The Art of Thrillers: Behind the Shadows

4. Add Complexity to Your Victim.

It is one thing to have complex protagonists, but what about the victims—those whose disappearances or deaths serve as the impetus for the story? The fourth tip is all about complicating your prey. 

They may be utterly horrible individuals—puppy-kickers, beaters of spouses, and blackmailers.

Alternatively, they could be essentially decent individuals hiding things that make them targets or drive them to take drastic actions. You may not have enough red herrings if your victim isn't complex enough. You need numerous individuals, each with a distinct motivation for wanting to harm that person.

One of Us Is Lying, a young adult thriller by Karen McManus, features a victim named Simon, who is hated by everyone because he has a school gossip blog and dirt on everyone, including the four students who were in detention with him when he passed away. When it came to learning other people's secrets, Simon acted dishonestly and gained a lot of enemies. 

Lying and bullying weren't above him. Each point-of-view character has a different motive for being a murder suspect because they all had secrets that Simon could have disclosed on his blog. 

Reducing sympathy for the victim does not imply endorsing murder as a just punishment for misbehavior. It simply indicates that things are frequently more morally dubious than they seem.

One excellent example of this is The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides. The reader's comprehension of the killer's intentions increases as they discover more about the victim's vices and selfishness. 

Part of the purpose of thrillers is to unnerve readers, and one method to do this is by obfuscating the distinction between right and wrong. Rather than being multifaceted individuals in and of themselves, young victims often reflect the complexity of the adults in their environment. 

In Dennis Lehane's Mystic River, the three main characters experience a darkening of their emotions due to mistrust and anxiety following the murder of a young girl. If the secrets or strange pasts of your victims are revealed throughout the book, you can heighten the suspense and make the reader want to read more.

This technique of revealing the secrets or strange pasts of the victims creates a sense of intrigue and mystery, as it adds layers to their characters and raises questions about their involvement in the crime. 

By delving into their complexities, Lehane effectively blurs the line between right and wrong, making it difficult for the reader to distinguish who is truly innocent or guilty. This further intensifies the suspense and compels the reader to continue reading in order to uncover the truth behind these characters' dark pasts.