Anatomy of a Romantic Thriller

by Nike Chillemi

I write romantic thrillers. It’s said this category is lodged somewhere between the romance genre and the crime fiction genre. It’s kind of a cross-over category.

A romantic thriller is not the same as romantic suspense. Some romance readers might think a romantic thriller gives too vivid a description of the details of the crime scene. Or that it has too much violence or action. But I write what I like to read. I want to read a story with a complex murder scenario. I want the motivation for the murder to ring true. And the villain (murderer) has to be a worthy opponent to match wits with my heroine and hero. In Christian fiction, this sub-genre is growing in popularity.

One thing the romantic thriller author must do is fuel the reader’s moods. There should be an intense feeling of dread, or of anticipation, or uncertainty. If the reader’s pulse races or he/she decides to sleep with a nightlight, chances are the novel is a thriller.

My stories deal with crime: particularly murder, and also intrigue, scandal, and revenge. The pace is such that, hopefully it keeps the reader on the edge of her/his seat. My two co-protagonists are engaged in the business of hunting a killer. They battle with the villain, fight for their lives and the lives of their loved ones. Their intelligence and talents save them repeatedly. In a thriller, there’s always the chance the killer might raise the stakes and strike again. One of the hallmarks of a thriller is a highly stressful climax.

My stories all have faith-based sub-themes. Yet, I never have the crime solved by a supernatural occurrence. The heroine and hero have to work hard to solve the crime. And it doesn’t hurt to have them look like gonners once or twice in the novel.

Of course, the romance part of romantic thriller portends that the hero and heroine will fall in love. They will have lots of romantic tension between them. In my current historical romantic thriller, GOODBYE NOEL, the story starts with a strong attraction between Detective Ian Daltry and pediatric nurse Katrina Lenart. But there’s also antipathy. The sparks fly. Boy do they.

None of my heroines are shrinking violets. In GOODBYE NOEL, Katrina is put at risk a few times and either saves herself, or Ian saves her. In the process of struggling with a cunning villain, Ian and Katrina fall deeper and deeper in love. One of the most important things is that the main characters be three dimensional. A romance doesn’t necessarily have to have a lovable hero and heroine and that’s doubly true in for a romantic thriller. But they do have to be compelling. The reader has to want to know what they are going to do next, or what’s going to be done to them.

I like to write romantic thrillers because there’s double suspense. Will the guy get the girl? That’s the romantic suspense part. There has to be plenty of obstacles thrown up in the road to romance. One of the obstacles for the believer of the pair is that they would have to be on the same page spiritually in order to enjoy the deep intimacy of sharing their faith with each other. Whereas the thriller part pushes the suspense to the max. Will the hero and heroine save themselves, each other, and those they love in time? There’s usually time pressure in a thriller. The killer is one-step ahead of them and has a lethal agenda. Or the killer has an unrelenting time table and the hero and heroine must beat the clock.

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Nike Chillemi has been called a crime fictionista due to her passion for crime fiction. She was an Inspy Awards 2010 judge in the Suspense/Thriller/Mystery category and a judge in the 2011 Carol Awards in the suspense, mystery, and romantic suspense categories. She is the founding board member of the Grace Awards and its Chairman, a reader’s choice awards for excellence in Christian fiction. She writes book reviews for The Christian Pulse online magazine. BURNING HEARTS is the first book in the crime wave that is sweeping the south shore of Long Island in The Sanctuary Point series, published by Desert Breeze. GOODBYE NOEL, the second book in the series was released in December, 2011. She is a member of American Christian Fiction Writers (ACFW) and the Edgy Christian Fiction Lovers (Ning).