‘We Were Liars’ Twist Is Horror Icon R.L. Stine’s All-Time Favorite

The Goosebumps author exalted E. Lockhart’s 2014 novel in our New York Comic Con 2025 studio on October 12, saying that the twist is so good, it will leave you “sobbing.” The book was adapted into a Prime Video mystery drama of the same name earlier this year, and it doesn’t change any details from the twist in the novel.

We Were Liars takes place after a mysterious accident on a privately owned island off the coast of Massachusetts changes Cadence Sinclair’s life forever. Everyone, including her group of friends, seems to be hiding something in the thriller. The TV adaptation, which will return for a second season, stars Emily Alyn Lind, Shubham Maheshwari, Esther McGregor, Joseph Zada, Caitlin Fitzgerald, Mamie Gummer, Candice King, Rahul Kohli, and more.

Stine popped by our studio to discuss the new Tubi adaptation of his book, Pumpkinhead. We asked him, “What is the best twist you’ve ever seen in a book or a movie other than your own?” You’d think his answer would be a throwback to an older TV show, film, or book, just by nature of how long he’s been an author (his first book, How to Be Funny, was published in 1978). But the 2014 book made the top of his list.

“The best twist, the most heartbreaking twist, was in a teen novel I read, by E. Lockhart, that everyone has read, called We Were Liars,” Stine told us. “It’s a heartbreaking twist and totally unexpected, and it just leaves you there sobbing, sobbing. I thought that was an amazing twist.”

Here’s how the We Were Liars ending shakes down: Cadence can’t remember anything after an incident the previous summer (in the book, it’s two years ago). She tries to get her two cousins, Mirren and Johnny, and her love interest, Gat (a.k.a. the Liars), to tell her what happened, but they won’t reveal it. It turns out the four of them tried to burn down their grandpa’s vacation home (which represents the family’s wealth/inheritance), and all three of the other liars didn’t make it out alive. The finale reveals that Cadence had been seeing the ghosts of Mirren, Johnny, and Gat the whole time in the present day.

A twist so good, one of horror’s most beloved authors can’t help but praise it.

We Were Liars, Season 2 Premiere, TBA, Prime Video

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