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The difference between mysteries, thrillers, and suspense depend primarily on the the point of view of the protagonist of the story and how said protagonist handles situations throughout the course of the action. Sometimes these genres can overlap but in those cases the true story that the author wants to tell may be lost in the folds.

A mystery story will usually have the protagonist trying to learn the truth about an event, like a crime, that has occurred either before or during the course of the story. These stories can be fairly cerebral and there is usually little danger to the protagonist until he or she gets to close to the truth about the antagonist. The mystery story usually features the protagonist as the good guy trying to catch the bad guy.

In a thriller story there may be a similar type of scenario of learning the truth about an event but the protagonist is in constant danger from the antagonist. This type of story is more action oriented than cerebral and usually crafted to get the readers adrenaline flowing.

Suspense stories take a slightly different tack and usually have the protagonist concerned about having the truth about an event exposed by the antagonist. These stories are designed to keep the reader on the edge of their seats wondering what will happen next. The protagonist in suspense stories is usually a bad guy trying to protect his or her secret.

While these descriptions are generally true for most stories in these categories they are not set in concrete and different authors may take different approaches to the handling of the protagonist, i.e. making the protagonist a good guy in a suspense story or a bad guy in a mystery story.

Whatever the difference between mysteries, thrillers, and suspense they are usually good reading and should be thoroughly enjoyed.

Learn more about this author, Robert D. Twitchell.
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