Read the excerpt from Lee Child’s "A Simple Way to Create Suspense". Like the old cartoon of the big fish eating a smaller fish eating a very small fish, you’ll find out the big answer after a string of smaller drip-drip-drip answers. The big answer is parceled out slowly and parsimoniously. Which statement by Karin Slaughter shows a similar central idea?
Answer
A
I want it to change them, and I want my reader to feel that change through the character, as if it's them.
B
I mean, you know, crime is such a great tool for talking about the human condition, and that's what I like to do.
C
If you think about To Kill a Mockingbird , for instance, some of those courtroom scenes are more tense than any Grisham novel, you know.
D
There has to be this peeling away of the onion, where you get to the core of the character as the story unfolds.
Explanation
The excerpt describes suspense as revealing the big answer gradually through smaller pieces of information. Slaughter’s statement about “peeling away of the onion” similarly suggests that the story reveals deeper truths bit by bit as it unfolds. The other statements focus on tension, character change, or crime as a way to discuss human nature, rather than gradual revelation.
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