12 Books with Plot Twists Even the Queen of Crime Wouldn't Have Seen Coming

Agatha Christie was born 126 years ago today! The Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple creator is the best-selling novelist of all time, outsold only by the Bible and Shakespeare, and has kept generations of readers guessing with genre-defining capers like And Then There Were None, Murder on the Orient Express, and Murder at the Vicarage. To celebrate the inimitable Queen of Crime and her love of surprise endings (the reveal in The Murder of Roger Ackroyd is still one of our all-time favorites), we asked you on Facebook and Twitter: What book has the best plot twists? Your top answers—full of enough madness, mayhem, monsters, and murder to make Christie proud—are below. How many of them have you read? Did you guess any of the twists before they happened?
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What book's twists impressed you the most? Titles only, please—no spoilers!
(Image credit: Lucy Mangan and Mark Thomas for The Guardian.)
Comments Showing 1-50 of 130 (130 new)
Murder on the Orient Express and And Then There Were None were both shockers to me. Love Agatha Christie!I also loved Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier. I honestly didn't see that twist coming either.
Inferno by Dan Brown was the most amazing twist i ever read. And of course all of Agatha Christies books are big time plot twisters, namely Murder on Orient express, Poirots christmas etc.
We were Liars!! The all time Page-Turner with a totally unexpected ending! 'And then there were none' is so also similar, I never would have guessed the plot twist and ending
I'll certainly never forget the first time I read and saw Fight Club. That's one of the best ones of all time.
The first Game of Thrones book has a twist? I can't remember one so it can't be that big.Shutter Island was a good ending but I kind of guessed it halfway through.
Skeleton Key. I can't remeber the author's name off the top of my head. I know it's a movie, but I strongly advise you read the book before seeing the movie. The movie gives subtle hints that helps you solve the ending, so it's not as shocking (plot twisty) as reading the book.
My Agatha Christie favourite is also "And Then There Were None". It was the first AC book for me that I had to read in my grade 9 English class. After that, I was hooked! (Thank you, Miss Heron) For me, AC books was a natural progression from Nancy Drew.
Rebecca wrote: "Skeleton Key. I can't remeber the author's name off the top of my head. I know it's a movie, but I strongly advise you read the book before seeing the movie. The movie gives subtle hints that helps..."Which Skeleton Key movie/book are we talking about?
The Sixth Sense, Gone Girl and The Fifth Wave all made me pause and marvel at the twisted minds of the writers.
Darren Shan's fantastic Lady of the Shades has several jaw-dropping twists. I'm good at predicting twists, but with this book I was just awe-struck.Lady of the Shades
Rebecca wrote: "Skeleton Key. I can't remeber the author's name off the top of my head. I know it's a movie, but I strongly advise you read the book before seeing the movie. The movie gives subtle hints that helps..."
thats written by anthony horowitz, great series.
thats written by anthony horowitz, great series.
Skulduggery pleasant series by derek landy, Full of twists.
I guessed what had happened to the wife of gone girl. What I couldn't guess was her real personality.My sister keeper's twist if you refer to the ending and Ana's final destiny,that was a very bad twist and just unnecessary drama. If youmean her real reasons for the lawsuit, that was suprising but not in a "I didn't see that coming "way.That was logical.
Konstantina wrote: "Red Queen?"I saw it coming. Particularly when the author keeps repeating "Anyone can betray anyone" too often to be suprising.
Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child have a lot of unexpected endings - Relic, Mount Dragon, Still Life With Crows, and Riptide come to mind.Christie was the Queen, though. Cards on the Table was perfection for me. Even if you predict the ending, you still can't believe it when it is revealed.
I Let You Go by British author Clare MacKintosh - a brilliantly crafted plot complete with a jaw-dropping bombshell mid-way through that I did not see coming (and I pride myself on successfully predicting where plots might go).
I loved the twist in Gone Girl, Sister, and The Other Typist. Also, Broken Harbor has a great twist.
I am still in process of reading all Agatha Christie books , but till now my favorite is "Murder on the Orient Express" nothing can beat this ending,.
Many of John Dickson Carr's stories have great twists, in particular The Three Coffins.I know And Then There Were None was regarded as one of the classics, but, while I admit the ending is surprising, the whole plot hangs off one very risky and iffy move which makes it less convincing.
Katherine wrote: "The Other Typist by Suzanne Rindell. It's a page turner!"
Agreed Katherine. This is definitely one of my books I will read again when I have time!!
Agreed Katherine. This is definitely one of my books I will read again when I have time!!
The best part of Agatha Christie is how many books of hers you might have read you can never easily guess the mystery in the next one. Generally a mystery once read is most of the times don't appeal to be read next time but Christie's mysteries are thoroughly enjoyable even after a couple of readings. My all time is favorite is "And Then They Were None" and I also enjoyed ABC Murders, Why Didn't They Ask Evans; Towards Zero and Mysterious Affair at Styles
Maria wrote: "And Then There Were None My favourite! Never guessed the way it ended!"
Right? I even gave up trying to figure out whodunit
I don't know if it counts as a plot twist but what happened to the groom in A Case Of Identity. That was something else
Crooked House (Agatha Christie)https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6...
Girls in The Dark (Akiyoshi Rikako)
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2...
Jeffery Deaver's books have lots of twists. The Coffin Dancer and The Cold Moon are my particular favorites.
Fingersmith blew mind with the triple cross. I picked this book up from a clearance shelf for what I like to call title intrigue. I had no idea what a fingersmith was. One of the best buys I've ever made. It introduced me to one of my favorite authors.
Timmie wrote: "Fight Club; Life Expectancy by Dean Koontz; The Deptford Trilogy by Robertson Davies"Oh, Life Expectancy for sure!!
ValentineValentine has one of the most shocking endings I've ever read! Not only is this book well written, with stand out characters, it's unique structure lends itself to draw the reader in from page one. I would highly recommend it to any one who loves a good thriller/mystery. DON'T see the awful movie that this book was turned into. It's just plain awful and not at all like the book.


































My favourite! Never guessed the way it ended!