 Hello everybody, E here. Welcome back to Top 5 Friday Today. We are talking about books that have the best plot twists. Before I go into this, this list is going to be very subjective. I don't read a lot of thrillers. I don't read a lot of books with plot twists, period, except for maybe like Chuck Pollinick and maybe even Greg Iles, but I don't read him anymore. I've fallen out of love with Pollinick. Recently, I'm going to try and get my love back for his literature soon by rereading all of his books, do a series on it, that kind of thing, but that's well into the future. But this topic especially was requested by several of you, two of you over the past couple of days. I know Pretam, I'm not sure I pronounced your name, I'm sorry. Pretam asked for it, and then someone else asked for it, and I can't remember who it was, but it's been asked for a couple of times before that also, and I just completely forgot about it. So if you asked for this Top 5 plot twist, I apologize, I am now finally getting to it. The first two books, I do not have. Again, this is a wholly subjective list, and just because these books are on this list does not mean these books are good all the way through. I know that sounds weird. We're going to get to it. So jumping into it, we have Pines by Blake Crouch. I remember reading this and wondering how the hell there were two more books in the series. The second book kind of lulls, but the last book I believe is just as good as the first book. In fact, the last book I think is called Wayward. I'm not sure that might be the second one. I can't remember the series name, all the names in the series. It's a series called Wayward Pines, I believe, but the last book has one of the funniest scenes I have ever read in any book ever. In fact, I should probably do Top 5 funniest books. If you guys want to see that, leave a link down there in the doobly-doo, but I have today's topic of course lined up, and I have next week's topic lined up, which is going to be five books that are so bad they're good. Now, so Blake Crouch's Pines. Unfortunately, this video will probably end up being on the short side. That's kind of why I'm rambling, trying to make it a little bit longer because people like the longer videos. The problem with a list like this is if I tell you anything about it, I'm going to spoil the enjoyment of the book for you. So please know that each one of these books, I'm only going to be talking about them as vaguely as possible. So yeah, at number five is Blake Crouch's Pines. Now, with this book, I think the entire book is fantastic. I know some of you disagree with that, but I think the book is fantastic. And the ending, there aren't many times when the cliched jaw drop actually happens, but this is one of those times where I was listening to the audiobook and my jaw hit the floor. I was like, I had no idea that was coming. I knew there was a twist. People were saying it's one of the best plot twists ever written up there with wool. I don't know. I've never been able to get through wool. Is wool a good plot twist or am I thinking of another book? You know Hugh Howley? Anyways, let me know down there in the doobly-doo. But the next one I have is a book that I absolutely hate. I cannot stand this book and that is Gone Girl by Jillian Flynn. The twist in the middle of this book is one of the best twists of all of literature. In fact, the top three on my list, probably pale in comparison, but it's the fact that I like those books more than I like this book. But this book, I had absolutely no clue whatsoever from the title, from the writing, everything. I was like, we're going along. I'm like, I am here for this. I am good with this. And then all of a sudden, the entire book changed. I don't think I've ever read another book quite like that where I have been so hammered in the face by a plot twist. What the worst part about it is you still have 200 pages left of the book to go. The best plot twist in the book happens in the middle of the book. And if I'm ruining that for anybody, I apologize. But it's old enough now. It's whatever. I'm not going to spoil what the plot twist was, but I couldn't believe it. I was buddy reading it with my friend, Jessica, at the time. And both of us, she emailed me. She's like, did you hit that part yet? And I said, yes, I did. And she sent me a gift on Goodreads, I think on the update of just a lady with her jaw dropping. It's an amazing, amazing twist. And I hate that the rest of the book after that is so much bullshit, especially the ending is absolute garbage. And I know there are so many people who've explained the book to me, but I still don't like it. I understand the point of it. I get it. It just isn't a conclusion to me. It's the same way with Stephen King's cell. Yes, I understand why it ended that way. It just isn't a good ending. So finally, we're getting into books that I still actually own. And I'm actually going to change the order real quick. But at number three, we have Odd Thomas by Dean Coombs. Now, you can say all day long that you saw this coming. You can tell me up and down, oh my God, here's such an obvious fucking conclusion. I don't care. I was blown away, and it is one of the most emotionally powerful endings, Dean Coombs. Well, shit, anybody has ever written. The only one I think that bothers me more than this one is probably Duma Key by Stephen King. It's just such an emotionally powerful twist that you just don't see coming. You get to the end of it. And unfortunately, the rest of the series is terrible when compared with this book. In fact, the twist at the end of the last one is so laughably bad to make me never want to read this