II.

Definition

The term “thriller”, as applied to popular novels (and sometimes plays), first appeared in British reviews and book-trade advertising material in the 1890s. It has never denoted a precisely defined category of literature. In current usage, thrillers constitute a loosely bordered area of “male action” fiction which overlaps with more closely specified genres such as adventure stories, war stories, spy and special agent stories, horror stories, crime stories, and detective stories.

As an affective term (thrillers are intended to thrill), it is in direct line with the German Schauerroman (“shudder novel”) of the Romantic period, the early 19th-century “tale of terror”, the Victorian “shilling shocker”, and the “sensation novel”—all of which identify themselves by their tendency to excite or frighten the reader. The thriller can be distinguished in this respect from those fictional genres which are primarily defined by their content or locations, such as spy novels, westerns, detective stories, or love stories. Thrillers tend to be formulaic (heroes and villains are frequently reintroduced from one novel to the next by particular authors) and are often, though not invariably, characterized by a high level of physical violence, suspense, crime, gunplay, escape and chase scenes, and incidental sexual titillation.