A Dark Secret

I've just finished the second Stieg Larsson book The Girl Who Played With Fire having been completely  and utterly attached to it for the last few days. And now, because of the frustrating ambiguously open ending I have just bought the final one The Girl Who Kicked The Hornet's Nest and as a result will no doubt be completely addicted to it over the coming weekend. But why? They aren't written particularly well, although I have to commend the translator on being better than most I've read. The stories are gripping but no more so than the drama that unravels in a Sherlock Holmes novel or Ian Flemming. Why do certain books shoot to fame and captivate the nation, sometimes even the world?

Another of these massive cult texts is of course, Twilight. Then, a few years ago there was the Malorie Blackman Noughts and Crosses series. And well Harry Potter is a given, although I think that can be placed in higher regard than the likes of Twilight. There's the obvious argument that once one person raves about a certain book then the trend catches on and thus a downward spiral to 'literary' fame occurs. But why particular books? How is the simplistic writing of Stephanie Meyer any different from the millions of other teenage books that are published every year? What aspect of human (aka teenage, melodramatic) life do they manage to capture so tantalisingly that the vast majority of people become hooked? Yes they are easy to read and easy to relate to (well except for the whole Vampire/Werewolf thing of course!) but so are hundreds of other very average teenage novels.

I have to admit that while I abhorred the style of the Twilight books I did become absolutely addicted when I read them... and I have read them more than once. While at school I devoured hundreds of the classic chick lit books, teenage drama novels and the likes and yet none of them captivated me in the same way as Twilight. I cannot believe that I am revealing this information to the world and I understand that it is probably social suicide but it's the truth. And I imagine hundreds of other girls out there can relate. In some mysterious and creepy way these writers have managed to unlock some aspect of the human psyche and appeal to it in such a way that is plays with our emotions. Or alternatively, there's some creepy conspiracy going on and we're all being brainwashed into believing in Vampires and Werewolves and, rarest of all, Prince Charmings...