Are Crime Novels getting too Violent?

[A.J.]

Are Crime Novels getting too violent? Jo Nesbo said he 'went too far' with violence in The Leopard.

Read MORE here:

http://awaines.blogspot.com/2014/04/e...

A J Waines: author of Girl on a Train and The Evil Beneath: http://www.amzn.to/14M9mSw

Both reached No 1 in 'Murder' and 'Psychological Thrillers' in UK Kindle charts.

[Philip]

Too violent? Really! Take a look around you at the real world. What goes on in Syria, and Al-qaeda's hourly activities define violence.

[Ed]

Philip wrote: "Too violent? Really! Take a look around you at the real world. What goes on in Syria, and Al-qaeda's hourly activities define violence."

You don't have to even go out of America to see violence - the 'knockout game' being just one tiny example.

[Don]

Getting too violent? Crime novels and murder mysteries merely conjure the depravity of man, whose reality knows no bounds.

[Library Lady 📚]

Maybe if it's YA crime novels?

Otherwise, I'd say no...that's like asking if erotica is too sexy! lol...

[Martyn]

I write about an assassin, so her work is often violent. I think I keep the gore under control though. As Mike Robbins says in this review:

The gore never quite gets gross, though. That it doesn’t is a tribute to the skill of Amsterdam-based thriller writer Martyn V. Halm, who does blood with a light touch and some fascinating background detail.

So, how much violence is too violent? I consider the Saw and Hostel movies 'torture porn', but I think the gore in Seven was appropriate. Other might think Seven has too much gore (or not enough...).

[Humberto]

In my novel my male character is a ruthless efficient criminal. But he has ethics. I didn't see the need to be gory. There is blood but no torture and no dismemberment. I don't think that there is a need for that. Unless of course if the criminal is an inefficient psychotic who kill because he/she is crazy.
Competition. Movies with surreal special effects and Tarentino type movies, make it necessary to exaggerate reality.

[Philip]

My novel The Gemini Factor has very graphic gore and disembowelment, which are necessary in the context of the story. The killers are psychotic, but are brilliant and extremely efficient. Were Psycho and Silence of the lambs too violent and gory? As HST said, "If you can't stand the heat, get out of the kitchen."

[[deleted user]]

One of the ways a man is murdered in my work-in-progress may be too violent. I'm glad I read this post. I may change the way the character is "eliminated." There are other ways to show a "blood bath," I guess. Thanks for this thread.

[[deleted user]]

You cannot overstate the violence to be found in the real world. Readers of this genre expect violence. One gentleman criminal might be refreshing, but not all of them from now on. The reader wants this guy (gal?) stopped because he is so heinous. Also, your villain has to be as bad as the hero is good, and if he isn't up to the task, he becomes a "straw man" for the hero to knock over with little effort.

[Shoshi]

There are so many different levels of crime novels. I like psychological crime novels. Also one, who is slowly building the suspense up with surprise twists and turns. Lets me guessing to the last page almost. I also like to read how the law enforcement caught criminals and how it came to the crime. But there are so many 'real' crime authors, and everyone is writing it from their point of view. Sure, some are more detailed than others. But there is nothing new, what one Human hurt another.

[Philip]

Shoshi, this is a plug for my novel, The Gemini Factor . Check it out. It has all of the above elements––plus a new approach to serial murders.
www.philipfleishmanmd.com.

[Jan]

There is no real violence in my novel Time Tells (which has loads of psychological input) but even so, when I was writing it I found myself worrying how certain scenes might influence or affect people who were vulnerable. Nobody so far has commented or complained about any of this, so I'm starting to feel more relaxed about it. And there's lots worse stuff in the newspapers. www.janwoodhouse.com

[Justin]

I say the more violent the better! Especially in a crime novel, after all isn't that sort of a base for the novel? You can build off of it in many ways.

[Martyn]

Justin wrote: "I say the more violent the better! Especially in a crime novel, after all isn't that sort of a base for the novel? You can build off of it in many ways."

I don't like gratuitous violence, i.e. violence merely to titillate those who get off on the Saw & Hostel franchises. I think brief violence, especially when used in a coldblooded calculated fashion, has more impact than gore dripping from every page. After a while there is a numbing that lessens the impact.

Another thing is making sure the reader cares about what happens to the characters. With films like Saw and Hostel I don't care what happens to the moronic characters, so I don't invest in them emotionally and their suffering is superficial.

[Clare]

If crime novels are too violent - and look at the rash of serial killer books - there's an easy answer; don't read them.
I had to read a lot of crime novels and true crime books while writing crime books myself. I'm now writing SF books and while there is crime in them, it means I do not have to read the bleak depressing views of humanity currently being presented in some crime novels.

[Justin]

Very true Martyn. Those movies tend to take violence to a very high level and not really for the better.
Is your book about the mafia at all? I do tend to find that mafia books and movies tend to have the right amount of violence in them, not all but most have that equal balance of violence and storyline.