Got into a debate last night about whether unreliable narrators are just bad writing

I was at my local book club meetup in St. Paul and a guy named Dave said he hates books where the narrator lies or leaves stuff out. He thinks it's a cheap trick authors use to hide plot holes. I pointed out that 'The Murder of Roger Ackroyd' uses it brilliantly, but he doubled down and said that book cheats the reader. We went back and forth for 20 minutes and I still don't agree with him. Has anyone else run into readers who just can't stand that style?

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nina_clark3h ago

Have you tried asking Dave if he feels the same way about movies like The Usual Suspects? Sometimes people just need that lightbulb moment where they realize an unreliable narrator isn't cheating you, it's letting you in on the game.