Interact: Discussions: Should a Blurb lie?

I brought this up on my blog after reading my latest novel 'Underground' by Tobias Hill. This book is the perfect book to point out the issue I have with some books blurbs, especially when they lie. This is another case of the blurb mot telling the truth, its not the books fault, its not the authors fault and yet it makes me annoyed and puts me off both, why don’t publishers tell the truth? For example this blurb was “On the London Underground, someone is pushing women under trains. In his search for the killer, Casimir, a Tube worker, is led even deeper into a labyrinth of long-forgotten passages and deep shelters – and into the terrible secrets of his own childhood.”

 

I will highlight in italics what they should have added “On the London Underground, someone is pushing women under trains (well someone seems to have been pushed and then someone else does it’s a bit vague). In his search for the killer (well in accidentally hearing and seeing things he shouldn’t and then becoming slightly obsessed), Casimir, a Tube worker, is led (well once or twice) even deeper into a labyrinth of long-forgotten passages and deep shelters (and also becomes obsessed with a girl he randomly sees on a tube and then finds coincidentally lives in a disused station where she is only too happy to sleep with him after very few introductions)– and into the terrible secrets of his own childhood (which dominates the book and should actually be the main theme of the blurb.”

 

I read another book like this earlier in the year and again it was soooooo annoying. Have you had any experiences of this?

Simon Savidge

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Often the authors write these blurbs, so they're not entirely innocent--blurbs are frequently based on the author's initial query to their publisher or agent.

I confess that mostly I don't take much notice of back cover blurbs any more--altho' I have a famous one upstairs where the first line of the blurb is the first line of the book and it gets it wrong.  I might cite "Affinity Bridge" where the blurb talks about the Natural History Museum but that doesn't actually feature.  But that's pretty minor in comparison.

Buffy Squirrel

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