A good novel contains many elements to keep me interested. I feel a novel must be simple so it is easy to understand what is happening. If you have to go back because you can’t understand something that’s just confusing and makes me lose interest in the book. Another important element in a descent novel is suspense. I personally am interested in horror novels and feel suspense is key to keeping me reading. A book with a slow start is dull and bores me but I continue reading because it could pick up at any time. An example of this is the novel The Unspoken which is slow and non suspenseful at the start but the last 50 pages were nonstop suspense and it got to the point where I couldn’t put the book down.

A descent amount of foreshadowing is good in a book but not needed. One thing I like is false foreshadowing because it provides a twist which is very satisfying in horror novels. For most horror novels there is an end twist which I think are exciting because the plot is going one then shifts quickly sometimes changing the entire view of the story. I believe the three key elements in a (horror) story are (false) foreshadowing, suspense, and a non-confusing plot.