Like many readers, I read to get beyond the boundaries of my daily routine and to vicariously experience things I will never experience, personally (at 75, prospects for adventure are limited).
If I select, haphazardly from used book stores or the library, I tend to end up with sex, violence and crime, embedded in some sort of hokey plot. Usually the protagonist (who is always good looking and clever) undergoes some sort of torture. Tension builds. Climax. Heroic resolution. Here we go again. How boring and unappetizing. How does this stuff produce "Bestsellers"?
by sandgrubber