The Girl on the Train still sits pretty at the top of the
Amazon Kindle charts and appears to be unstoppable at the moment. In second
place, and at just 99p, is Girl on a Train, by A J Waines who either writes a
brilliantly taut thriller or has poor prose, depending on which recommendation
you read. It is interesting how many people have bought Waines book thinking it
was the number one bestseller now a movie book, but hey, we’re all easily fooled.
Next in line on the chart is The Stranger in my Home,
written by Adele Parks and again only 99p on the Kindle, followed by The Angel
Tree and The Accident.
The Accident is a psychological thriller C L Taylor that has
attracted 794 five-star reviews on Amazon, which is no mean feat. It tells the
story of a mother whose daughter is run over by a bus and she ends up in a
coma. As Sue Jackson, our heroine, retraces her daughter’s steps to find out
what happened, she uncovers a murky world where no one is to be trusted.
Moving into the more expensive market, though hardly
expensive but this is what Amazon is doing, we have Amanda Prowse novel My
Husband’s Wife; a number one bestseller and still in the top ten. Following on
from that there is The Hope That Kills, which is a rather angry name for a
book; and All Fall Down, another gripping psychological thriller.
It seems to me that gripping psychological thrillers show no
signs of diminishing in their returns, and any budding writer would probably do
well to write a gripping psychological thriller rather than a children’s book
for instance, which appears to have far less chance of getting out there.
I am currently writing a psychological thriller (whether it
is gripping or not we shall have to wait and see) in the name of Sea of
Ribbons. This book tells the story of a depressive who wakes in hospital and
cannot remember who she is or why she is there. It contains a lot of imagery,
which is taken from her dreams, and as the reader you do not know if she is in
reality or just in her own imagination. Her search sees her leaving the
hospital and trying to find the person who she thought she was in love with,
only to discover that he was murdered and she has been framed for it. The
culprit is masquerading as a nurse, and is intent to find and kill our amnesiac
heroine.
Thrillers, it seems, will never fade as we all enjoy a good
scare from time to time. Their popularity continues to be strong, and the
willingness to try to replicate that success on the big screen doesn’t seem to
be subsiding either.
So, if you are a writer, and you are stuck for a new idea,
have a go at writing a thriller. Create a believable and flawed character, who
the reader will root for when the chips are down, and then plunge him or her
into some life-threatening scenarios. The limit is your own imagination.
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