Horror Aficionados discussion

Is it just me or are others noticing a trend with thriller writers that their books are mainly about abducting women and children? I can't tell you how many books I've picked up that were about missing children.

I just picked up Ted Dekker's Boneman's Daughters to see what it was about because it looked interesting, and it's about a serial killer who abducts young women to turn them into his daughters; when it doesn't work out he breaks their bones and leaves them to die.

Of course, the main character's own daughter becomes a victim of The Boneman. Wonder if she is rescued? The suspense!

The last one I read -- The Bone Parade -- featured a killer who abducts entire families.

Good to know they're expanding on the common theme.

Why are most about abductions anyway? If they're going that route, let's have more about the abductions of business men; barbers; Boy Scout leaders. Leave the poor women alone.

I think that has been a common theme for quite some time. Women and children are generally weaker targets. And of course, there is often the sexual/control motivation underlying it.

I used to read more thrillers and remember women and children sometimes being the victims, but it just seems more prevalent now.

Maybe I'm wrong since I don't read as many as I used to. But when I do pick one up at work, I've noticed a lot more now deal with missing children. And more than normal of the general fiction touches on that subject, too. Maybe missing children are more in the news lately?

that's probably quite a bit of it too. And I think when the victims are children, people care even more about catching the abductor

I can't remember the title of it, but recently there was a novel about a man who is abducted by a small group of women, held captive, tormented, and later let go. He never finds out who they were or why they did it. The rest of the book is about the effect the experience has on his life. Does this sound familiar to anyone?

Tressa wrote: "I just picked up Ted Dekker's Boneman's Daughters to see what it was about because it looked interesting, and it's about a serial killer who abducts young women to turn them into his daughters; when it doesn't work out he breaks their bones and leaves them to die."

Thanks for adding another book to my already padded to read list!

It does sound interesting, William.

No kidding, Rob.

That's so funny that you should bring this up Tressa, I was in the store the other day, and I just happened to pick up 3 random books and all three of them were about women who somehow get sucked into a situation involving girls going missing from colleges and ending up dead, and they're next! (Insert dramatic gasp here)

I left the store after that, thinking to myself, "Jeez, is there nothing else left to write about?"

Thanks for offering up that anecdote, Becky. I know my question seems like a "duh" kind of question, but it has become pretty obvious. Seems like the ones I mainly see are in the Kiss the Girls vein.

I guess if the writers used their imaginations, they could come up with something, don't you think? Are thrillers only about abductions?

There are several thrillers that aren't about abductions but sadly, not enough. I think they use the abduction theme because the thought of being taken to some strange place, where no one can find you, being tied up and tortured is pretty scary. For most people, some I guess wouldn't mind it so much.

For many writers it's just the story that comes to them. I don't think they consciously think "Hey I'm going to write another story about abduction because that's what everyone else is doing."
I haven't written one yet about abduction, although the big strong man being held against his will by a little woman, has my mind working. No wait, I think I have written a short story about that. They aren't taken but hety are held against their will and they are women. Sorry.

Misery is a good play on the abducted grown-man theme. And of course The Beguiled.

Good examples, Cathy. I'm sure there are many other thriller themes but it seems like the big name thriller authors turn often to the abducted female/child.

My OP is not an absolute on this subject, just a casual observation from flipping through some of the current thrillers at my library.

It's a formula that works and it is believable. So, I'd think many would use it for those reasons. I think there are some who provide a great twist to it. Some also stick to the same old thing.
I think that you have a good point Tressa, there are way more that include abducted female/child than men. Probably more of that situation/dilemma than any other.
Like you I'd like to find more original stories, and when I do, I'm really excited. But it's kind of like romance stories, those readers are a loyal bunch, a lot of readers stick to what they know they like. So many authors oblige. After all, they know it sells.

Glad you see what I'm saying about more originality, Renee. And I agree that authors write with an eye for what their base wants and expects. Romance readers are a perfect example, but I think even some of them got all excited when the vampire romances, baby-daddy romances, and time travel romances became more prevalent.

