View from the rear

I was organizing Christian novels in a church library with a friend a few months ago when I noticed how many of the covers — the majority I would guess — had illustrations showing figures, in most cases women, from the back. Many of the illustrations were almost identical. They were attractive designs, yet all attractive in the same way. They all suggested mystery. Who is this woman? What does she look like? Where is she going? What is she thinking about? This is good, I suppose, but why did they all have to look the same?

It turns out I am not alone in noticing this book-cover trend. I recently visited Killer Covers, a website that shows and discusses paperback covers past and present. The Nov. 14 post, called "Bringing Up the Rear," shows a sampling of 59 recent covers showing the backs of figures, most of them walking away, often in darkness, in mist or in shadows. Many of these books are by authors of note, including Harlen Coben, David Baldacci, Charles Todd (most of Todd's Bess Crawford novels have covers like this) and John Le Carre.

This may be just a fad in the book publishing industry, something like using the word daughter or girl in a novel's title. Fads tend to burn out sooner or later. 

This fad may have staying power, however. Faces, like hands, are notoriously difficult for artists to draw realistically. With a rear view, both of these features can be avoided. And as I already noted, these images can be visually striking. They set a mood and hint subtly about the nature of the story inside. They also don't give too much away. That person looking away from us might be attractive or not, white, black or Asian. We all like to picture ourselves in a story. That is easier to do when we have no idea, at least until the author tells us, what this character looks like.

At some point, however, even publishers who prefer to follow each other may come to realize that these covers all look the same. Some art director with imagination may be encouraged to break the stereotype and give readers something different, something original. We can only hope so.