely!
Comment by Estella — December 28, 2006 @ 4:18 pm
Its Horrible
I read a book like that a while back and will no longer buy that authors work. It was just awful i cried
Comment by Liz Denler — December 28, 2006 @ 4:23 pm
Absolutely!
I read a book that was similar, and it gutted me when the ending was less than happy. That’s one of the reasons I prefer reading romance. I just gotta have that HEA.
Comment by Julia Templeton — December 28, 2006 @ 10:33 pm
Oh, man! I’m a sicko! I love a great HEA, but I love, just as much, to have the rug pulled out from under me! Some of my favorite books/movies, don’t have happy endings. I especially love it when an author can pull one over on me — do something I never expected. One of my favorites is KILLING ME SOFTLY, by Nicci French (if there’s any other oddballs like me out there!)
Comment by Jolie — December 29, 2006 @ 12:12 pm
Jolie, in the book I mentioned, I didn’t feel like the author “pulled one over on me.” I started suspecting early on that we were heading for a bad ending. It was like Basic Instinct, with Sharon Stone. Did she or didn’t she? Back and forth.
Often when we go to a movie that ends badly, I’ll turn to my husband and say, “That’s not what happened. And I’ll tell him about my improved ending.”
Rebecca
Comment by Rebecca York — December 29, 2006 @ 12:41 pm
There’s a movie that I enjoyed with the same basic premise. It worked for me, because the goal isn’t happy ever after, but justice. The bad guy went down, and that’s the ‘happy’ ending. How she recovers and moves on to have a happy life … well, that’s a different story.
Comment by spyscribbler — December 29, 2006 @ 7:03 pm
They made a movie from the book. So–it’s probably the SAME story. I will probably see it, since I’m not totally prepared.
Rebecca
Comment by Rebecca York — December 29, 2006 @ 8:34 pm