The conspiracy thriller, or paranoid thriller, is a subgenre of thriller fiction. Its protagonists are often journalists or amateur investigators who find themselves pulling on a small thread which unravels a vast conspiracy that ultimately goes all the way to the top. Conspiracies are often played out as man-in-peril or woman-in-peril stories, or yield quest narratives similar to those found in whodunits and detective stories.
Facts
Place of OriginThe genre reached its cultural zenith in the United States during the 1960s and 1970s amid the Vietnam War, the Kennedy and King assassinations, and the Watergate scandal. 1 Notable ExampleIlluminatus! (1969-1971), the trilogy by Robert Shea and Robert Anton Wilson, is widely regarded as the definitive work of twentieth-century conspiracy fiction. 1 Defining TraitProtagonists are typically journalists or amateur investigators who pull on a small thread that unravels a vast conspiracy reaching all the way to the top, often told as man-in-peril or woman-in-peril stories. 1 Connections
Sources
1. Conspiracy Fiction (Wikipedia)
Wikimedia Foundation (Wikipedia)lede
The protagonists of conspiracy thrillers are often journalists or amateur investigators who find themselves (often inadvertently) pulling on a small thread which unravels a vast conspiracy that ultimately goes "all the way to the top."
Literature section
Illuminatus! (1969-1971), a trilogy by Robert Shea and Robert Anton Wilson, is regarded by many as the definitive work of 20th-century conspiracy fiction.
Literature section, US zenith paragraph
Conspiracy fiction in the US reached its zenith in the 1960s and 1970s in the wake of a number of high-profile scandals and controversies, most notably the Vietnam War, the assassinations of John F. Kennedy, Robert F. Kennedy, and Martin Luther King Jr., as well as the Watergate scandal and the subsequent resignation of Richard Nixon from the presidency.
lede, subgenre clause
The conspiracy thriller or paranoid thriller is a subgenre of thriller fiction.
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