Rant: Hit exactly 50 pages left and the author still introduced a brand new character

I was reading this mystery novel that was already dragging, and then at page 280 out of 330, BAM, some random cousin shows up who was never mentioned before. The whole ending got derailed by this person's backstory and I couldn't even care who the killer was by then. Has anyone else gotten burned by an author dropping in a late character like that?

2 comments

2 Comments

lilymurphy6d ago

Yeah the "random cousin shows up on page 280" thing is like my biggest pet peeve in mysteries honestly. It just screams that the author painted themselves into a corner and needed someone to dump exposition on or be the real killer at the last second. I've had it happen where a whole new character gets introduced in the final act and suddenly they have all this crazy backstory that ties everything together, but like, why didn't you mention them earlier? It makes the whole book feel lazy, like the author didn't bother to plan the ending out. And you're right by then I don't even care who did it because I'm just annoyed at being jerked around.

lisa8204d ago

Page 280 out of 330 and SURPRISE, here's Bob the cousin who totally exists. Oh good, just what I wanted, a whole new person to learn about when I should be finding out who did it. Nothing says "I planned this ending well" like a random relative popping up out of thin air.