What if the entire thriller genre is built on one thing: the violence of men against women?
I had a revelation this week while reading Ask for Andrea by Noelle W. Ihli. One chapter in, I put the book down, took a shower, and found myself asking a question I couldn’t shake:
Would we even have thrillers if we didn’t have men?
Think about it. There’s an entire genre dedicated to women being victimized by men. Women trying to escape them, survive them, investigate them, recover from them, or bring them to justice.
And somehow, our terror has become our entertainment.
As a thriller author, I decided to examine my own work. Of my 15 novels, 13 feature women suffering at the hands of men. Predatory judges. Sex traffickers. Abusive husbands. Corrupt police officers. Powerful clergy. Wealthy men whose promising futures apparently matter more than the women they’ve harmed.
Different stories. Different villains. Same underlying violence.
And it’s not just my books. From Tana French and Michael Connelly to Dervla McTiernan and Julia Spencer-Fleming, I keep encountering the same pattern.
In this five-minute video, I’m exploring a question that’s fundamentally changed how I think about the books I write and read.
Is the thriller genre really about suspense and danger—or is it about the ways women navigate a world made dangerous by men?
And perhaps the more uncomfortable question: Why do we find these stories so entertaining?
I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments.
📚 Books mentioned:
* Ask for Andrea — Noelle W. Ihli
* The Smart One — Jennifer Close
* An Unquiet Grave — Dervla McTiernan
* The Keeper — Tana French
* The Proving Ground — Michael Connelly
* At Midnight Comes the Cry — Julia Spencer-Fleming
📖 Explore my legal and psychological thrillers:
🎙️ More conversations about books, writing, and the thriller genre on my podcast.
**Spoiler warning: This video discusses plot elements and perpetrators in several thriller novels.**