Novels that stretch your suspension of disbelief

[Evaril]

What are some novels that contain scenes, preferably significant turning points, that left you feeling skeptical? I don't specifically mean fantastical or science-fictional elements (although you are free to state those), but rather the choices made by characters, changes of circumstances, etc. Some scenes may seem plausible only after you have finished the novel; it's up to you what to make of them.

If possible, please state briefly what goes on in the scene, with a spoiler warning if necessary. I'm currently writing a short story and I think I may have pulled something bordering between realistic and unrealistic. I'd like to make comparisons. Thanks.

Edit: stretch or break or whatever... sorry for the poorly-worded title.

[ThousandthIsle]

I usually experience this when characters make choices that reflect a complete lack of "forethought", or lack of in-depth consideration about how their decision will impact the future.

Spoiler warning - Macbeth

For example:

In Macbeth, the murder of Duncan always bothered me because it seemed to be a weak plot from the onset (not that I am criticizing Shakespeare! Especially as the weight of the tragedy rests on Macbeth being revealed)

And weak it was, as it doesn't take the other characters long to suspect what happened. Planting the evidence of the murder on the guards seemed hastily done, and then Macbeth's "impassioned" murder of the guards themselves (aka, eliminating them to prevent them from revealing that they hadn't killed Duncan) only drew more critical attention to him from other characters.

Characters who aren't very deft in disguising their wrong-doings always stand out to me like sore thumbs. I feel that carelessness on the part of a protagonist will result in readers feeling disconnected from the protagonist, and even against him/her. A reader may quickly resent a protagonist of they are thinking, "Why would he do that??! I would never, ever do that in (x) situation..." Obviously, a writer can't please everybody, and also, some writers may even be intending that there should be tension/disconnect between the reader and protagonist. However, it's always a killer for me.

[PeterL]

Recently, I have been reading mysteries and other crime fiction. There should not be large leaps in such novels, bit some of them demand that the reader cease to believe in logic. There was one where the anti-hero killed a man by breaking his finger, which is a one in a quadrillion shot, then he ran into that guy's sister and got her to live with him; she was a whore, so it wasn't shockingly surprising, but the likelihood that he would meet her was small. To these unlikely things, the author added a few, until I wonder how I managed to finish it.

The there was "Missing Susan", but you should read that. The plot surrounds unlikely things, but it was wel done.

[Evaril]

I have thought that way about Macbeth, but then again, it does seem plausible how people can drive themselves into insanity with too much thinking and then make stupid actions like that. Lack of foresight, in this case, is not so much a character flaw as a result of another flaw, one that is more believable.