Are Crime Fiction Characters getting too Weird? (Includes self-ad)

[A.J.]

Lisbeth Salander, Sherlock (UK TV version), DS Stone in Chasing Shadows - are fictional characters getting too extreme? Latest post:

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.

[M.H.]

Personally I'd answer that with a big 'yes'. I don't want to read about and look at psychos all the time. Even if someting like the movie 7even was very successful, I believe there's a big audience that think crime is going over the top. But then again, it must be personal taste.

[Mike]

That's a hard question to answer. Probably because I spent nearly 50 years as a reporter, the villains in my mystery novels tend to be pretty ordinary... no super powers, no overwhelming psychological problems. They're just bad people, often posing as regular folks. There are some books in which, I think, the villains are over the top - they are, in my opinion, more in the vein of Marvel Comics bad guys than the ones that Lew Archer and Sam Spade faced. Still, there seems to be a significant portion of the reading public that wants more Hannibal Lecters than Casper Gutmans so I can't fault authors for giving them what they crave.

[Sarah]

I agree with Mike that authors do give readers what they want, hence the increase in weirdness. I say that because authors are just like everyone else wanting to make money (not in a bad way). There are so many people that like different things to different degrees, that what's weird by one person is totally tame by another. I happen to be one of those people. lol.

[CAS]

I like interesting characters, but don't need "over the top." Characters who seem ordinary - the cop living down the street, the woman running a local business, whatever - but end up dealing with extraordinary circumstances (which can include a really messed up villain) are more compelling to me than flat out violent gore.

[A.J.]

CAS wrote: "I like interesting characters, but don't need "over the top." Characters who seem ordinary - the cop living down the street, the woman running a local business, whatever - but end up dealing with e..."

Yes - agree totally, CAS!

[Andrea]

I loved Death Never Sleeps, a techno thriller by EJ Simon . Really Ia very interesting and fast read. Just finished an advance copy of his 2nd book Death Logs in .....loved It the characters are totally relatable. The corporate CEO, the bad brother but a look at the next frontier of technology. Can we live forever thru AI ......not so far away. Really enjoyed the characters story takes place in the New York area then goes around the world

[Feliks, Moderator]

All the fictional genres lately are straining to capture the short attention spans of today's dizzy/distracted/jaded/unfocused readers. Penetrating that 'media vortex' people are surrounded by, is challenging. So they're resorting to whatever they can devise--no matter how lurid--to make themselves heard. Zombies, werewolves, vampires, cannibals, shape-shifters, even this disgusting BDSM stupidity.

I think its pretty frightening: against this onslaught of fantasy and fancy, people are in danger of losing their real-life sense of what really goes on in the world. People are in a fog. You can hear them talking in Starbucks about zombie invasions as if its an actual possibility. Friggin morons. And women these days live as if they're actually likely to encounter a serial killer some month. We're making ourselves vulnerable by letting all these make-believe hobgoblins prey on our minds. When are people gonna get their self-control back in this country?

[Mike]

Excellent point Feliks