Thriller is one of the most popular genres for readers because of its fast pacing, plot twists, high stakes and emotional appeal. While there is no unchallenged definition of a thriller, most agree that the genre has grown past the original spy and techno categories to include much of current suspense fiction, while overlapping with traditional mystery, adventure, horror, and science fiction. Hybrid categories range yet further to fantasy, romance, and historical fiction. Because current best-selling thrillers/mysteries/suspense increasingly differ in scope and alignment of structural elements from those written prior to the 1970-80’s, genre definitions in these areas will continue to evade strict categorization. Nonetheless, some generalizations can be made: thrillers generally compress action into a short period of time, emphasize the physical and sometimes psychological danger the protagonist faces, have high stakes, and appeal to the reader’s sense of unease. Emotionally the reader identifies with the survival of the central character against a villain and conspirators whose plotting and activities are often shown from their own nefarious points of view and in the novel’s real time.
Classic Authors:
Eric Ambler
Jeffrey Archer
Daphne Du Maurier
Ian Fleming
Graham Greene
Thomas Harris
Robert Ludlum
Conspiracy Thrillers:
Steve Berry
Dan Brown
Joseph Finder
James Grippando
Jon Land
Brad Meltzer
Kyle Mills
Detective Thrillers:
Lee Child
Michael Connelly
Jeffery Deaver
James Patterson
Ridley Pearson
John Sandford
Martin Cruz Smith
Mary Willis Walker
Espionage/Intelligence Thrillers:
Stephen Coonts
Ken Follett
Alan Furst
John Le Carré
Daniel Silva
Forensic Thrillers:
Patricia Cornwell
Kathy Reichs
Karin Slaughter
Legal Thrillers:
William Bernhardt
D. W. Buffa
John Grisham
John T. Lescroart
Phillip Margolin
Steve Martini
Perri O’Shaughnessy
Lisa Scottoline
Scott Turow
Medical Thrillers:
Michael Crichton
Robin Cook
Gary Braver
Tess Gerritsen
Michael Palmer
David Shobin
Science Thrillers:
Greg Bear (overlaps hard science fiction)
Michael Crichton
John Darnton
Matthew Reilly
James Rollins
Political Thrillers:
David Baldacci
Vince Flynn
Stephen Frey
Richard North Patterson
Techno Thrillers
Dale Brown
Tom Clancy
Stephen Coonts
John J. Nance
David Poyer
Matthew Reilly
Patrick Robinson
Joe Weber
Suspense:
Harlan Coben
Thomas H. Cook
Nelson DeMille
Tami Hoag (also writes romantic suspense)
Greg Iles
Iris Johansen (Eve Duncan Series; also writes romantic suspense)
Dean Koontz
Dennis Lehane
Val McDermid
Ruth Rendell (also as Barbara Vine)
Minette Walters
Romantic Suspense/Thriller
Fiona Brand
Suzanne Brockmann
Sandra Brown
Mary Higgins Clark
Catherine Coulter
Linda Fairstein
Julie Garwood
Tami Hoag
Linda Howard
Iris Johansen
Elizabeth Lowell
Amanda Quick (also as Jayne Ann Krentz)
Karen Robards
Nora Roberts (also as J.D. Robb)
Reference: Revised from NoveList, with additional information from Skillman, Writing the Thriller (2000)
