Behind The Mask

X. Conspiracy Thriller

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Conspiracy Thriller
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The conspiracy thriller (or paranoid thriller) is a subgenre of thriller fiction. 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." The complexities of historical fact are recast as a morality play in which bad people cause bad events, and good people identify and defeat them. 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.

A common theme in such works is that characters uncovering the conspiracy encounter difficulty ascertaining the truth amid the deceptions: rumors, lies, propaganda, and counter-propaganda build upon one another until what is conspiracy and what is coincidence become entangled. Many conspiracy fiction works also include the theme of secret history and paranoid fiction.

Conspiracy is a subgenre with a secret. Perplexing forces pull strings in the life of the protagonist -- if not throughout the world. Usually the hero becomes a threat to the conspirators, and must escape their response. Often these stories depict the abberations caused by secrecy, and the corrupting influence of power. Robert Ludlum's novel The Chancellor Manuscript is a famous example. (Sometimes the conspiricy is broken up, or at least revealed to the world; but in many tales it is not, and the broken protagonist is allowed to live.)

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Sources of information:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conspiracy_fiction

http://www.cuebon.com/ewriters/Tsubgenres.html

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