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Nov. 4th, 2021 02:10 pmI realize that this would be entirely unworkable, but I do wish that books would give you a warning about 50 pages in if they're going to turn out to have a Scooby Doo ending. I just finished my third book of the year that sold itself as a horror novel, started out strong on apparently supernatural happenings, and then collapsed into "Yes, but actually the answer to all of this mysterious stuff is a completely non-supernatural human murderer and everything has a completely non-supernatural explanation."
I get that, for many readers, this is a satisfying conclusion. But to me it always feels like a cop out. It's lazy. And it poisons the whole book - even if the rest of it was a fun reading experience, I come away from it feeling cheated. I would like a tipoff that it's going to happen, so that I can brace myself. At least if you're watching Scooby Doo, you know that you're watching Scooby Doo.
(It is perhaps worth noting that all three of them have been books I found by going to the library ebook site and telling it to show me all the horror novels currently available for checkout. I think the library and I define horror differently.)
I get that, for many readers, this is a satisfying conclusion. But to me it always feels like a cop out. It's lazy. And it poisons the whole book - even if the rest of it was a fun reading experience, I come away from it feeling cheated. I would like a tipoff that it's going to happen, so that I can brace myself. At least if you're watching Scooby Doo, you know that you're watching Scooby Doo.
(It is perhaps worth noting that all three of them have been books I found by going to the library ebook site and telling it to show me all the horror novels currently available for checkout. I think the library and I define horror differently.)
