Sarah Pinborough’s Cross Her Heart is so full of twists and turns it got me thinking about the modern novel, post-Gone Girl, and the role of the Unexpected Twist. First, it dawned on me that the “twist” actually existed BEFORE Gone Girl, it just wasn’t called a “twist.” I mean, wouldn’t a nineteenth century reader be absolutely shocked to discover that, just as Jane was about to marry Mr. Rochester, she finds out his WIFE is living in the attic of the damn house she’s been living in. THEN, when she hears his voice one night, goes back to Thornfield mansion to find the damn place burned down, Rochester’s wife lept off the fucking ROOF and he’s blind and only has one functional hand. That’s ALMOST as nuts as Amy framing her boring husband for her own murder, then double-framing her ex-boyfriend instead, and then getting herself pregnant with some sperm she hid in the freezer JUST IN CASE this whole scheme went to shit.
Secondly, I am getting tired of books with crazy twists, although I almost always have to doff my hat to those that do it well, as Pinborough does. I like reading mysteries, and it often it feels like mysteries are written in a formulaic way, with twists, with “girl” in the title, and ladies being raped and murdered on the page for reading pleasure (concerning all these conceits - see this whole crazy story re: AJ Finn and The Woman in the Window).
Anyway, to summarize Cross Her Heart would be too difficult without giving much away, aside from saying that it’s a captivating read, and I had a good time apprising M for a few days at the multiple twists and turns it made (namely re: some missing girls on vacation in Thailand and a concerned journalist.)
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