The Thriller Dilemma

 

We all love a good twist in the show. We appreciate a generous surprise that starts pumping the adrenaline to us.

I have only recently discovered the joy of reading thrillers that are realistic to the core. It all started when I was reading this comic that had a bizarre title with an evenly disturbing art of a blonde woman boasting a bloody knife. While the story typically starts with a cliché and a supposed ‘love at first sight’, it slowly starts to descend into its psychological aspect the moment we delve into the male lead’s problematic backstory. His story starts a chain of depressing backstories which heavily imply that a certain blondie was toying with the male lead from the moment they met.

I was introduced to the concept of psychopathy at the start of a comic called, 'It's Mine' with more or less the same backdrop. It had a different twist to it and started with the male lead being a dangerous stalker to a girl with whom he has a mysterious and disturbing connection. The story was very apt in letting us know that the male lead, Yohan, was not redeemable in his act of stalking and it kept the readers hooked and wanting to know why Yohan had such an obsession with Dajeong, the girl whose pictures cover every inch of his wall. The pacing of the story is well done and as chapters go by, the pieces start coming together. Was the stalker the bigger villain or the one who controlled the stalker? 

I am not a huge fan of the deliberate wrong choices that are usually made by the main character which leads them to dangerous situations because I feel absolute rage while seeing the character function without using their brain cells. My idea of this ‘dumb lead trope’ differs slightly from other readers. The reason why I liked the above-mentioned story was because Dajeong didn't have any second thoughts about reporting Yohan. She was so pissed that she refused to go above and beyond for him. She didn't go, " Oh my what a beautiful stalker. I will just follow him back and risk my neck every time I see him while blatantly forgetting about my terminally-ill aunt!"

I shall quote an example from the book ‘The Girl on the Train’. Another thriller and a very disturbing one. The story revolves around a depressed adult named Rachel Watson who is still reeling from her divorce from her husband. She keeps going to and fro from her home to her workplace, in search of a job or two but ends up spending on liquor and staring at random people passing by on the train. 

During her journeys, she would spend her time staring at a couple who lived a few houses away from her ex and who had a very jolly and loving relationship with each other. Rachel would always dream about what they must call each other or how beautiful it must be to have someone so talented as your partner. She even gives both of them an imaginary name. the plot starts to thicken when Rachel sees the woman; a beautiful and petite blonde embrace someone else while her husband is away.

 This, and a mysterious disappearance of a woman named Megan after a few days leads Rachel to investigate the case, purely out of her own need to find out for herself as to what happened to the happy couple that she always saw through her window.

Now, mind you, our girl Rachel is here as issues. She drinks, passes out, tries to call her ex-husband, and then continues the cycle over and over again. It stems from the intense trauma of abandonment and mistreatment that she felt when he left her because she couldn’t bear a child. Their marriage dissolved and broke down, leaving Rachel clinically depressed and unable to function without liquor.

 My annoyance started to build up for many characters in this book the more I started to get invested. For example, Anna, the new wife of Rachel’s ex is such a homewrecker in the beginning that I wished she never existed in the first place. Rachel’s roommate, Cathy had another job apart from being her landlord. Instead of finding out why her roommate is coming home smelling of liquor, sins, and vomit, she just…never questions it. I would at least confront her in the hallway if she isn’t answering my calls or isn’t opening the door. Cathy was concerned about not concerned enough to actively find out why. What if, without the murder mystery involved, Rachel called it quits and decided to take her life without anyone knowing why? The only people who would know would be her trash of an ex-husband and his equally rubbish wife.  

And then why did Rachel have to go out of her way to solve that? Granted, it solved the mystery but not without breaking her heart a few more times than necessary. She could have spent that money on a therapist instead of routinely and wistfully seeing her old house and husband. I was so annoyed when she contacted Megan’s husband and pretended to be her friend. The entire time, I just wished she divulged the fact that she saw her from the train. It felt unhinged but sounded more true.

The author quenched our hatred with an appropriate ending, giving Rachel the closure that she deserved. The book has a very direct and poignant way of showing things. The story is told from the point of view of Rachel, Megan and Anna:  which lets the readers into secrets that no one in the story knows. Nobody realizes that Megan’s disappearance could have been due to her controlling husband. Their life was so picture-perfect that not even Rachel could fathom her disappearance.

 

 Also, why do people think it is funny to annoy someone while they are reading a book? Where is the humor, miss? I only see a blundering buffoon standing in front of me. You could end up like Megan if you annoyed me any further because unlike you, I have an unhealthy amount of knowledge about how to make a person disappear.