That moment when someone in book club says the author "didn't develop the characters" when they just missed the subtle clues

Our club spent an hour debating a mystery novel last night where half the group claimed the twist came out of nowhere. I pointed to three specific passages on pages 47, 112, and 189 that foreshadowed it, and suddenly the argument shifted to whether the clues were "fair." Has anyone else dealt with readers who blame the book instead of their own skimming?

3 comments

3 Comments

kimmurphy1mo ago

Just read an article saying most "bad twists" are from readers ignoring setup, not bad writing.

lilya761mo ago

My friend ranted about this for an hour after people missed her book's twist lol.

sean_cooper581mo ago

Oh man that is so frustrating when people miss the subtle setup and then complain it came out of nowhere! @kimmurphy is totally right that it's usually a reading comprehension issue.