What constitutes a page turner? Steph Beth Nickle believes that, despite being an avid reader, she has come across precious few genuine page turners.
Contact us or share below your own opinions of page turners that you have read.
Anatomy of a Page-Turner
I have hundreds of books on my physical and virtual shelves I want to get around to reading, and there are more books coming out every day I would like to add to those shelves.
I have read hundreds—if not thousands—of books.
But there were very few I would define as “page-turners.”
Nancy Drew Series
When I was a girl, I loved the Nancy Drew series of books. Though I would no longer call them page-turners, I attribute the cliffhangers at the end of many of the chapters as the reason I read “just one more chapter.”
Today people have very strong opinions of cliffhangers. Some people find them compelling and a reason to continue reading. Others find them exceedingly annoying.
Star Wars
This makes me think of the original three Star Wars movies.
Episode 4, A New Hope, which was the first one released, wrapped things up nicely at the end of the movie.
I see this as incredibly wise. People who enjoyed the movie would want further episodes. Those who didn’t care for it couldn’t point to the fact that there were too many unanswered questions at the end of the movie.
This was not the case with The Empire Strikes Back. Episode 5 ended with countless loose ends. The creators knew they had a vast audience and had earned the right to end the movie with several cliffhangers that would be wrapped up in Episode 6, Return of the Jedi.
Star Wars Universe a Page Turner
If you are familiar with the Star Wars universe, you realize there are several other movies in the series, but the first three released illustrate the movie equivalent of a page-turner perfectly.
Personally, I don’t mind if a chapter ends with a cliffhanger. However, I take exception to books that don’t have a cathartic ending, at least to the main focus of that particular volume. There are so many books I want to read that I don’t want to invest my time and energy reading a book that is basically a sales magnet for the author’s next book.
Page Turner – This Present Darkness
The first book I read as an adult that I remember being impossible to put down was Frank Peretti’s This Present Darkness.
There are a few different reasons that this is the case.
It was the first Peretti book I’d ever read. In fact, it was the first “angel book” I’d ever read. Because I’d never read anything like it, I kept turning pages.
I’m not a fan of thrillers, but I do enjoy suspense. I found This Present Darkness pushed the boundaries, but it definitely kept me engaged. I had to know what happened next.
While I don’t look to fiction books to expand my understanding of theology, This Present Darkness gave me lots of spiritual principles to think about. If this is done in an engaging way, it can keep me from putting the book aside.
Characters in Page Turners
I’ve mentioned several times that characters I feel strongly about are a big plus for me. While this may motivate a four- or five-star review, alone, it won’t keep me turning pages.
Those characters have to be on a fast-paced journey to keep me reading. The story doesn’t have to qualify as action and adventure or suspense, but it helps.
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