Keeping it in the family

I seem to be in an analytical frame of mind this week; maybe it's because mostly these days, Real Life seems to take up more than its fair share of time, and when I sit down in front of my computer, it's mainly to review a book I've just finished. So bear with me while I do a little analysing of my recent reading habits.

Since most fiction is about dysfunction of one kind or another, and the dysfunctional family is a feature of 21st century life whether we like it or not, I suppose it isn't really surprising that 'domestic noir' has become a burgeoning sub-genre of both conventional crime fiction (the kind with a body and a sleuth) and the psychological thriller variety (the kind with a mystery to solve, but not necessarily a murder.)

I seem to be reading a lot of psychological thrillers at the moment. I go through phases; I seem to recall basing an entire post on them a few weeks ago. But then a handful of police procedurals came my way, and my focus shifted for a while.

Well, now it's back; four out of the last six books I've read have been psychological thrillers – and whaddya know, every one of the four has involved a dysfunctional family, or a stable family which becomes dysfunctional as a direct result of the situation on which the plot hinges. The four are Give Me the Child by Mel McGrath, Exquisite by Sarah Stovell, Every Last Lie by Mary Kubica, and Then She Was Gone by Lisa Jewell.

It says something about the breadth of the sub-genre, and a lot about the four authors, that the family setting is just about the only thing the four books have in common, in plot terms at least. In addition, they all share great character development, an excellent sense of place, and a style so fluent I didn't notice – my main criterion of good writing. And I don't hesitate to recommend them all to any lover of something a little unusual.

Thinking back over what marketing gurus rather pretentiously call the 'reading experience', I recall something else all four have in common. Kids. Well, of course – a family isn't a family without kids. Six altogether, seven if you count a newborn baby. Different ages, and all beautifully drawn; the authors clearly have kids of their own, or spend a lot of time with them. In two of the four books, the child or children lies/lie at the heart of the story; in the other two they don't lack importance, but the plot doesn't turn on them. So there's one pretty major difference. So how else do these four very talented authors ring the changes in a way which produces four very different books which all belong to the same sub-genre of a sub-genre?

Hm. Let me think; how can I do this without spoilers? I'll try. In Give Me the Child, a hitherto unacknowledged love-child turns up on the doorstep, and creates havoc in a previously stable family. In Exquisite, a passionate relationship takes two women by surprise, and one deals with the situation far less ably than the other. In Every Last Lie, secrets start to emerge when a young, much-loved husband dies in a car crash. And in Then She Was Gone, ten years after her teenage daughter disappeared without trace, a mother is faced with a lookalike.

Four different mysteries to untangle, all asking much the same question: what the heck is going on here? OK, I suppose that's the question at the root of all crime and mystery fiction, but in psychological thrillers the answers are less straightforward. That's what makes them so interesting. The best authors of police procedurals and PI mysteries, and other kinds of murder mysteries too, know how to ring the changes too, but you always kind of know the outcome: the good guys will catch the bad guys and justice of one kind or another will befall the murderer. In psychological thrillers justice isn't necessarily the issue, and the outcome is less cut-and-dried, so the author has more freedom to twist and turn the plot.

OK, analysis over, for this week at least. Think of me next week, as I indulge myself with a spa day and relaxing massage. I'll leave my blog day in good hands, I promise.

Comments

[Jeff Cohen]

My only quibble is with the statement "a family isn't a family without kids." I've known many childless couples who either chose to be so or were due to circumstance. I wouldn't say they are less a family.