Warning: As a Spoilered Rotten Ending Trope, EVERY SINGLE EXAMPLE on this list is a spoiler by default. You Have Been Warned.
Sudden Downer Endings in Literature.
- The novel Breathers is a horror-comedy about a world where the recently dead randomly reanimate (but still retain their minds) and have no civil rights, are used as lab animals and are even destroyed for fun in the streets. The protagonist Andy eventually becomes a celebrity who fights for zombie rights and really seems to be making a difference despite that fact that he and several other zombies secretly eat people, since human flesh reverses zombie decomposition, makes their hearts beat again and even makes them able to have children). Then at the very end Andy, his pregnant zombie girlfriend Rita and his zombie best friend Jerry are attacked by fratboys who burn Rita and Jerry to (re)death. Knowing which fraternity is responsible, Andy then gathers their circle of zombie friends and attacks the frathouse in a Roaring Rampage of Revenge, slaughtering everyone inside despite knowing full well that this will utterly destroy the zombie rights movement. While some of their armed friends rescue them after their capture, they face a Bolivian Army Ending with the police closing in and nowhere to run. This all happens in the last twenty pages. Fortunately, despite the ending implying otherwise, Andy survives to a sequel, I Saw Zombies Eating Santa Claus, where he does get a happier ending.
- The Burning Room: Pretty much out of nowhere, after both mysteries have been solved and all the plot threads have been wrapped up, Harry Bosch is fired from the LAPD for the incident where he broke into his captain's office. There's foreshadowing in the novel about how the department is looking to force out grizzled old veteran cops like Bosch, but it still comes as a shock.
- Played with in the Captain Underpants series. At the end of the ninth book, Tippy Tinkletrousers accidentally creates a post-apocalyptic timeline and apparently gets crushed to death, and the book appears to end with a textless two-page spread of Scenery Gorn...but then the following page reveals that the story will be continued. Doubly so when you realise that Tippy's disruption of George and Harold's arrest (seen at the end of Book 8 and the beginning of Book 9) had yet to happen.
- While it's traditionally given the upbeat translation "They all lived Happily Ever After", the original endings of many of the Fairy Tales collected by The Brothers Grimm would be more accurately translated, "And they all lived happily until they died."
- Xinran's Miss Chopsticks is a fairly upbeat book about three sisters making their way in modern China and finally gaining their father's respect. The Author's Note at the end reveals that of the three real-life girls the characters were based on, one was then forced into an unwanted marriage, one lost her job when her employer was shut down for distributing banned books, and the third disappeared.
- Mostly Harmless, the fifth book of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, ends with all but one of the protagonists dying horribly. The author, Douglas Adams, did plan on writing a sixth book and ending the series on a happier note, but his own death prevented this. A more upbeat sixth book was eventually written.
- On Her Majesty's Secret Service is a thrilling James Bond story in Ian Fleming's trademark cavalcade of spy thrillers. In its ending, James marries the beautiful Tracy Draco and drives off into the sunset, but their car breaks down. James steps out to inspect the damage, while Tracy is simultaneously killed by Irma Bunt and Ernst Stavro Blofeld in a drive-by shooting. This ending has become one of the most memorable in the Bond franchise, and it isn't hard to see why.
- Played with in Redshirts, which ends with the ship and its crew going on to further adventures...for six months, until the ship was destroyed when it hit an asteroid and everyone died. The next (very short) chapter simply says "Just kidding, they're fine."
- In Oscar Wilde's short story, The Star Child, the eponymous star child finally learns An Aesop about humility and not judging others based on their physical appearance. He is rewarded for his troubles by being reunited with his royal birth parents, and eventually succeeding them as a King. Then the story ends with a sentence saying that the star child would die young, and that the ruler after him is a cruel tyrant.
- For the most part, Star Wars: Queen's Shadow is a lighthearted, low-stakes Coming of Age Story about Padmé learning to become a senator and develop her own identity beyond being "Queen of Naboo", with the help of her loyal handmaidens and new friends in the Senate. The main story ends with Padmé having successfully transitioned into galactic politics and saved the Bromlarch aqueducts...then the epilogue skips ahead nine years to the end of Revenge of the Sith, where a heartbroken Sabé is attending Padmé's funeral after she died in childbirth (and her baby seemingly having died with her), the Republic's recently become the Galactic Empire and basically everything has gone to hell. The only bright spot is Bail Organa contacting Sabé after she vows to find out what really happened to Padmé, thus implying she may join the Rebel Alliance.
- The Suicide Shop ends with Alan's family finally content and wanting to live... and then Alan falls off the Shop's tower. His father catches him...only for the story to end with "He lets go." Turns out Alan was always just as suicidal as the rest of his family, it's just he didn't want to die while his family was unhappy.
- In the final chapters of Tottie: The Story of a Doll's House, one of the dolls is burned to death.
- The English novel The Towers of Trebizond is generally a light comedy of manners/travelogue, featuring, for example, an old woman riding a deranged camel to church and gentle mockery of attempts to convert Turkish people to Anglicanism. Although the book sometimes discusses faith in more serious tones, it generally maintains its breezy air right up until about five pages from the end, when the protagonist's poor judgment in driving kills her adulterous lover. She then spends the remainder of the book musing about the relationship of love and faith and ultimately seems to decide that she is destined to die outside of the church, which she believes to be the path of salvation.
- The Winter Queen has Lady Astair letting Fandorin escape from her suicide bomb after Fandorin promises not to hunt down the members of her Azazel secret society. But the Moscow police start hunting down Azazel members, with Fandorin being involved against his will. The book seems to be ending happily, with Fandorin having solved the mystery and getting married to his beloved Elizaveta. However, the remnants of the Azazel group get their revenge in the last two pages, via a bomb that fails to kill Fandorin but does kill his wife.
- In the short children's book The Apple Tree by Lynley Dodd, the titular tree is gifted to two children by their grandfather. The tree survives the winter and is lovingly cared for by the children as it begins to grow leaves, blossom, and finally beautiful apples that gradually increase in size. But during the very night before the children plan to pick the apples, a possum comes and eats them all up. The end.
