Reply to Book recs: Witty Thrillers

Forum Index » The DCUM Book Club

Reply to "Book recs: Witty Thrillers"

Subject:

Emoticons





More smilies

Text Color: Font: Close Marks

[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I just read Best Offer Wins as well. It’s a really fun read if you’re from the DMV. It is very dark and has dark humor infused throughout. [b]It’s quite fluffy though[/b].

If you want super dark humor and haven’t read American Psycho- that’s a good read and I find it to be incredibly witty but it might be more horror than thriller.

Also check out:

You Killed Me First by John Marrs
The Last Party by AR Torre
The You series by Caroline Kepnes

[/quote]

Interesting. I didn't consider it fluffy. Yes, the plot was straightforward rather than jumping around in time, and no shifiting points of view. But I enjoyed the psychological complexity of the main character. Behavior was bonkers at times, but there was a lot going on inside. Interesting exploration of control, including as a method of self-regulation.[/quote]

With books, everything is so subjective, which is why it’s often hard to recommend things to other people. I didn’t find the character emotionally complex at all- just a complete psychopath with a past that tries to explain why she is the way she is.[b] I probably found it a bit trite because I’m a psychologist in real life 😆 [/b]I still really enjoyed the book regardless. [/quote]

Ahh . . . this makes sense to me, though I hope you haven't had (many?) clients like Margo in your career!  :D

Without spoiling it for others, I'm curious - how early in the book did you start seeing her as a psychopath rather than . . . more run of the mill manipulative and controlling?

Any recs for novels/thrillers with characters you DO consider emotionally complex and interesting?[/quote]

LOL...to my knowledge I have not had any Margos in my career, but you never know as they can be good at hiding!

Full disclosure, I also have a background in criminology and criminal psychology, and I've recently been immersed in the work of Dr. Fiona Girkin in Australia..she studies female psychopaths in the workplace and she does a good job of differentiating between female and male psychopaths. That said, because I can easily pick up "psychopath clues" I could tell early on Margo was a psychopath...I just wasn't sure what type (there are violent and non violent psychopaths). I purposely went into the book knowing nothing about it because I like the element of surprise and wasn't sure how far the author was going to take things.

I am much more interested in real life psychopaths (true crime) and I think the only author who captures psychopathy so accurately (to the point I think the author must be a psychopath himself) is Bret Easton Ellis. If you can stomach really disturbing things, there is a Dutch movie called "Spurloos" that was later on made into an American film called "The Vanishing." The Spurloos movie is a very accurate and chilling portrayal of a psychopath- maybe one of the best I've seen- especially because it's a film. As for fiction books, I don't need the characters to necessarily be realistic, or even emotionally complex- I just like to be entertained and turn the pages to the point I can't put the book down. I did list AR Torre's book "The Last Party" above and I would also recommend Lucinda Berry (author who is a psychologist!). I know most people find Gillian Flynn's work to be the gold standard of fiction thrillers...I'll try to think on this some more and come back to you![/quote]

Ooh - thank you!! I’ll check those out fir sure.

FWIW, I think I’m more interested in more run-of-the-mill emotional complexity than violent psychopaths. I know everyone talks about “Best Offer Wins” as being about the crazy DC real estate market - and it is. But what I enjoyed most were the breadcrumbs the author kept dropping in Margo’s thoughts - her quick, skewed interpretations of situations and people, and how that caused her to choose to act in different ways. The connection between her distorted thoughts and her unusual behavior (less the last 20% of the book and more the earlier 80%.)

Maybe I’m just looking for more books that are (a) plot-driven and entertaining; and (b) involve a main character with an inner life I find interesting. Margo was nuts, but I did find her different “justifications” for her behaviors interesting, especially taken as a whole. [/quote]

Options

	Disable HTML in this message
	Disable BB Code in this message
	Disable smilies in this message

Review message

Search Recent Topics Hottest Topics