On Crime Novels & Thrillers

Crime and thriller novels are in many ways a very reassuring genre to read. In World War II in the UK, when we had paper rationing, and publishers were limited in what books they were allowed to put out, certain authors were considered national priorities. One of those was Agatha Christie because her books were felt to be very good for morale. When we are in incredibly unsettling, globally terrifying times, it can be comforting to read a book where a terrible thing has happened, but within fairly safe parameters and, 99.9% of the time, there will be some sort of restorative justice. Things will be okay; you will find out the solution to the mystery, there will be some balancing of rights and wrongs at the end. I think that’s an immensely comforting thing to read.