Horror v. Thriller v. Mystery

In order to get started on what's going to be our very best month for literary scares, let's first take a few minutes to talk about the difference between HORRORS, THRILLERS, and MYSTERIES. There can certainly be quite a bit of overlap between the three, but they're all markedly different. So let's make sure we're clear about them.

There are many questions we can ask to guide us in the right direction, and plenty of great books we can look to for examples.

• Is there anything supernatural about the book?
• What sorts of imagery does the book contain?
• What is the overall mood of the book?
• Is there any sort of imminent threat or danger in the book?
• Is the book meant to be scary/suspenseful/dreadful?

There are plenty of well-read people out there who might disagree with these descriptions I'm about to impart. And that's okay. But this is how I, at least, view the genres, and, therefore, this is how I will be using these words throughout this blog.

MYSTERY

Perhaps the easiest of the three genres to define is Mystery. No doubt the most common examples of Mystery that we come across are murder mysteries, though of course murder doesn't have to be at the heart of it, nor does it have to be the main/only thing that is trying to be unraveled.

Unlike Thrillers and Horror, Mysteries will often only focus on one or two individual crimes - or a series of crimes - which have already been committed (or are committed in the early pages of the book), rather than an ongoing threat throughout the book. By and large, the focus is on figuring out the who, why, and/or how of the ordeal. Mysteries could theoretically be scary or unsettling, but it's not at all a requisite - in fact, I would say it's not altogether that common.

Mysteries will usually not have anything supernatural, nor are they likely to feature a particularly dreadful mood.

A great example of a Mystery (which I'll be reviewing for you very soon), is The Tokyo Zodiac Murders. At the core of the book is a series of eight murders, all of which happened decades ago. Now, our protagonists are trying to solve the crimes out of, frankly, idle amusement. There are no imminent threats, no deadlines, no reason our heroes must solve the crimes (or else risk the murders continue, etc.). They're just a couple of guys who want to solve these unsolved murders. Zodiac is a great mystery, but there's really nothing scary about it.

THRILLERS

Thrillers are sort of a mixed-breed of the arena, and perhaps the most difficult/subjective to define of the three.

A common type of Thriller that we find is the serial-killer murder. These often include many of the same tropes as Mystery, but with the added element of imminent danger: the hero must discover who the killer is, otherwise he'll kill again soon.

A highly popular series of such Thrillers is the Hannibal Lecter series by Thomas Harris. Each of the books (okay, okay - I only read the first three, so I can't say much about Hannibal Rising) deals with a different serial killer - each quite gruesome, in fact - who is on the loose and who poses an immediate threat to society if he isn't stopped. Not only is there a mystery to unravel, it must be done imminently.

Aside from this type of Thriller, books in the genre can also be more focused on psychological dread, rather than merely solving a crime. There's almost inevitably a sense of deep mystery, but it doesn't necessarily need to be about any sort of crime - just the sheer unsettling nature of the situation as a whole. Also, though a Thriller can include supernatural elements, more often it won't.

A fantastic example of this sort of Thriller is Shutter Island by Dennis Lehane. An inpatient on an island-bound mental facility suddenly vanishes one day, and two detectives go to the island to investigate. A runaway? A murder? A conspiracy? The book is positively dripping with psychological dread, uncanny occurrences, and mystery upon mystery about what exactly is going on in the facility. (And my goodness, it's an amazing book - definitely one you should check out this month.)

HORROR

Of the three genres discussed here, Horror has a few key elements that really separate it from the pack. There are lots of sub-genres of Horror (which I'll go into in a later blog), but there are a few tropes that most all the sub-genres have in common.

For one, though a Horror story doesn't require any sort of supernatural element, it's the most likely of the three to contain the supernatural. Sometimes this is in obvious ways, such as monster horror: vampires, werewolves, zombies, etc. Sometimes, the supernatural is more subtle - in fact, one of the plot points may be that we're not entirely sure if there really is anything supernatural in play. Can the cult actually perform black magic, or is it all parlor tricks? Is it really a ghost in the attic? Is the girl possessed by a demon, or suffering from a mental illness?

As well, though Thrillers generally contain more dread than Mysteries, Horror will almost always up the stakes even more. (Now you can see why I decided to describe the three in this order. 😉) And, like Thrillers, most Horror will contain some sort of imminent danger for the heroes - if not for the community, or even the entire world.

The overall mood of a Horror will generally be much darker, scarier, more unsettling, and more foreboding than a Mystery or Thriller, and will usually contain the most grotesque - and sometimes even downright repulsive - imagery and settings.

There are certainly many great Horrors we can look to for examples of the genre: Dracula, The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, most of Stephen King's and H.P. Lovecraft's writings.



Of course it's very likely you already knew all of this. But just in case you were wondering - even if only occasionally - why I will label a book one way instead of another, I hope this little reference helps.