I've been writing a mystery story recently, but I've run into a problem concerning the major plot twist, and was hoping for some guidance from more experienced writers.
Here's the scenario:
Person A (the narrator) and Person B are twins, and thus are very close. Recently, a series of murders has happened in the area, and the group of friends that Person A and B are part of are trying to find out what's going on.
Person C, one of Person A's friends, is convinced that Person B is responsible for it all. She provides compelling evidence that proves her claim, and says that they should confront Person B as soon as possible. However, Person A refuses to believe her and provides counterclaims that are equally as valid as Person C's.
The twist is that Person C was actually right, and Person A was blind to it because of how much he cared about his twin- not even considering the chance that Person B could have actually hated him (which Person B indeed does).
Of course it's more detailed than that, but I don't want to make it too complicated. I just want to know if this is flat out lying to the reader or an unreliable narrator.
Also, do any of you think this is a cheap twist?
Answer
The Pícaro: a narrator who is characterized by exaggeration and bragging, the first example probably being the soldier in Plautus's comedy Miles Gloriosus. Examples in modern literature are Moll Flanders, Simplicius Simplicissimus or Felix Krull.
The Madman: a narrator who is either only experiencing mental defense mechanisms, such as (post-traumatic) dissociation and self-alienation, or severe mental illness, such as schizophrenia or paranoia. Examples include Franz Kafka's self-alienating narrators, Noir fiction and Hardboiled fiction's "tough" (cynical) narrator who unreliably describes his own emotions, Barbara Covett in Notes on a Scandal, and Patrick Bateman in American Psycho.
The Clown: a narrator who does not take narrations seriously and consciously plays with conventions, truth, and the reader's expectations. Examples of the type include Tristram Shandy and Bras Cubas.
The Naïf: a narrator whose perception is immature or limited through their point of view. Examples of naïves include Huckleberry Finn, Holden Caulfield and Forrest Gump.
The Liar: a mature narrator of sound cognition who deliberately misrepresents themselves, often to obscure their unseemly or discreditable past conduct. John Dowell in Ford Madox Ford's The Good Soldier exemplifies this kind of narrator.
I believe your narrator is The Naïf.
As for a plot twist being cheap or not: if everyone knows everything it is not a mystery novel. All of the stories in that genre are build on the fact that only the criminal knows exactly what happened (while still could be wrong about a great many other things).
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