My long box digging style flipped after watching a 9 year old at a con

Last Saturday at the Austin Comic Con I noticed this kid at the $1 bins who wasn't even looking at covers. He was flipping to the last page first and reading the final panel before deciding. I always thought the cover art told you everything so I've been judging books that way for like 15 years. But after watching him grab a stack I'd skipped, I tried his method on a few bins and found three decent books with solid endings I would've walked past. Has anyone else changed how they sort or shop after seeing a stranger do it way differently?

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matthewmartin29d ago

Question the endings though, are you actually reading the whole last page or just the final panel? Because a killer final panel can still hide a flat last chapter that leaves you feeling cheated. I've seen books with great closers but the middle sags hard, so did that kid seem like he was checking for payoff or just a hook?