When was the last time a book surprised you?

When I pick up a book, I try not to have expectations. Expectations are rarely met. You expect to love something, and it never measures up to what you expected. You start something thinking it'll be awful, and you can't put it down.

There's a series of books I like. Never been disappointed in any of them. There's nothing particularly special about the series. The books are kind of formulaic. But the writing is good, and I like the lead character.


A couple of years ago I picked up one of the books in the series that I hadn't read yet. I started reading it and about halfway through I had to put it down. It was awful. The plot was thin, and the main character spent chapter after chapter roaming around doing nothing.

I could feel the writer trying to figure out what to do next. I was terribly disappointed. And I was surprised. This is someone who hadn't let me down before. I could rely on this guy to keep me entertained for a few hundred pages.

That leads us to today's question. When was the last time a book surprised you? And this can be surprising in a good way or bad way.