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Table of Contents

Critical Insights: The American Thriller

About This Volume

by Gary Hoppenstand

The American thriller is a complex and diverse collection of popular fiction categories that rely predominantly on adventure and suspense to propel the story's action, and to elicit a sense of fear or excitement with the reader that obviously lends itself to the descriptive name of this type of fiction. As such, then, to explore all classifications of the American thriller would be a herculean task, one that would fill an encyclopedia-length book, rather than a collection of essays.

An attempt was made, then, to outline four of the more dominant or popular categories of the American thriller. These include the techno thriller, the legal thriller, the crime thriller, and the psychological thriller. John A. Dowell's examination of the techno thriller explores the nineteenth-century science fiction influences on the American thriller, while also providing a broad overview of recent, important authors and novels that have currently made the techno thriller one of the most popular types of popular fiction. Ayoola Onatade's analysis of the legal thriller also charts the history of this type of thriller in American literature, while focusing on several prominent examples of contemporary, bestselling legal thriller writers. Kate Watson defines the literary origins and influences of the crime thriller as well, exploring the tremendous breadth of subject and reach of theme of this memorable literary expression, while Kristopher Mecholsky outlines many of the important motifs and themes that are typically found in examples of the psychological thriller.

Multi-talented writer and director Michael Crichton is discussed by Chris Richardson, who focuses on the novels and films that made Crichton such an important contributor to the development of the American thriller. Crichton's ground-breaking novels, The Andromeda Strain (1969) and Jurassic Park (1990) remain two of the most important and influential novels to be found in the category of the techno thriller—a type of popular fiction many critics and literary historians claim as being “invented,” if not perfected, by Crichton.

The contributions of Tom Clancy are investigated by Helen S. Garson. Clancy, another major contributor to the techno thriller, created one of the more significant American thriller protagonists in his C.I.A. hero, Jack Ryan. Tom Clancy's novels were instrumental in articulating the political paranoia of the later Cold War era, as well as the subsequent threat of terrorism.

Robin Cook took the American thriller in a somewhat different direction than either Cussler or Crichton, as demonstrated by Lorena Laura Stookey. Best known as a master of the tale of medical suspense and intrigue, Cook's novels have entertained readers for over three decades—beginning with his breakthrough novel Coma (1977)—with their frightening depiction of medical and biological threats that have gotten out-of-control and have become highly dangerous.

John Grisham is to the legal thriller what Robin Cook is to the medical thriller, that is, Grisham is the reigning master of this type of popular fiction. Susan J. Tyburski offers an informative and comprehensive look at Grisham's work, recognizing his formative influence on the legal thriller in groundbreaking novels, such as The Firm (1991). She also scrutinizes Grisham's skills as a top-flight storyteller.

Likewise addressing effective storytelling skills, Abby Bentham gives us a comprehensive review of the darkly disturbing fiction of that master of the psychological thriller, Thomas Harris. Harris' iconic serial killer, Dr. Hannibal Lecter, is part monster and part genius, possessing a strong measure of taste (in both the good and horrible sense) and style. Though limited by the limited number of his published novels, Harris' influence on the contemporary psychological thriller cannot be underestimated.

Garyn G. Roberts also discusses a master of the psychological thriller, perhaps THE master of the serial killer story and the author of the iconic novel, Psycho (1959). But, as Roberts notes, Robert Bloch was a talented and highly diverse writer. He was known by his colleagues and his readers as something of a jester, a dark humorist, who effectively employed ironic and horrible twists in his thrillers. Psycho itself, seen in this light, becomes a type of twisted joke, on both the characters in the novel and on the reader. Bloch may have exhibited a grisly sense of humor in his work, but there is no denying that he was both one-of-a-kind (in the best sense) and an important pioneer of the psychological thriller.

James Patterson is a prolific and extremely successful writer of the crime thriller. Philip Simpson provides an inclusive look at the extensive contributions of Patterson, including a scrutiny of Patterson's most famous series protagonist, Alex Cross. Patterson has become, in recent years, a one-man publishing industry, releasing numerous books each year, co-authored with a variety of different writers. But such a prodigious output has not diminished Patterson's appeal with his readership, and he continues to be one of the most successful, best-selling crime thriller authors of today.

Though not an American writer, British-born Lee Child is one of the most successful authors of the crime thriller in America. His American vigilante protagonist, Jack Reacher, has ascended to that rarefied pantheon of series heroes that includes Sherlock Holmes and James Bond. Elizabeth Blakesley's analysis of Lee Child's Jack Reacher gives us a comprehensive overview of the character and Child's novels. Her discussion of the Jack Reacher series certainly delivers an intriguing look at one of the crime thriller's most intriguing protagonists and one of its most intense and powerful heroes.

Collectively, the essays in this volume provide an important introduction to the American thriller, its major categories, and a number of its most important and influential writers. Though sometimes ignored by the literary establishment, the American thriller has never been ignored by its devoted and widespread readership, and as the contributors discuss in their contributions to this collection, there are ample reasons why the American thriller remains one of the most engaging and entertaining categories of popular fiction today.

Citation Types

Type
Format
MLA 9th
Hoppenstand, Gary. "About This Volume." Critical Insights: The American Thriller, edited by Gary Hoppenstand, Salem Press, 2014. Salem Online, online.salempress.com/articleDetails.do?articleName=CIThriller_0002.
APA 7th
Hoppenstand, G. (2014). About This Volume. In G. Hoppenstand (Ed.), Critical Insights: The American Thriller. Salem Press. online.salempress.com.
CMOS 17th
Hoppenstand, Gary. "About This Volume." Edited by Gary Hoppenstand. Critical Insights: The American Thriller. Hackensack: Salem Press, 2014. Accessed May 09, 2025. online.salempress.com.