The world of the thriller

by Ralph Harper

First Edition bound in purple cloth. A fine copy in a near fine, price-clipped dust jacket. 2" vertical scratch on the jacket's rear panel.

136 pages, Hardcover

First published February 1, 1975

Reviews

[Don Shull]

I looked for but didn't find my copy of this perceptive study. It pointed out the recurring elements in, for example, The Thirty-Nine Steps, Riddle of the Sands, Rogue Male, Watcher in the Shadows and so on. The hero is not a professional agent, but an ordinary man who gets caught unwillingly in a larger-than-life conspiracy. As part of his involvement, he is startled to find himself capable of sudden violent action. Not only the bad guys are after him, the good guys are as well. He cannot tell his story to the authorities because it is unbelievable. Essential to the genre are isolation and self doubt. Often there is betrayal as well. The author's treatment is clear and comprehensive. It has been a while since I read it but I believe he also cites James Fennimore Cooper's The Spy. I say it is also applicable to The Man Who is Thursday, to the movie Three Days Of The Condor and the TV series Scarecrow And Mrs. King.

[Lakeisha Heeringa · Rating 4 out of 5]

As a writer and reader of mystery thrillers, this book is a good study. It's a bit of a brainiac book (I actually had to use the dictionary), but it lays out what elements are essential to a good thriller and the psychology behind it. The author is highly critical of "cheap" thrills, so if you are a 007 fan, you might be offended. While many of the examples may be considered outdated by today's standards, the principles are timeless.
I definitely recommend this book to writers, regardless of genre, and anyone who wants a technical explanation of the adrenaline rush behind a good mystery/suspense/thriller.

[Math · Rating 5 out of 5]

Over thirty years old, but still an excellent exploration of the thriller,using the premise that the thriller is the fiction of crisis situations - the genre of frontiers.