With her fourth psychological thriller with Hera Books – Under Her Roof – recently released, A.A. Chaudhuri explains the importance of the flawed narrator and its impact on the plot…
There are so many reasons why I love psychological thrillers. A twist that floors you, nerve-wracking tension and a deep sense of unease, along with spine-tingling cliffhangers that keep you reading late into the night are three iconic traits that make it so compelling for me and readers far and wide. But what really drives these and other traits? What defines the psychological thriller as a genre that keeps readers on edge and messes with their minds? For me, it has to be the flawed narrator. When you consider the most venerated psychological thrillers, they have all had one thing in common: unreliable narrators who essentially define the books in themselves. Take Amy Dunne in Gone Girl, Tyler Durden in Fight Club, Rachel Watson in Girl On A Train. These iconic characters, who between them hold dark secrets and afflictions that make readers doubt their reliability and yet have a vulnerability that draws their empathy, have an immense impact on the plot, thereby making it more thrilling and unputdownable. ..