suspense – R&D Gothic Discoveries

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

The book series “The House of Night”
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Who does not like vampires? We must admit that they always are a good distraction; we pretty much never get tired of the stories or movies of which they are used as principal “creatures” to create some fear and suspense. However, there are two types of vampires; indeed, there is the terrifying one known as the one who sucks all the blood from human necks (in other words, the killer vampire), and there is the cheesy vampire known as the one who lives in harmony with humans. Which one do we prefer? Are we actually obligated to have a preference? I would say we do not, and that is the reason why I want to share this series of novels I discovered 3 years ago.

Written by Phyllis Christine Cast and Kristin Cast, the first volume of a series called the House of Night was published in March 2009 and was titled “Marked” (just so it is said, the last volume, “Lost” was published recently, in July 2018). The 18 volumes of this series (yes, indeed, 18 volumes!) contain all of what is necessary to entertain anyone who is interested in fantasy, love, magic, mystery, action and of course, vampires. I assure you, we can find them all in the same series! Isn’t it simply amazing?

You must wonder: Ok well, but what is this about? Overall, this is the story of Zoey Redbird, a 16-year old girl who is Marked to become a vampire and complete her Change, or die. The story mostly takes place in Tulsa, in the state of Oklahoma in the United States (yes, I know, another American fantasy, but I swear, it is a good one). The issue from which the story starts is that she does not have the same mark as other vampires do; indeed, she has been marked as special by the vampire Goddess Nyx and it is for you to discover why.

In brief, here are some reasons why you should take the time to read this series:

There are some vampires (this reason by itself is enough to convince you, right?).

Well, if you need some more…

2. There is a love triangle (oh yes, you’ve read well!).

3. There is suspense (sometimes, you just won’t be able to stop reading, I can testify).

4. There is death.

An extra one for you: you do not need to wait for the next episode to be released (you know what I’m referring to, don’t you?), once you finished one tome, you can start the next one right away!

Good luck and have fun in the vampire world!

DelphineC