Who are our heroes?

Why do we keep coming back to DCIs, PIs, and indie investigators? Let's talk about it.

It’s something like four in every ten sold are crime/thriller/mystery novels.

And that’s kind of a crazy stat when you think of just how similar so many novels are. They mostly carry the same storylines with the same stock characters, and resolve in the same way: antagonist commits crime, is pursued by hero, and is ultimately unmasked in the denouement. But what is it about this story that’s so compelling, that keeps us coming back for more?

I think there are a few components to this. That we love reading stories of good vs. evil, that we love stories where the mental beats the physical, and we love stories that embody our moralistic sense of justice; ie. the bad guys get what’s coming to them.

The story types

Let’s break them down a little more, and then get into the meat of things.

Good vs. evil

This is the struggle that underpins almost every single story ever told. There’s always a good guy and a bad guy and we like it when the good guys win. It gives us hope, hope that good people can do well in life, and that ultimately there’s a cosmic toll to be paid for being evil. We need to see this to believe it, because if we don’t believe it, why don’t we just start breaking the law? Why don’t we all just become horrific people? These good and evil stories serve to reward us for being the good people we want to be — they promise that good things come to good people. And we like that.

Brains vs. brawn

In crime novels, there’s usually an act of physical violence that sets the stories in motion. A murder, a rape, something heinous, some base, something inherently uncivilised and physical. And then the antagonist hides for fear of retribution, and it’s up to our hero to use their minds to uncover the truth and the identity of the criminal. For the most part, we’re not a physically violent species, and nor do we want to be. It’s why we have laws against violence, and why we abide by them. So when we see heroes triumph over villains, using their minds to best the criminals, it appeals to our need for civility and order and reminds us it’s better than what we had before.

‘Justice’

While we yearn for these stories that reinforce our modern civilisation, that show us we’ve risen above our animalistic origins, they still linger in us. There’s still something deep inside us that likes to see bad people suffer in some way. That’s why we have prison, and while most would agree that prison should be an unpleasant place for criminals. And lots of stories do that, that have the bad guy go to prison at the end. But then, there are the other stories, where the bad guys meet a worse fate. Death, pain, true suffering. And quite often, readers will root for, and even hope for, this. We crave a certain final justice that helps tip the needle of society in the direction we want — one less killer in the world is a good thing, a lot of readers would agree. And seeing as fiction is not real life, it’s okay to let those feelings out and wish for the death of a particularly nasty character.

The heroes

But what about the conduits of these stories? The heroes themselves — are they simply tools for serving justice, and why do they always fall into the same archetypes? And ultimately, in what ways do those archetypes behave and what do they deliver to readers?

The detective

Led by: The law and their desire to uphold the rules of our society, and bring order to the chaos.

Able to: Use the law to prosecute criminals, and the resources afforded by their station, like their team, forensics, digital forensics, etc …

Restricted by: The law. They can’t use violence or morally questionable tactics to get what they want (but they often do)

Readers can expect: A classic tale of brains beating brawn, ending with the capture and incarceration of the antagonist, or the accidental or ‘justifiable’ death of the antagonist, through self-defence or similar.

The PI

Led by: Their personal desire for truth and/or justice, often born from a traumatic past.

Able to: Go outside of the law in certain circumstances, but still quite often call on friends or contacts with skills/resources that utilise or mimic those found within the police.

Restricted by: Oftentimes a lack of manpower. Usually these stories are a lone or partnered hero chasing an indomitable villain or mystery, embodying the David and Goliath trope

Readers can expect: A more focused and dogged narrative where the lines between right and wrong often blur in the pursuit of greater justice, with the hero sacrificing their moral integrity to get the job done. This often results in the hero handing the apprehended criminal to the proper authorities or in their accidental/sanctionable death.

The lone wolf

Led by: Their personal brand of justice and the need to see it served, born from their past.

Able to: Disregard the law entirely, diving into criminality themselves in order to serve a higher moral justice. They often call on old friends or contacts, asking them to bend or break rules themselves as personal favors to get the job done.

Restricted by: Oftentimes, the police. Many lone wolf stories see the hero not only at odds with the villain, but also the police, too, who seek to stop them wreaking more havoc on the path to their goal. Another common trope is that they’re restricted by their own body or mind — either age, or physical ailment, or mental ailment, often plauges the lone wolf, forcing them to pursue their justice at great personal cost.

Readers can expect: A narrative driven by morality which is constantly questioned and bent to keep the reader and hero on just the right side of the line. The hero will do everything they can to win, often against great odds, and the ending is often underscored by death and destruction, characterised by the hero ‘taking on’ the burden of murder so the reader can experience guilt-free satisfaction at the resolution.

The every-person

Led by: The necessity of truth in order to save themselves/someone they love/their family.

Able to: Disregard the law and traditional investigative tactics, often hiding in plain sight to gather information/evidence against the antagonist, who perhaps may not even know they’re being investigated (as is the case in a lot of psychological thrillers)

Restricted by: Often a lack of training in investigation, or any kind of physical prowess, further underscoring the brains vs. brawn and David vs. Goliath tropes.

Readers can expect: A more human story of resilience and the strength of will, where good triumphs over evil often. At the end, the villain is either proved to be the villain and handed over to the authorities, or they meet an untimely, usually accidental or self-inflicted end.

The scientist

Led by: A deep-seated desire to discover the truth through an unquenchable thirst for knowledge. They often also, as cerebrals, want to see the law upheld to the umpteenth degree as they truly believe in civilisation and order.

Able to: Call on their extensive, expert knowledge of their field, along with their greater intellect to outsmart the antagonist and solve puzzles/make investigative leaps that a normal detective couldn’t.

Restricted by: Oftentimes, they lack any sort of physical prowess, and find themselves in greater danger than other hero types as they find themselves targeted by the antagonist. They also lack the ability to prosecute the villain personally, as they’re placed into to the ‘helper’ role by the lead detective on the cases they’re working on.

Readers can expect: A more intellectual story based on a specialist subject matter like forensics, which plays central part in the narrative. The stories often use the cat-and-mouse trope, too, to increase the stakes, placing the scientist in mortal danger, forcing them to decide how important the truth and justice is to them, and whether they’re prepared to risk their own lives. These are stories of courage in the face of danger, as well as of brains vs. brawn. A different kind of David vs. Goliath if you will.

Where does that leave us? As readers, as authors?

This is by no means an exhaustive list of the story types and archetypes you’ll find in crime and thriller novels, but it’s certainly a good place to start. You can likely think of any author or novel you like in these genres and slot them into the above topes and herp types. For a long time, detectives dominated. And then came the PI trend. Then, the lone wolves took centre stage. And now, we’re seeing a huge trend in psychological thrillers, embodying the every-person hero.

There’s no doubt that crime and thriller will continue to evolve through the years, but my main concern is whether we’ve reached saturation point. Whether there are more innovations to be had when it comes to tropes and hero types. What will the next trend be? We’re already seeing outliers begin creep in, with different sub-types of the tropes above emerging to combat reader fatigue.

But how far can we push it before we’re outside of the lines that delineate crime and thriller from other genres? It’s impossible to say. It’s certainly true that too much deviation from the plan means that readers won’t take to the stories, but it’s almost impossible to predict. For now, crime and thriller continues its dominance in the eye of the reader, but will there be a saturation point where we just get bored of the same stories?

Who can say, really?