Hi, my name is Tom, and I read thrillers. But I’m not alone. You know who you are. Our name is legion.
The problem is that, when among the so-called literati, we tend to feel so, well, marginalized.
If their work didn’t sell so well, thriller writers would probably have a complex. Think of the sales that authors like John Grisham, Nelson DeMille, Tom Clancy, James Patterson, Patricia Cornwell, Lisa Scottoline and Clive Cussler – and many, many more – enjoy, and you can see what I mean.
Yet, thrillers are often considered the ugly cousins of mysteries. But there is a difference between the two, and it’s not a subtle difference at that. A new group, the International Thriller Writers Inc., has been formed to accentuate the difference and bring attention to the genre and its authors.
Gayle Lynds, one of the co-founders of the group, said in a recent interview with The Boston Globe that total sales of the 250 authors who make up the group exceed 1.5 billion books. Phew!
A peek at the organization’s website, internationalthrillerwriters.com, sums up the genre pretty well:
“Thrillers provide a rich literary feast – the legal thriller, the spy thriller, the action-adventure thriller, the medical thriller, the police thriller, the romantic thriller, the historical thriller, the political thriller, the religious thriller, the high-tech thriller,” says an opening piece by co-founders Lynd and David Morrell.
The main difference, according to the website, between the thriller and its more “literary” brethren is that a thriller is driven by plot rather than by character. And, versus the mystery, it is more about how something is done rather than who done it.
That is not to say that the reader can’t come to enjoy the hero of a thriller. Take, for example, Lee Child’s novels, such as the new “One Shot” and the previous “Killing Floor” and “The Enemy.” Child’s hero, Jack Reacher, is the kind of no-nonsense, taciturn tough guy that readers enjoy.
And then there is Nelson DeMille’s John Corey. In several books – “Plum Island,” “Lion’s Game” and the current “Night Fall” – the politically incorrect, wisecracking yet wholly competent Corey is a major reason people keep coming back.
And who can forget Jack Ryan, Clancy’s hero of umpteen books and almost as many films? He’s become almost as big a draw as Indiana Jones.
In some cases even the villain (think Hannibal Lecter in Thomas Harris’ “Red Dragon,” “The Silence of the Lambs” and “Hannibal”) is the more imaginative, and therefore more interesting, character.
And what about those heroes? While the vast majority of them are men, you can’t count out the women. Clarice Starling in Harris’ Hannibal Lecter novels is a case in point. The reader is drawn to the spunky Starling trying to overcome the demons of her youth. Also, while most thriller writers are men, there are several women who give them a run for their sales money.
Morrell, writing at internationalthrillerwriters.com, blames it on publishers. “Editors felt (for many years) that women couldn’t convincingly dramatize sensational plots, although they were aware that a large percentage of fans were women. In turn, women avoided writing in the field because they couldn’t overcome the bigotry,” he writes. He said Helen MacInnes and Patricia Highsmith broke through in the 1940s, and in 1988 Katherine Neville’s “The Eight” was a “gale-force breath of fresh air.”
He goes on to say that in 1995, “Tami Hoag made the remarkable jump from being the best-selling star of Bantam’s Loveswept series into suspense thriller with ‘Night Sins.’ The book exploded onto bestseller charts, proving not only that romance author could write a compelling suspense nail-biter, but also that she could carry her large audience of readers with her. … The literary glass ceiling was shattered at last by Gayle Lynds, who debuted in 1996 with ‘Masquerade,’ a post-
Cold War novel that integrated the contrasting traditions of Le Carre and Ludlum while its minimalist style added a modern slant.”
But while characters can have a certain appeal, it is the story that’s the draw. The hero of the story who can, and often does, have serious flaws – alcoholism, a tendency to be socially withdrawn – but the story must move quickly; no wool-gathering or navel-gazing allowed. The tale can take myriad approaches, but there remains one major requirement: Thrillers must thrill. Everything else is secondary.
Just because we know, in general terms, how the story is going to end doesn’t keep the thriller reader away. It’s not true in every case, but in most thrillers the bad guys are usually pretty heinous and bring things this close to an unwanted end before our hero manages to save the day. Who cares? It’s the getting there that counts.
While many of the big-name thriller writers continue to sell, there are newcomers arriving on the scene all the time that are worth your time. Reed Arvin, with two previous books to his credit, continues to get better and to impress. He has a new one, “Blood Angel,” which is sure to get some attention.
And Don Winslow’s “The Power of the Dog” fits in nicely with the big sellers as well. While so far flying under the radar, it’s one that deserves more attention.
Epic in scope, the story follows several tracks, centering on Mexico and one of the large narcotics trafficking networks that sprang up there in the 1980s and on one Drug Enforcement Administration agent who is determined to bring it down.
But it’s more than that. The reader also becomes familiar with some Irish hit men who become associated with the mob in New York’s Hell’s Kitchen and with a high-priced call girl who becomes involved with everyone.
Winslow’s story unfolds over several decades, centering first on Art Keller, the DEA agent, then on the Irish-ruffian-turned-stone-cold-killer Sean Callan and finally to Adan Barrerra and his brother Raul, who rule the roost in the Mexico borderland with their network of drugs and money laundering.
He takes the reader through the rough-and-tumble world of authorities on the take and tough guys, both bad and good, who think nothing of murder to achieve their ends. It’s a fast-paced thriller with just enough attention to character development to keep the reader plugged in.
Oh, and it is thrilling.
Books editor Tom Walker can be reached at 303-820-1624 or twalker@denverpost.com.
