Why
do Readers Love Mystery/Thrillers?
As a person who has studied psychology
and worked as a psychotherapist for many years and now writes mystery
thrillers, I tend to always come back to the central question, "Why?"
Why do so many people love mysteries and mystery thrillers? What is it inside
so many of us that attracts us to these books and movies?
Even very young children love mystery
books and thrilling adventures. When I was a child I loved to read Nancy Drew
and the Hardy Boy books and I would spend many hours on the sofa at home curled
up with a blanket reading, reading, reading. At school the teacher allowed us
to go to the library when we completed our work and my friend and I would race
to finish and then race to the library. We would vie to get the newest mystery
book on the shelf.
After writing professional books and
articles, and retiring from my profession, I began to look around for another
challenge. I decided to try my hand at writing fiction. I spent many hours
studying the art of fiction writing, which is quite different from what I knew.
I thought that maybe I would try romance. "That should be easy," I
said to my husband. He looked at me with that big question mark on his face
like he did when he thought that I'd gone a little out of my mind. I ignored
him. Why not, I thought? I know about relationships. I've counseled lots of
couples. Even helped them become more romantic.
To make a long story very short, or
rather a short story very short, I "sucked" at writing romance. Boring.
Every romance story I wrote turned into a mystery with thrilling events that
had nothing to do with romance. At last I came back to my husband and asked him
to be honest with me. He laughed. "Ana," he said, "You know you
have always loved a good mystery. Look at what you read and watch on TV."
So I did. Agatha Christie when I was in college, then John Grisham, now Preston
and Child, the most recent Sherlock Holmes series and New Tricks on TV, and on
and on. Okay. He was right, but why along with so many other people was I drawn
to these books?
Before I decided to write mystery
thrillers I asked several people I knew why they read mostly books in this
genre. What I learned was that most of us had certain things in common.
Here is what I found:
1. We had loved mystery books even as
children.
2. We were all very curious about, "What
happens next? Who did it?" Some people spent hours trying to figure out
the answers.
3. We loved a great mental (analytical) puzzle
with lots of twists and turns and unexpected endings. It kept our brains
stimulated and exhilarated, and therefore we felt satisfied and happy (most of
the time) especially at the end.
4. We loved excitement and these books
took us into a world of intrigue, excitement, and conflict without actually having to risk our own lives
and sanity in the process.
Leave a comment and let me know why you
love mysteries or mystery thrillers.
Oh, by the way, why don't you psychological mystery/
thriller lovers read my book "Justice Forbidden" (only $2.99 on
Amazon Kindle) and let me know what you think.
1 comment:
"Who did it" is not in my mind when I read mysteries mainly because I know I will never figure it out. There can be clues galore but the author has to show me the answer. Therefore, I must read mysteries (spy mysteries and murder mysteries, rarely cozy or grisly and never Stephen King) for the excitement and fast paced action. My book club is reading a spy novel by an award winning author set in Englad in the 1950's.I quit a bit into it. It was too slow or has many editors have said to authors, too many words and not enough action. Great post, Ana!
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