WHY DO RELATIONSHIPS MATTER?
In thrillers, relationships = drama = story.
For a writer, they develop a ‘two for the price of one’ dynamic. Build a good relationship between characters, and you’re also developing the characters. The warmth (or antipathy) of the relationship reveals important character traits, through actions, dialogue and inner monologues. When readers fear for Character A, they’re also worrying how the danger A faces will affect Character B.
I’ve tried several fairly long-running thriller series, but they often lack the essential drama of relationships that readers root for. Either that, or the relationships are transparently short-lived. Neither the protagonist, or the author, or me as the reader, care if they work out or not. An example is the James Bond series. I read all of Ian Fleming’s Bond novel last year, and he doesn’t sell relationships at all well.
RELATIONSHIPS IN BOOKS
There is one long-running series that’s impressed me in term of its depiction of relationships, both across the series and within individual books. Orphan X by Gregg Hurwitz, which successfully incorporates relationships readers care about, mainly because the protagonist is so inadequate at them!
Although not strictly a thriller series writer, David Morrell also knows how to write relationships! At first glance, the Rambo of First Blood seems a damaged lone wolf, but his relationship with Police Chief Teasle, and to some extent Colonel Trautman, are integral to the plot. Teasle’s wife has left him. Does that relationship affect his judgement as he and Rambo push against each other at the start of the novel?
In Morrell’s brilliant Brotherhood of the Rose trilogy, a series that rewrote the rules for thriller writers, father-son relationships, romantic relationships and ‘found-sibling’ relations all matter to the plot, to the characters, to the author and, therefore, to the reader.
RELATIONSHIPS IN FILMS
Looking at famous thrillers from films, I would say the ones with relationships that matter are the ones that endure most in our memories: Raiders of the Lost Ark, Casablanca (and not just the central love triangle; who can forget the closing line – “Louis, I think this is the start of a beautiful friendship”?), Lethal Weapon (Riggs and Murtagh, yes, but also Riggs’ relationship with his dead wife). It’s one of the reasons Die Hard didn’t quite land for me. There were no real relationships.
And look at what happened between Jaws the book and Jaws the film. In the book, the relationships between the three main characters were almost non-existent. In the film, they mattered. I think it’s why the film has endured so much better than the book.
Angel of the South
No Way To Live is the first book of Angel of the South, a thriller series that explores the relationship between the two protagonists, Billie and Tom. I wanted to put their relationship front and centre throughout the series.
Although not siblings, Billie and Tom are trauma-bonded by their shared childhood. Neither seems to know how to escape the ties that link them. And do either of them really want to? Billie is a force of nature, while Tom, apparently, is more placid. Time and again, he gets dragged along in her wake. But you mess with Tom at your peril, and God help you if either of them thinks you’ve harmed the other. They have a very will they, won’t they push and pull relationship. The reader feels like the should sort of be together – but the result could be catastrophic!
Other relationships also run through the series: the Katie-Tom-Billie triangle, Billie and Sherine, Billie and her father. They matter, and they are all integral to the plot and overarching themes. There are others, between different characters, and hopefully they matter to readers as well. Friendships matter as well, even between the apparent villains of the story. In No Way To Live, Brandon is a pyromaniac ex-terrorist, yet his friendship with Katie’s father Niall is moving and heartfelt.
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