From my research, serial killers often go for who they perceive to be the weaker victim.

Of course, Shaun.

Tressa;
They do that and yes, many romance readers were introduced to a tiny bit of horror with vampire romances and likely went on to read other horror because of it. I don't know if they stuck or went back to romances. I think every book has a little romance in it. Maybe not typical, okay at least sex.
I think smart authors should take the leap and try origina. It's hard though, you need to find a publisher once you've done that. If it's too "out-there" it could be difficult.

Shaun;
That is why we want something else. We know they go for the weak. Let's see something different. What about a serial killer who is obsessed with Pro Wrestlers and he collects them by drugging them and dragging them off to his hideout where he keeps them in cages like a zoo. To be believable, lets say he's an agent in the industry. That's how he gets them to trust him. He does hideous things to them and they can do nothing to save themselves. He's like 140lbs or something and not an ounce of muscle which is what makes the situation even harder for the captured men to bear.

Does he get caught? Do the strong men prevail? Hmmm...
See how much more interesting that is? Maybe it's a weak storyline but it makes you want to know what happens. Or maybe I'm just wierd.

That's a thriller I might read, Renee.

Perhaps it's a thriller I might write. I'll let you know.:) I wouldn't have to do much research into the wrestling world since most of the 80's and part of the 90's were spent watching every wrestling movie, show, etc my Dad could find. God I hate wrestling.

I would totally read the wrestler story. I think the idea of someone who preys on the strong makes them more menacing, not less.

Lucy Taylor writes a lot of stories about wrestlers.

Shoot Scott! Are you telling me its already been done? Darn, I'll have to figure out a new spin. Hmmm....weight lifters? rednecks? Just throwing a few out there. Football players? Hockey?

I really don't care for sport at all.

Thanks, Rob.

As long as the killer's motivation was believable, any victim is fair game I guess. I must say that the killer in my soon to be published novel, The Kult kills the old, the young and the middle aged - but none of them are wrestlers;)

But there are twists and turns that I hope elevate the story a little.

Shaun;

Variety is good.

Horror writers don't discriminate when it comes to their victims--they'll kill anybody. My beef is with thriller writers and their tried-and-true methods.

Tressa;
So you are saying you don't like writers who continually write the same old thing dressed up as something different. I've noticed some who tell the same story over and over again. They dress it up by using different characters, locales, or crimes, but use the same formula every time. I get frustrated with that too.
These are successful writers who are reviewed as brilliant and creative. They mask this repetition with a word called style.

Yes, Renee, I get tired of formulaic writing. It's OK for a while because it's not always noticeable at first. I used to read Stephen King and John Grisham, but it seems like they just plug new characters and plots into the same old formula.

James Lee Burke might fall into that category, but I think he's got a special style of writing and his books don't get old to me.

I suppose getting stuck in a loop is just as likely as writers block. I don't know what would be worse for any type of artist.

I think Stephen King's writing is truly just his style. It's not that he's writing the same thing because his stories are different, but they do sound very similar. I'd argue that he doesn't use the same formula every time though.
John Grisham is definitely a formulaic writer. I read maybe three of his books before getting tired of it.
The temptation to write what works the first time is huge. Look at writers who stick soley to vampires or aliens taking over the world. I've written one vampire piece, because I love vampire stories, but other than maybe a follow-up to that one or a completely different spin on another, I don't want to revisit the same story.
Currently I have a serial killer story, one about a demon, a haunting, and a vampire story. Soon I'll run out of different themes, I worry I'll have to repeat. I do sympathise with writers who give into temptation. You are supposed to write what you know.

Well, in order for them to produce the massive amounts of books that they do (Grisham, Patterson, King, Steel, etc.), they have to be formulaic. Someone needs to tell them that quantity and quality aren't always the same thing.

