Unreliable narrator

An unreliable narrator is a narrator whose credibility has been seriously compromised. The term was coined in 1961 by Wayne C. Booth in The Rhetoric of Fiction. While unreliable narrators are almost by definition first-person narrators, arguments have been made for the existence of unreliable second- and third-person narrators, especially within the context of film and television, although sometimes also in literature.

The unreliable narrator as plot device

 * The Murder of Roger Ackroyd - The narrator of the story, and the Watson to Poirot's Holmes, turns out to be the culprit.
 * Endless Night - The murderer is also the narrator of the story.