History TomatoSurprise / Literature

* In Gene Kemp's children's novel ''The Turbulent Term of Tyke Tyler'', the protagonist is a bold, athletic, rebellious schoolchild. At the end it is revealed that Tyke is a girl, her name being a nickname for Theodora. This is an interesting example of the Tomato Surprise, as the twist ending is intended as a challenge to the reader's preconceptions, rather than turning the entire plot on its head.

* In the short story "Cop Killer", the author manages to depict the entire law-enforcement career of rookie officer Max -- his training, teaming up with a veteran of the force, moving into his partner's guest room and befriending his family, participating in drug busts, being commended for bravery, and eventually getting killed by a fugitive gunman -- without revealing until the very end that Max is a police dog.

** Actually, the whole series ''abounds'' with these.

* ''Literature/ImInLoveWithTheVillainess'' has the big twist that the world of ''Revolution'' is revealed to be EarthAllAlong, one that is run by the [[EternalRecurrence Eternal Loop System]] by its creators Rei Ohashi and the original Lene and Claire. Along with TAIM's creation (the AI responsible for overseeing Earth), it was done in response to Earth's severe environmental crises that badly damaged the planet by creating a magic-based system powered by nanomachines, with the system looping between magic-based and science-based, but in doing so putting the modern humans into a state of dormancy until another loop happens again.

* In the Gregory Maguire novel ''Literature/ConfessionsOfAnUglyStepsister'', the classic tale of Cinderella is put into a real historical context and is told in a surreal manner by one of the ugly stepsisters. All along, the reader assumes that it's being told by one stepsister, Iris, until it is revealed at the end that the narrator all along has been Ruth, the mentally retarded stepsister. This puts a whole new spin on the story.

* Mystery novel ''The Decagon House Murders'' [[labelnote:*]](the debut work of Yukito Ayatsuji, author of ''{{Literature/Another}}'' on the Anime page. This trope is something of a [[SignatureStyle signature]] of his.[[/labelnote]] has a staggering example: [[spoiler: the [[InSeriesNickname "Van"]] taking part in the TenLittleMurderVictims event on the island and Kyoichi Morisu, the [[PhoneInDetective Armchair Detective]] who helps out the narrator on the mainland, are the same person. All of the people on the island and the narrator of the mainland section know this, but nobody realizes it's relevant to the case because Morisu lied and told everyone except the island goers that he wasn't going to the island in order to give himself an [[TheAlibi alibi]].]]