I guess as long as these types of authors are making money AND giving their fans what they want, I shouldn't grouse. There's enough styles writing to go around and please everyone.

I'm really disappointed in John Grisham. His book A Time to Die was his first, but doesn't really fit into the formula that he created for his later books. I read A Painted House and really enjoyed it. I didn't read Playing for Pizza because I hate sports and it's about a football player in Italy. I heard that Skipping Christmas is a fun holiday book.

I even enjoyed most of his early thrillers, especially The Rainmaker, but by the next two or three I couldn't even remember the plots or keep the generic titles straight.

They need to pay the bills somehow. If their readers are loving it, they'd be idiots not to give them what they want. But, what about the possibility of a wider audience? New & different fan bases? That is also something I think should be considered. Either way its a risk. Lose the possibility of new readers with formulaic writing or lose current fan base by shocking them with something different. And we all know some people are closed-minded enough to drop an author for venturing outside the box.

This happens every decade or so. (Just as fashions resurface every 20-25 years). I've noticed since last year how many titles have "mother" and/or "daughter" in the title.

Yeah, it has to have a really unusual description or hook for me to pick it up.

I like thrillers. They aren't all the same. It's just finding the needle in the haystack. Seriously though, if you are going wtih the rule to "write what you know", you'd be kind of limited. Unless of course you'd like to research every book. Come one, everyone gets lazy now and then.

I think research is involved in writing most novels.

LinBee wrote: "Well, in order for them to produce the massive amounts of books that they do (Grisham, Patterson, King, Steel, etc.), they have to be formulaic. Someone needs to tell them that quantity and qualit..."

I'd worry about the whole contract thing. Seems once a good writer locks into a contract with a publisher, they start churning out crap. I'm not saying elizabeth berg, chris bohjalian or roberts, johansen have ever been my favorites, but, day-um, they just get more formulaic and boring as their career progresses. Hunter thompson had it right

Renee wrote: "Shoot Scott! Are you telling me its already been done? Darn, I'll have to figure out a new spin. Hmmm....weight lifters? rednecks? Just throwing a few out there. Football players? Hockey?"

I'll always equate wrestling with "the world according to garp". one of the best books ever, with my favorite line "every woman is either a mother or a whore".

Wait, I think every woman is either a mother, a whore, or a virgin spinster. Let's not leave them out. There are 3 categories of women, not two.

Love The World According to Garp and Jennie is my favorite character.

Anna, have you ever read Anne Tyler? She doesn't churn them out and I have loved every single one of her books. Same with Alice Hoffman. I've never been able to get interested in Elizabeth Berg, but maybe I'm just not giving her a chance.

I liked Alice Hoffman's Practical Magic. (I read it right before the movie came out, but then I never did see the movie. Not much point, I think.) I've got The Probable Future on my shelf but haven't read it yet.

Everybody I know who has read Practical Magic considers this one of her best. I guess I'll have to read it one day.

Have you read Blackbird House? That is fantastic. Skylight Confessions is another good one. I didn't care for The Third Angel. The book is three stories tied together, but I only found one of them interesting.

No, Practical Magic is the only one I've read so far.

yeah, i love anne tyler, dinner at the homesick restaurant was the first i read, and still love that. accidental tourist was heartbreaking.
Also; i picked up about 5 boxes of old horror novels at an auction, I'd be happy to loan them out, is there a place online here to list them or something like that? oooh, and got the rolling stone with the rob zombie interview, he is one seriously strange dude!

Anne Tyler is the quiet Queen of Fiction. I don't even know much about her, just that I anxiously anticipate a new book from her every few years. I will be one sad puppy when she passes away and her books stop coming.

Accidental Tourist is magnificent, and Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant is not far behind.

I would have bid big money on 5 boxes of old horror novels. Any good titles?

I used to browse eBay for "horror pb lot" all the time. Once I got a bunch of those old Dell Abyss books from the 80s, in perfect condition. Most of those were really good.