I hope I'm not opening up a can of worms here but there is nothing seriously definitive out there regarding suspense vs thrillers.
What is suspense fiction? What is a thriller?
Why have people used these terms interchangeably and get away with it? E.g. Publishers sometimes label a novel "romantic thriller" but after I read it, I think it's just barely "romantic suspense" with not a lot of real thrills in it.
So what say you? How do you define suspense and thriller?
IMO they are not the same thing. I am sure there are great debates out there in genre-dom this but here is how I look at it, right or wrong:
Suspense: Stories with underlying tension throughout, not necessarily shoot-em-up types. Most police procedurals, bad/good guys, PI, etc, are mostly suspense, even though they might be couched as mysteries. Jeffery Deaver's, I would also say James Patterson's books are mostly suspense.
Thrillers: Explosive tensions, very intense, usually something huge at stake that might affect country or world. "Hunt for Red October" is a classic thriller. Jack Reacher can be thrillers too but IMO they're bordering on suspense. Real thrillers are like what's written by Brad Thor, Ben Coes, Vince Flynne, Gail Lynds, Joseph Finder...
BN & Amazon mix them up sometimes, with Amazon sometimes calling Thrillers as sub-genre of suspense. So anything goes these days!
What say you regarding the differences between suspense and thrillers?
What is suspense fiction? What is a thriller?
Why have people used these terms interchangeably and get away with it? E.g. Publishers sometimes label a novel "romantic thriller" but after I read it, I think it's just barely "romantic suspense" with not a lot of real thrills in it.
So what say you? How do you define suspense and thriller?
IMO they are not the same thing. I am sure there are great debates out there in genre-dom this but here is how I look at it, right or wrong:
Suspense: Stories with underlying tension throughout, not necessarily shoot-em-up types. Most police procedurals, bad/good guys, PI, etc, are mostly suspense, even though they might be couched as mysteries. Jeffery Deaver's, I would also say James Patterson's books are mostly suspense.
Thrillers: Explosive tensions, very intense, usually something huge at stake that might affect country or world. "Hunt for Red October" is a classic thriller. Jack Reacher can be thrillers too but IMO they're bordering on suspense. Real thrillers are like what's written by Brad Thor, Ben Coes, Vince Flynne, Gail Lynds, Joseph Finder...
BN & Amazon mix them up sometimes, with Amazon sometimes calling Thrillers as sub-genre of suspense. So anything goes these days!
What say you regarding the differences between suspense and thrillers?
