It's the Plot--No, It's the Characters--No, It's...

I can never decide what I love about the books I love. Yes, I want to know what happened, and when it gets to a certain point, I have to read to the end to find out. But there's also, in the back of my mind, the fact that I know what will happen, sort of. The mystery will be solved, the characters, at least most of them, will go on. So is it the plot that's most important, or is it the characters?



Aside from noir, where I don't like anybody and therefore usually don't read, I look for characters that I like or at least sympathize with. The book I just finished, NO GOOD DEEDS by Laura Lippman, has a kid I wanted to slap for his attitude, his language, and his actions. But he's sympathetic. I knew kids like him when I taught school: self-destructive but not on purpose. Mixed up about what life is and what it could be. This kid drives the plot with his contrariness, and that's what makes a book worthwhile to me, characters who can't possibly act other than their personalities demand and the resulting events. Although things somehow end up at a logical place, not everyone will be perfect at the end. Not every wrinkle in life's fabric will be smoothed. But because the characters somehow focused their strengths and overcame their weaknesses, there is closure. That's what I want as a mystery reader.