I know especially with mystery book, I love to be surprised, though I am okay with guessing the next step just a little ahead of the author.
For example, I finished 2 books this week. “The Silent Patient” and “The Midnight Library.”
While I liked both books, “Silent Patient” had a major plot development like 3/4 of the way through the books. Some clues were there but they were mostly easily missed. I probably guessed it like 2 pages ahead of the writing. This is fine. I was still surprise.
However, “The Midnight Library.” I am not exaggerating. I guessed the ending after LITERALLY the first sentence of the book. I had the entire early, middle, and late parts of the book clearly spelled out it my head. It was a good read, but I kept hoping I was wrong because it was WAY TOO OBVIOUS. From ONE sentence.
Alas, I read it all the way through and was 100% correct. Goes into the “Will never reread or recommend” category. (At least to mystery or sci fi lovers)
What about you? Better to guess or be pleasantly (or not so pleasantly) surprised.
by PhoenixApok