But, then again, so are suspense novels sometimes. Richard is right—the line is definitely blurred. Your email address will not be published. Home Blog Mystery or Suspense - Which is it? By Gail Gaymer Martin People often ask the difference between a mystery and a suspense, and writers will provide varying answers.
Comments 0. And if you like this post: subscribe to my newsletter! I lurk, but don't comment often. This to-the-point post say that three times…without spitting warrants a bravo. I finally know my WIP is a mystery. Thank you, also, for easing my mind about being exact in defining my genre in queries.
I got a response from Christopher Little — he looked at the first pages and said, no! I also got a response to my query from The Literary Group International yes and they say they don't. Thrillers can be psychological, crime, mystery, action, military, legal, or spy, and illicit an intense reaction from the reader. Suspense novels are also tricky to define as they tend to be more subtle.
Suspense novels are about the build-up and the feeling you get in the pit of your stomach when you know something is about to happen. Reading a suspense novel is like cranking the handle on a jack-in-the-box and waiting for the figure to pop out when the melody is done. You know before you start turning the handle that the joker is going to pop out, but you still jump when it does. On a day that starts out like any other, Rachel receives a phone call informing her that her daughter was kidnapped while waiting for the school bus.
The caller is the parent of an already kidnapped child, and informs her that she is now part of something called the chain. Rachel has 24 hours to follow specific instructions that will get her daughter back which includes kidnapping another child to keep the chain going. If she fails to do what she's told or tries to involve the police or anyone else, they will kill her and her daughter and find a new target.
The definition of a mystery seemed pretty clear, so I wondered if the ambiguity was between thriller and suspense. I love a good thriller, that rush of adrenaline when I plunge through the pages. Will Jack be able to save the bus passengers before the villain detonates the bomb Speed? Will Nick prove Amy framed him for her disappearance Gone Girl? And as a writer, I wanted to take people on the same heart pounding journey.
So I looked for more, a touchstone I could apply to my work. Solving the crime and the puzzle it presents takes a back seat to the jargon of the profession, the potential dangers faced by those involved in it, and the fast-paced, cinematic action of these stories.
Thrillers often feature a loner hero who operates under his or her own moral code and the storylines are marked by the cat-and-mouse chase between the hero and villain. More of my favorite thrillers come to mind. Jack is a modern day vigilante seeking his own version of justice. And of course, the TV show Jack Bauer, a man with his own moral code, fights the clock to stop another terrorist attack.
Suspenseful stories keep me turning the pages.
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