BOOKING THROUGH THURSDAY: character or plot?

Booking Through Thursday (BTT) asks:  "What’s more important to you? Real, three-dimensional, fleshed-out fascinating characters?  Or an amazing, page-turning plot?  (Yes, I know, they are both important. But if you had to pick one as being more important than the other?)"

I'd have to say plot. Mysteries are my favorite genre, and they are all about the plot. Obviously, the best mysteries are character-strong as well, like in Trackers or continuing series like Inspector Montalbano of Sicily, but the plot gets the pages turning. Linwood Barclay writes terrific thrillers, with good characters, but the plot keeps going. The best example I can think of is The DaVinci Code by Dan Brown. Nothing dramatic about the characters in that one, but the mystery and plot are what get you turning the page.

Snazzy new button for BTT!