Jan '09 / Thriller Poll

In January 2009, we will be reading a thriller.

Please nominate the book you would like to read in this thread by November 30th.

Please remember that:

- Only those members with 50+ posts can nominate.

- One nomination per member.

- Only the first 10 nominations will be included in the poll.


The Book Club readings are for those who would like to read and discuss books together with other members.

If you are not able to take part or unwilling to (re)read your own nominations, please refrain from nominating books.

Information on "thriller genre"

Thriller section on amazon

Some information on the books:

Next Episode by Hubert Aquin

Crime and Punishment by Dostoyevsky

The Eight by Katherine Neville

The Day Of The Jackal by Frederick Forsyth

Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier

The New York Trilogy by Paul Auster

The Ghost by Robert Harris

The Sea Hawk by Rafael Sabatini

Night Watch by Sergey Lukyanenko

In the Heat of the Night by Ball

I nominate Hubert Aquin's Next Episode.

http://www.amazon.ca/Next-Episode-Je.../dp/0771034717

Crime and Punishment.

The Eight - Katherine Neville

My nomination: The Day Of The Jackal by Frederick Forsyth

The nominations so far:

1. Next Episode by Hubert Aquin

2. Crime and Punishment

3. The Eight by Katherine Neville

4. The Day Of The Jackal by Frederick Forsyth

Crime and Punishment isn't really a thriller I don't think. It would be somewhat against the purposes of this genre-selection if we just put books up because they are fantastic reads.

That being said, one could perhaps argue Dostoevsky wrote thrillers, but I think it would be better not to, as they aren't really thrillers in the sense of other books, or of the genre in general.


Though, to be honest I can't think of a better book than one of the posted ones, so I will abstain from nominating anything myself, since I have already seen a book up there I would like to read more than any other I can think of.

No, Crime and Punishment isn't a thriller, not in the modern sense of suspense, and knowledge withheld from the reader. Aside from being Dostoevsky's finest technical achievement, if one has to pigeonhole it, it is crime fiction. In 19th century terms, Gaskell's gothic stories come closest to today's thriller/suspense stories.

I will not nominate either. I generally have a distaste for the genre, even when someone fine like Mankell engages in it; the formula is too familiar, and no American author I know of really attempts to challenge the seemingly necessary techiques, although I am kinder to, and even admire Dobyns. He started to get hot when I was active with my author-click in Speakeasy.

Again, I am not nominating this title; read it and I am not keen on a second round, but he does try to offer the reader more to chew than King, and there are some interesting whiffs of McCarthyism being toyed with amid the course of the story arc.

I don't mind if another member nominates it out of interest--but I will definitely absent myself from C & P.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Scheherazade

My nomination: The Day Of The Jackal by Frederick Forsyth

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That's one of the best books of my prereading era :D

I was joking about C&P (mostly)...

If is has plots that fit in the thriller genre, regardless of what era it was written in, well then i think it should stay. Alot of classics slot nicely into genres now, because there are genres now that they can slot into.

What is a Thriller?
The genre of Thriller is, for the most part, fairly uncontroversial, unless there is debate about the ability of a Thriller to also be Contemporary Literature. Thriller is an extremely broad genre, which encompasses written and televisual texts. Many sub-genres within the genre.

A Thriller contains certain characteristics. The pace must be quick, there has to be a lot of action, and there should be suspense and plot twists aplenty. Thrillers should have the reader on the edge of their seat, wondering if the good guy can get one over the bad guy and save the world (even though it's extremely rare for the bad guy to win, in your classic Thriller).


http://www.illiterarty.com/genre-thriller
and
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thriller_(genre)

I would like to nominate The New York Trilogy by Paul Auster. Thanks.

Can i vote for Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier?

Is there a definition for thriller? I'd like to nominate something but I don't what exactly is a thriller. Aren't almost all novels thrillers if you really think about it?

Scher has stuff up in the original post. I just went to amazon. A lot of the books on it i wouldnt class as a thriller.

I nominate Deception Point by Dan Brown