The surprise ending is one of mystery and thriller writers’ staple commodities. They use the sudden “twist” in two ways:
- To give the reader that precious sense of illumination that only a surprise ending – but one which suddenly reveals its coherence with hitherto read-but-not-grasped details of the story – can give him;
- To keep the reader reading, for these mystery and thriller writers are sneaky bastards who love the feeling that they’ve “put one over on you.”
In recent years, the surprise ending has become popular in a far more abbreviated format: the quickie text graphic. Some of them are priceless. I collect the better ones and share them with the C.S.O., a lifelong mystery buff. But some are better than others. Today, courtesy of Bustednuckles, I believe I may have encountered the most surprising, the most currently relevant, and the funniest yet:
I laughed so hard I hurt myself.
