My brain came up with the pithy (or pretentious) assertion below when it was meant to be working out a knotty plot point. This is absolutely not a mission statement (pah!) but it does summarise what I like in the fiction I read, and what I try to aim for in the fiction I write:

I like stories that get you looking one way, then tap you on the shoulder and give you a wicked (and possibly slightly disturbing) grin.