Thrillers

I suppose thrillers are among the most popular genres, at least for guys.

In a thriller, the good guy is up against overwhelming odds, either from a rich, powerful, callous, evil organization like the drug cartels or a foreign government, or both. Somehow, the hero succeeds despite overwhelming odds to defeat the evil empire, yet again. Once upon a time, spy thrillers defined the genre, with the secret agent alone in a strange, hostile land. With the fall of the Soviet Union, that setup has become passé. Occasionally someone will produce a retro book, but readers have been there and done that.

Nazis are always popular enemies because they have never been equaled in the evil department. Personally, I’ve grown tired of Nazi atrocities, even as new writers devise even more cruel forms of depravity. That says more about contemporary writers than Nazis, in my opinion.

Gangsters and terrorists figure large in the current crop of thrillers. I just finished reading Cobra, by Frederick Forsythe. The principal character, a former CIA operative, gets a call from the White House, assigning him to wipe out the cocaine trade. Impossible? Of course, but with $2 billion and the full cooperation of the military, it’s not entirely implausible.

The main problem with this story is the lack of conflict and tension. The hero succeeds beyond all expectations, and until the very last page, the bad guys can do nothing to stop him. I won’t spoil the plot for you.

I have two problems with thrillers.

First, the plots range from absurd to impossible. Think James Bond up against SMERSCH, bent on destroying the civilized world. Of course he is captured along with the beautiful woman, and they only just manage to escape as the secret underground headquarters is destroyed in a spectacular series of explosions. Each new book is more fantastic than the previous one. Dirk Pitt, Clive Cussler’s hero, once swam two hundred miles through an underground river, only to emerge in the middle of the Gulf of California next to a convenient fishing boat.

The other problem I have is that the books are often badly written. Even those from the most famous authors use too many clichés, highly repetitive texts, improper word substitutions (e.g. gun site for gun sight) badly constructed sentences, and factual errors. It’s as though they went to print without ever being edited.

I suppose the Budweiser-drinking, mouth-breathing, knuckle-dragging guys who read them are illiterate and either don’t know the difference or don’t care.

It must be true.

I still read them, but only if my lips move as I devour stilted page after stilted page.