Shutter Island

I love a good shimmy-shammy, in books if not in life. Others might call this the "surprise ending".

Asylum by Patrick McGrath is a terrific example of this type, and even Incredibly Close has a bit of a twist; in movies it's as famous as The Sixth Sense though even better versions include Lilith or Bunny Lake is Missing. Playing a trick on a dear reader is a noble tradition in mysteries spawned by Agatha Christie but it's really best when it is more psychological that that. What do you know, and how do you know you know it?

Shutter Island by Dennis Lehane is such a "hey wait a minute" story. Lehane elevated himself above the average one-a-year mystery writer with Mystic River, a truly complex story of not knowing what you know and the madness caused by pain and injustice. Shutter Island predates that book and contains elements of its consideration of how much grief the human mind can tolerate.

To say much more would give away the surprise. If you have a rainy Saturday afternoon to yourself, spend it on Shutter Island.