What Are Some of The Best Books That Have Mind-blowing Twists?
Posted on 16th of August, 2018

Answers

It is true that books have become fairly predictable, which could be a consequence of there just being so many authors writing so many books these days that it is impossible to be original let alone come up with mind blowing twists. I have lost count of the amount of times where I got to chapter three in a book and already knew exactly where the story is heading and where it will end. I think that anyone that has spent the majority of their live reading books will suffer from this problem, so I can totally understand why you would be on the hunt for these "unicorn" books that still has the power to surprise and shock you. They are very hard to find, but not totally impossible. There are a lot of books with good plot twists, but many of these are so mainstream that virtually everyone know them already so I will try and skip them. My suggestions would be as follow;

* The Couple Next Door by Shari Lapena - If you want shocking and unexpected twists then I cannot recommend The Couple Next Door enough. It is about a couple who become embroiled in a terrible crime and the detective who tries to figure out what really happen. All I can say is that this book is an emotional roller coaster that is as riveting as it is twisted.

* Lost Among The Living by Simone St. James - If you want a book that continually toys with your expectations, then read Lost Among The Living. It is about a woman who lost her husband to the war and Germany and now works as a companion to his wealthy aunt. While at the family estate, she begins to uncover stuff about her husband that she never knew, as well as things about the family...

* We Were Liars by E. Lockhart - If you want a book where, if you paid close attention, you might have an inkling of what twists await you, then read We Were Liars by E. Lockhart. The first time I read this book about a girl who has hazy memories of an accident that occurred the previous summer I was totally oblivious about what was really going on. When I finally cottoned on the tears were rolling. This is a great book and the twist makes it even better.

* Fool me Once by Harlan Coben - Harlan Coben is an incredibly gifted author and Fool Me Once is in my humble opinion one of his best books so far. This guy knows how to write thrillers and I couldn't turn the pages fast enough while reading Fool Me Once. It is about a woman who loses her husband and while investigating the causes she uncovers a some shocking truths. I can't say much more, but if you enjoy a good thriller with twists that you can't see coming a mile off, then Fool Me Once is exactly what you want.
Before I Got To Sleep by S.J. Watson. The protagonist, Christine, wakes up every morning unable to remember who she is and what happened before. This isn't 50 First Dates, though, so don't expect a soppy romance. Instead, Christine has to rely on her husband to explain to her what has happened to her and what is going on. Eventually Christine starts to keep a diary in an attempt to help herself in the future. Things however take a dark turn when Christine looks back at the last entry in her journal one morning and discovers that it only says that she should not trust her husband.

The Girl Before by J.P. Delaney. It must have become some type of tradition for books that have "girl" in the title to have major twists (see Girl on a Train and Gone Girl for other examples of this phenomena) and The Girl Before did not disappoint me in this regard. It is a psychological thriller with some amazing plot twists to keep readers hooked until the very last page. The hook of this book is that it takes place in a very minimalist apartment that is owned by an architect with bizarre rules. The book first follows the story of Emma, who lives in the apartment first and then Jane. Finding out what it is that connects these two women is a blast and when the penny drops you realize how messed up things really are.

Black-Eyed Susans by Julia Heaberlin. Yet another psychological thriller (starting to sense a pattern here?), this time from Julia Heaberlin. The book opens with a sixteen-year old girl found clinging to life in a field. She was found amongst a pit of bones and it would appear that she was the latest victim of a serial killer. The girl has no idea how she managed to survive as she remembers very little of what happened to her. Meanwhile the police investigate the bones that were scattered around her to find clues about the killer. What little she remembers is enough to convict a man, but after almost twenty years she suspects that she might have made a mistake and the real killer could still be on the loose.
The Maze Runner by James Dashner surprised me with its twists the first time I read it. It has since been turned into a movie trilogy, but if you prefer books I would say it is worth the read. It basically follows a couple of teenagers who wake up in a maze that continually rearranges itself and it is filled with traps and hazards. None of the teens can remember who they are and why they are stuck in this maze. It is only at the end that a couple of shocking twists explain more about the story. The two other books in the trilogy are also good, but none of them have the shocking twists found in the very first one. Staying with the dystopian genre is Red Queen from Victoria Aveyard. In this book there are people with "red" blood who are looked down upon and those with "silver" blood who are gifted with powers. The protagonist is a girl named Mare, who despite having red blood, realizes that she has silver powers. The twist in this book hit me out of nowhere and I had to re read a couple of pages a few times to make sure that I wasn't mistaken.
There are plenty of books like this out there. The most famous one is obviously Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn. It is about a woman who disappears under suspicious circumstances and everyone suspects the husband of having something to do with it. It turns out that things are a little more complicated than what they first appear. Also very good is Fight Club by Chuck Palahniuk. Here we have a man who suffers from insomnia who joins a bunch of support groups to find some relief. His life changes drastically after he meets another man called Tyler and the two of them begin their own underground fight club. Things quickly spiral out of control before culminating in a very shocking ending. Another famous one with a very shock twist, if you haven't already watched the movie of course, is My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Picoult. This story about a young girl who sues her parents because she wants medical emancipation has a couple of twists that will play with your emotions. However, it is the final twist that hits the hardest of them all and which pushes most people over the edge and into tears. Lastly, there is Life of Pi by Yann Martel. The book is about a boy who is shipwrecked on a raft with a tiger after an accident at sea. It is only at the very end of the book that there is a mind blowing twist that will make you want to re-read the whole book again to see everything in a new light.
The one book that will always spring to mind when people talk about shocking plot twists is My Sisters Keeper from an author named Jodi Picoult. It is such an emotional story as it has to do with a teen named Anna, who discovers that her parents basically just had her so that they can use her to help her older sister who has leukemia. Anna eventually grows tired of this after she discovers that her parents want her to donate a kidney to her sister, so she takes matters into her own hands and goes to see a lawyer. Obviously suing your parents comes with a lot of emotional turmoil, but there is one twist that turns everything on its head and it leaves most people shaking their heads in disbelief. Oh, The Girl on The Train by Paula Hawkins is also a good one.

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