The big reversal and the resulting trail of exposition

Title: Lethal

Author: Sandra Brown

Progress: 42%

Platform: Kindle

Amazon Rating: four out of five stars

NYT BS Hardcover List: #6 (former number 1)

Book 2 out of 107

SPOILERS! Seriously. SPOILERS AHEAD!

Okay, here is the spoiler that I need to mention before getting to the point of this post...

Ms. Brown, for the first 25% of the novel, made it fairly clear that the bad guy, the home invader who threatened a mother and her young daughter with death and torture, was a guy named Coburn who happened to have taut muscles and looked interesting while naked. 

(We know about his naked form because he felt the need to shower while trapping the mother, named Honor, in the bathroom. And Honor couldn't help but to take a few uncomfortable peeks at her cruel captor.)

Ms. Brown also made it clear that the good guys included a pair of twins, one of whom was a detective and the other of whom was a city manager who also happened to be an expert hunter and tracker.

We know who is playing for what team and the world makes sense.

Then Ms. Brown flips the board, sending the pieces every direction. The bad guy turns into the good guy. The good guys turn into bad guys. And everyone else we just aren't sure about.

It's a neat trick, pulling that kind of shift, turning the world upside in a way that doesn't strain believability to the point of breaking the story. It almost does. The quick inversion leaves us asking..."Why didn't Coburn just explain himself when he first met Honor? Did he have to be so rough with her? Why did he come back to the house after leaving in the night?"

Here is Ms. Brown technique for dealing with these reader questions, which she seems quite aware of.

First, she anticipates all those questions and a few more. She knows she just made you question her fictional world and if she doesn't answer a few questions she might lose you.

Writing for women? It's best to have this guy deliver your exposition.

Second, she has Honor become the stand in for the reader, saying what we want to say to Coburn, "Why should I believe you? Prove it. If you are the good guy, why don't you show me a badge? Why don't you call your boss at the FBI? Why aren't we going to a police station right now? About your taut muscles, do you work out or is it just good genetics?" (She doesn't actually ask that last one.)

As they drive to their hideout, Coburn delivers all the answers, giving us big hunks of exposition, and we eat it up.

This is a special talent of Ms Brown's. While lengthy exposition is often a story killer, she first makes us ask for it, makes us want it, and then delivers it to us in dialogue that happens while our heroes flee from danger.

Nicely done.

What have we learned today? Withhold exposition until the reader asks for it. Make her beg for it if you can. Then deliver it via with dialogue between characters she likes and wants to see hook up.

And always mention your male lead's taut muscles. 

I feel the need to go lift some weights. Good night, folks.