Before I start, I want to say how honored I am to guest blog for you this weekend. Thanks to all… especially Father Don, who is known to prowl the streets of South Florida with his four nuns on Saturday night. I know for a fact Father Don and his entourage were spotted at the beach in Fort Lauderdale last weekend. But don’t ask me how I know.. .I might have to kill you.

Which is as good a segue as any to get to the subject at hand.

Thrillers.

How many of you know someone who is writing a thriller? Thinking of writing a thriller? Just finished writing a thriller? Thrillers seem to the new staple of the crime fiction genre. Everyone I know is writing one. Including me.

It’s probably not surprising. It may even be a natural evolution of crime fiction. We live in a culture where, in entertainment at least, we are no longer content to simply watch. These days we are expected to participate — or at least get a visceral kick out of watching others participate. Consider reality shows. The players are just ordinary folks who, in the course of the show, do extraordinary things and perhaps, if they have the skills and fortitude, emerge victorious.

Now, think about a thriller. Isn’t one of the hallmarks of a thriller an ordinary fellow or woman who is thrust into extraordinary circumstances? By the end of the book — if he or she has the skills and fortitude — the protagonist will have met every obstacle known to man and beast, saved the world, and become a hero.

Don’t get me wrong. I detest reality shows, but I love thrillers. In fact, I started reading thrillers before I read mysteries, devouring Le Carre, Ludlum, Follet, Deighton. I adore suspense, and I conduct workshops on it. I incorporate it into my own books. I love the intrigue, the political ramifications, the spine-tingling wallop to the senses you get from reading (and writing) thrillers.

The problem is sustaining suspense over time. A steady diet of thrillers can make them all feel contrived. Even dull. They all start to sound the same: character is sacrificed for plot; realism for convenience. With the glut of thrillers now or soon to be on the market, I hope that doesn’t happen. I hope we’ll find authors who flout the conventions just a bit –who create memorable characters, interesting dilemmas, and realistic resolutions. I know I’ll be trying to do just that.

What about you? What do you think of thrillers?

-Libby Hellman
www.hellmann.com