Do you have a genre of books that you just aren’t a huge fan of? For me that genre has always been mystery centered books. I didn’t hate them, but my opinion of them wasn’t very high either. The only mysteries I was familiar with was Nancy Drew, Trixie Belden, The Hardy Boys and Cam Janson and from what I could tell almost all mysteries had a repetitive formula. That formula being a group of friends find out about a crime that has taken place in the area they happen to be in (their hometown, on vacation etc.) That group of friends then finds multiple clues and suspects, getting into some sort of danger along the way. Then in the end the author tries to throw a twist in making the culprit some minor character that you most likely forgot about. Not all books I’d read did this, but a vast majority did. I’m not saying these books were bad, however eventually I found myself getting bored with them, and soon stopped reading mysteries altogether.
Then this year my school’s book club I’m in chose the first book in a series called “Sherlock, Lupin and Me” written by Irene Adler to read. When I first saw it I was not very excited. I thought it would be like ever other mystery I had ever read and that it would be hard to get through. Wanting to live up to the commitment I had made when signing up for the club I did decide to read it and was very pleasantly surprised. The book took many twists and turns in the plot keeping me on the edge of my seat and had very memorable and likable characters. In the end all of the clues came together in a satisfying ending leaving me wanting to read the next book. This made me realize that not all mysteries are the exact same and could be engaging enough to the point where I didn’t want to put the book down. However the one book that really opened up my eyes to how wrong I had been to jump to conclusions about all books in the genre was the most recent book I’ve read called “Sheltered” by Harlan Coben. To put it simply if I had to pick one book out of all the books I’ve ever read that made me want to read it from beginning to end without stopping this is the one I would point to. The characters were some of the most memorable I have ever known and without spoiling anything the ending resolved in a way that brought each piece of the overall puzzle together perfectly leaving me in awe and feeling numb (in a good way.) Luckily for me this book also begins a series and I cannot wait to get my hands on book two. So, if you have a genre that you’ve pretty much categorized as “not being your thing” take a look around and see if you can find a couple books that just might change your mind.