THRILLER BOOKS
Why They Sharpen Our Brain
Many of us love to read a good thriller book as the plots usually centre around a mix of emotions such as anxiety, fear, dread, excitement and tension and such. But, did you know that reading thriller books actually sharpen our brain. We will take a look at the types of thrillers and recommend some good thriller books to sharpen your brain.
Keep Our Minds Alert
Our minds will work through the clues and the chaos to form some sort of structure as the plot thickens. Our mind must stay alert so we can keep up with the plot and overcome the hurdles especially if it is a fast based thriller. The plots, twists and turns in a good thriller book enable our minds to expand our thinking into different scenarios thus making us navigate through the plot which is often filled with chaos. Our minds will work through that chaos to form some sort of structure as the plot thickens. Our mind must stay alert so we can keep up with the plot and overcome the hurdles. If we miss a bit of the chaos, we miss the whole story so will re-read that part again as we must remain alert and focused, especially if it is a fast based thriller. In the spy thriller book Slow Horses by Mick Herron where the faced paced plot revolves around MI5 agents making mistakes during a chaotic kidnapping case with so many twists and turns with nobody knowing who to trust keeps our minds alert as we sort through their chaos.
Train Our Memory
Having to keep up with the characters and fathom out who is the suspect and who is not, the plot when it constantly goes in opposite directions to how you imagined actually trains our memory to sort this all out and to reconsider our thinking to the newer plot each time it develops, especially when suspects change and the plot gets thicker all under a fast-moving pace. Our brain is learning to do this and is very useful in a real-life situation if we too have to adapt fast when something unexpected happens help us to compartmentalise it and deal with the situation better. By processing the tension, we can relive ourselves of stress and anxiety. In the action thriller book Limitless by Alan Glynn where the main character’s brain is unlocked after taking a secret drug which enables him to remember everything in detail that he sees, hears and reads. We learn to speed think through the plot and how a mind can organise such a vast amount of data training our memory.
Evaluate Situations
We can learn to process the situation as they evolve around the thriller and re-adapt to alternative situations with the plot. We may have guessed who is the guilty one and why they did what they did then when we learn we were wrong we tend to look at why we think the new suspect could have done it and why he is guilty. By learning these different scenarios our brain is forming new maps of thinking and expanding our coping mechanism as we can quickly switch our way of thinking to adopt to changing situations in our own lives. Reading thriller books may make us question in our minds what is real and what isn’t like in the crime thriller Girl on a Train by Paula Hawkins who struggles with alcohol addiction and memory loss. We have to try to fathom out what we believe is real in the plot and what is not helping us with our way of thinking and believing.
Developing Empathy
We usually feel sorry for one or more characters with the ordeal that they are facing and this help our brain to show compassion for what someone is going through. By reading all the different situations that the characters in the plot face we can put our empathy and understanding towards real people in our lives which can help with our understanding. Quite often we feel that empathy towards the wrongdoer in the thriller book especially if we would do the same faced with a similar situation. This can help us teach us to forgive ourselves when we have done something considered ‘wrong’ in our lives no matter how small. In the psychological thriller Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn the character Amy Dunne fakes her own disappearance and sets her husband up for it but we feel empathy towards her as he treated her badly, had an extramarital affair and drained her financially. We understand her revenge as she hurting and wanted to make herself feel better by making her husband feel as much hurt as she did.
There is no doubt that thriller books can give our brain a good workout and the exercise does it extremely well making it fitter and stronger helping us by giving us the coping mechanisms to deal with situations that can scare us and excite us.
Psychological Thrillers
- Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn. A bitter sweet story of one woman’s revenge on her husband through faking her own disappearance.
- The Housemaid by Frieda McFadden. Out of desperation a woman takes a job as a live-in housemaid where she finds the wealthy family have much darker secrets than her own.
- Behind Closed Doors by B. A. Paris. A seemingly happy couple have a terrifying reality behind closed door.
Spy/Espionage Thrillers
- Slow Horses by Mick Herron. Flawed MI5 agents caught up in a chaotic kidnapping.
- The Bureau of Foreign Languages by Paul Fiditch. Paranoia and secrets with echoes of the cold-war built on tension.
- A Foreign Country by Charles Cumming. A modern mystery set in Europe involving a missing MI6 chief.
Action Thrillers
- The Hunt for Red October by Tom Clancy. The Captain of a Soviet submarine which is Russia’s most advanced nuclear sub tries to deflect to America.
- Orphan X by Gregg Hurwitz. An assassin trained by the government helps people in trouble whilst running away from his own troubles.
- Razorblade Tears by A. A. Cosby. When two gay men are murdered their ex-con fathers are brutal in their quest for answers.
Political Thrillers
- House of Cards by Michael Dobbs. A British politician is ruthless in his fight to get to the top.
- State of Terror by Hilary Rodham Clinton & Louise Penny. A new administration has to face a wave of terrorist attacks.
- Absolute Power by David Baldacci. A horrific crime involving the US president is witnessed by a burglar.
Legal Thrillers
- The Lincoln Lawyer by Michael Connelly. A clever and charismatic defence lawyer works from his car in Los Angeles.
- Sycamore Row by John Grisham. A hand-written will sparks a battle as the detail are controversial.
- While Justice Sleeps by Stacey Abrams. A massive conspiracy is uncovered by a Supreme Court clerk.
Medical/Techno Thrillers
- Spasm by Robin Cook. A chilling biotech thriller where a microscopic rogue protein becomes the ultimate silent weapon.
- Coded to Kill by Marschall Runge. Examining the terrifying vulnerabilities of centralised electronic health record systems and medical data including hacking.
- Harvest by Tess Gerritsen. A plot centred around international illegal organ harvesting.
Crime Thrillers
- The Power Of The Dog by Don Winslow. The brutal fight on the war on drugs.
- The Chain by Adrian McKinty. A parent is forced into kidnapping another child to save her own child.
- Rock Paper Scissors by Alice Feeney. A couple with problems win a weekend away in an isolated chapel and strange and frightening things happen.
Domestic Thrillers
- The Couple Next Door by Shari Lapena. A child vanishes whilst sleeping at the house next door whilst a dinner party is taking place.
- The Family Upstairs by Lisa Jewell. A family’s horrifying history is revealed at an abandoned house in London.
- My Lovely Wife by Samantha Downing. A married couple share a dark hobby whilst going about their mundane life.