HIT ME by Peter J. Thompson ***Guest Post: What Makes a Thriller Fun to Read? -- Giveaway***

Thriller

Date Published: 03/01/2019

HIT ME

Hitman. Husband. Daddy. Dead man?

Charley Fieldner has everything a man could want: a loving wife, a well-paying job, two great kids, and a beautiful home.

He also has a big secret.

Charley is a hitman with a huge complication—he is his own next target.

The background file contains the sort of details only someone very close to him could know. The suspect list is short but devastating, his wife, father, sister, and best friend. He always thought he could have it all, but the secrets, lies, and betrayals are piling up.

Charley needs time to unravel the mystery behind who wants him dead and why, but time is in short supply. Another killer took the contract. He now has a choice: roll over and die or fight for his life.

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Guest Post

Five things that Make a Good Thriller so Fun to Read

By

Peter J. Thompson

I’ve written a lot of different types of stories, from action to science fiction, to children’s books. But no matter what I write, it ends up being a thriller in some way. There is something about a good thriller, the suspense, the twists and turns, not knowing what will happen next, that keeps you feverishly flipping the pages. These are the types of stories I love to read, and they are the stories I try and write.

Thrillers can come in all sorts of guises, but they all share some specific attributes. Here are 5 things that keep readers interested and make thrillers so fun to read:

• Characters who really want something – A lot of people think you need to like the character you are reading about. Liking them helps, but some of the best characters in novels and movies are people you wouldn’t want to spend time with in real life. One of my favorite TV shows was Breaking Bad, which followed a high school teacher who became a meth king pin. By the end of the show, he had become a truly despicable human being. But you still wanted to find out what was going to happen to him. You don’t have to like a character, but you do need to identify with them, and one way to do this is to have them want something. Badly. If they are striving for something (whether it is to catch the bad guy, win their freedom or find the perfect toasted cheese sandwich) and doing whatever they can to get it, you will keep reading as they deal with obstacles and setbacks, to see if they can reach their goal.

• Stakes that matter – One of the great things about thrillers is that they are almost always about life and death situations. Sometimes it is one brave hero, or often a couple, who have the fate of the whole world in their hands. We all have dramas in our own lives and usually these dramas are important to us, but not earth shaking to others. When the volume is turned up to eleven and everything comes down to one individual against unshakable odds, it forces you to pay attention.

• Worthy opponents – I don’t think I’m alone, but I am often more interested in the bad guys than the heroes. Batman is pretty cool, but he wouldn’t be a thing without the Joker. A “good” bad guy makes the hero dig deeper. A villain who is truly powerful and despicable makes the hero rise to a higher level. You want the villain to lose as much as you want the hero to win, and watching to see how they will get their comeuppance is a big part of a good story.

• A ticking time bomb – It doesn’t have to be a literal time bomb (it could be though), but putting an expiration date on the action, setting a time that the good guys must get their act together and do what needs to be done, speeds up the action and adds to the tension. The next time you decide to read one more chapter before going to sleep, and then stay up half the night to finish the book, check what you just read. A lot of the time the thing that made you keep on reading was some form of a ticking time bomb.

• Surprising twists and turns –Every time you start a new story you have expectations on what is going to happen and how the story is going to end up. If the story follows your expectations too closely, you’re probably going to end up bored. One of the marks of a good thriller is that it might take you where you are expecting to go, but it gets you there in a way that you never would have considered. I love a story with good twists and turns and reading a great thriller can be like driving down a river road at night with one headlight out, you don’t know what to expect next.

I know when I am writing, I don’t plan to put these elements in, but they end up there none the less. My latest release, Hit Me, is the story of a hitman who gets a hit placed against himself, and has to figure out who wants him dead, his wife, father sister or best friend. I’ve been told that the story is fast paced, and hard to put down. Look for some of these elements things the next time you pick up a thriller. I’ll bet you find them and knowing how they work will help you enjoy the experience more.

About the Author

Peter Thompson grew up on the east side of Chicago, in the shadow of the steel mills where the air was sooty and smelled of sulfur. His life wasn't always so gritty, but the grit and realism finds its way into his thrillers. He has always loved stories of every kind, and one of his joys is finding a way to get inside character's heads, seeing the world as they see it and feeling their triumphs, pain, and fear. He visualizes his characters when he writes, and they are larger than life in the big screen of his imagination.

Before pursuing his passion and becoming a full-time author, he tried his hand at everything from factory work, breaking cement in a construction crew, running his own pizza shop, and he was a well-regarded presence in the mortgage industry for nearly thirty years. When he isn't writing, Peter loves, spicy food, live music, and exciting and thought-provoking books and movies. He is a fitness buff who loves to spend time with his grown sons and is looking forward to traveling the world and seeking adventures with his lovely partner.

To get in touch, find out more about future projects, please stop by authorpeterthompson.com. Sign up for his reading list to find out about new releases and receive free perks.

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