Not so long ago, I read a thriller that is so far, one of the best books I’ve ever read. It is called The Good Girl, written by Mary Kubica. This literary piece is a very high-intensity thriller because the actions you expect to happen are definitely not the ones that actually happen. This novel is mainly considered as a psychological thriller, but I still found some gothic elements in it and I wanted to demonstrate that it is possible to explore a specific literary genre while including some gothic elements in it.
First of, the archetype of the damsel in distress is the main element of gothic literature in this thriller. Mia, the main character of the book, is in complete distress after she’s been kidnapped by a certain guy named Colin. Even if she tries to escape, it is impossible to achieve it and waits for the help f the police and her family. On the other hand, Mia’s mother could also be considered as a damsel in distress. She constantly tries to find ways to find her daughter but, because she is depressed by the loss other daughter, she waits for the police to help her out. In that way, she qualifies as a damsel in distress.
Colin Thatcher, Mia’s one-night stand, turn out to be a sociopath who kidnaps her. Here, the monster archetype found in gothic pieces is a human monster. Colin’s purpose to take Mia away from her family was simply to hurt her. The monster generally generates terror and horror to the victim, in this case Mia.
That is what leads me to explain you the aspects of terror and horror in this psychological thriller. On one hand, Mia is completely terrorised by Collin because she anticipates what he could do to her. Terror is defined as the anticipation of the scary, and that is exactly what Mia is doing and feeling. On the other hand, there’s horror. Horror is the realization of what is scary when seeing it in front of your eyes. In this case, Mia also feels it when she realizes that she had been kidnaped and that she’ll probably never see her family again.
Simply, I suggest you read this psychological thriller that can also enter in the gothic genre because it has a lot of suspense and you’ll have difficulty to stop reading it, I swear.
Have a good time reading it!!
Rosalie
R&D Gothic Discoveries 