first one again. Because for the longest time, this is one of my favorite Dean Coombs books. But my viewpoint of this book has, well, my viewpoint of the rest of the series has completely muddied my viewpoint of this book. Because the only other good book in this series I think is The Odd Interlude, which is a series of novellas right in the middle of the series. But this one, I remember reading it going, okay, Coombs hasn't done anything fantastic for a while. I think the last book he wrote before this one that was good was Intensity. There was a couple of BS books there. And I was like, oh, this is a return to Coombs. Coombs is coming back. This is great. This fantastic ending. It's emotional. It's powerful. It's got characters you remember. And you love. You got Storm. You got Odd. You got the Fat Dude, Oswald. I can't remember. Ozzy, I think his name is. Those characters are amazing. And we don't see that again throughout the rest of the series. It's upsetting to me. But yeah, this one definitely, as far as Dean Coons is concerned, it's one of his most powerful endings. It's one of his most powerful pieces, period. Unfortunately, it doesn't usually hit my best Dean Coons list because when I start thinking about it, even now, I'm like, maybe it shouldn't be here because the rest of the series, if people go and grab this book, I mean it works perfectly well as a standalone, but if people go and grab this book thinking that the next seven, eight books are good, I would feel terrible. And at number two, we have Lawrence Blocks, The Sins of the Father. Now, this is completely subjective because with this book, it was one of the very first twists I ever read. So it's one of the most memorable for me. Like I said at the beginning of the video, this is going to be completely subjective because I don't read a lot at thrillers. And I'm sure the comment section will be full of, hey, what about this book? Hey, what about that book? So on and so forth. I don't read a lot of those books. So and most of those books, when I do read thrillers, I see the twists coming ages before they actually hit, like all the twists in no exit. That was one book that I was like, how is anybody surprised by any of this stuff? He phones it in well at the beginning of the book. But with this one, I had no idea. Maybe I was too young to be reading this book. And it just, you know, it caught me. It's one of those books. It's one of the first built books that I read after Dolores Claiborne by Stephen King, when I finally started sneaking up to either the library or the thrift shop and grabbing books that maybe I shouldn't have been reading. I don't agree with the idea that kids shouldn't read certain content because it's all in your head. And if you don't understand those themes and everything, then you're not going to understand the way these things are written unless they're spelled out. So maybe keep them away from hardcore erotica. But as far as books like this or Stephen King, I don't think there should be a limit because you have to picture the stuff in your head. It's not like you're looking at pictures of this stuff. But with this one, I said it may not be the best twist ever, but it's one of the ones that for me meant a lot because I was like, wow, I never saw that coming. And it's the first time that I ever did that with a book. Finally, I think this book alone is the reason why people were asking me to do my top five plot twists. At least one person mentioned it. I'm not sure about everyone else, but it's Choke by Chuck Pollinick. Still to this day, I get goosebumps just thinking about it. Again, I don't want to spoil it, but the entire book is fantastic. I highly recommend you go out and you grab it and you read it. It is disturbing. It is grotesque. It is hilarious. And the plot twist is the I feel the best plot twist after Gone Girl. But we talked about Gone Girl. I don't care too much for Gone Girl. But yeah, this one is one of those books where I still think about it to this day. It'll just pop up into my mind and just go, damn. One of these days I hope to write a twist ending that good. I think I came close with Life After Dane. So if you guys want to go check out that book and tell me whether or not I'm right or wrong about that, you guys, shame their self-promotion. I don't normally do it, but I'm very proud of that book. But with Choke, it's one of those books that kind of changed me as an author. I was like, it was so subtle. It was hinted throughout. There was no cheating done whatsoever. And that's part of the problem that I have with a lot of plot twists in modern thrillers is it's cheating. They don't give you, they don't sprinkle out the hints throughout. And then you go back and you read them again and you're like, yeah, this makes sense by the end. But there's no way for the reader to have puzzled it out or to have found out by themselves and actually feel smart. Usually you feel like, well, damn, the author phoned it in. But anyways, I'm not here to harp on the bad books. I want to talk about the good books. And number one for me is Choke by Chuck Pollinick. Do you have a top five plot twists? I would love to hear from you. Please absolutely no spoilers down there in the comment section. This is the one time that I will say if you put spoilers down there in the doobly-doo, I will get rid of your comment. I'm not even going to warn you or ask you to put a spoiler warning. I will just delete your comment. So if your comment disappears, probably because I thought you posted the spoiler. But until next time, I have been E, you have been U. This has been the top five plot twisty books. I'll talk to you guys later. Bye-bye.