tomato surprise

plural tomato surprises

1. A plot twist in which the reader or viewer is suddenly made aware of an important fundamental detail that changes the whole perspective of the story.

   There are several classic tomato surprises which editors see over and over: the one about the evil, horrid aliens that turn out in the last paragraph to be humans from earth; […]

   2020, Danielle Spencer, Metagnosis: Revelatory Narratives of Health and Identity, page 189

   1 more example

   […] stories are written in the "tomato surprise" format: that is, the author saves the stunning surprise until the very last line of the story. It wasn't even a good technique when Verdi used it in Il Trovatore.

   1974, Analog Science Fiction/Science Fact, volume 93, page 6