Stop Playing It Safe

Criticizing modern crime fiction for being less interesting and novel than it could be is nothing new; indeed, given the superfluity of books being produced within this genre today, it is inevitable that many won’t reach the level of originality--in fact, some barely attain the level of readability. But, writing in his blog, John Rickards (The Darkness Inside) puts uncommon passion behind the argument that the crime/mystery/thriller field has become “stagnant,” because too few writers can rise above their class limitations, and too few readers are asking for work better than they’ve read a dozen times. He remarks, in part, that

A good story is always a good story, but if your aim is to entertain then surely you should be doing more than merely copying what’s come before in your own damn genre, and if your aim is to do more than that then surely you should expand into and explore new moral, ethical or social areas rather than retreading the same ones in the same way as countless others before you?

I know it’s only human to think that our own perspective is unique, valuable in its own right, and that we have something worthwhile to add to a pre-existing discussion. But in reality, it’s not and we don’t. Not different enough to merit a whole new book.

We badly need something new in our genre. Punk is a label that’s almost as over-used and meaningless as ‘noir’, but the equivalent of the punk movement is precisely what’s lacking in crime fiction.

Rickards’ essay is too long to quote much of, but the whole thing is worth reading. And if it provokes one crime novelist to try something different, something more daring, then the essay was worth writing. You’ll find it all here.

READ MORE: “Is There Anything Truly New Out There?” by Daniel Hatadi (Crimespace).