Mystery vs. Thriller

 What is the difference between a mystery and a thriller?

Some of you may already know this, especially if you are mystery or thriller readers, but I only learned the difference recently.

I always assumed a thriller was a mystery with a lot of action in it. After all, action is thrilling. I was always perplexed when a book classified as a thriller, had no action in it at all and read like a mystery.

Apparently, there can be a bit of crossover between the two. A thriller can be mysterious and a mystery can be action packed, so maybe I’m not the only one who has been confused.

The biggest defining characteristic of a mystery is that it should revolve around crimes that take place in the past. It’s usually intellectually driven, slow burn, and filled with clues that dribble out over time. The antagonist is kept a secret, usually not revealed until the end, or the climax at the earliest.

The biggest defining characteristic of a thriller? The opposite of a mystery, it revolves around a crime that’s going to take place in the future. It’s usually faster as the protagonist is racing against the clock and is usually action driven. And unlike a mystery, a thriller is nothing without a good antagonist who is usually but not always, revealed early in the story.

So when I read a book about (for example) solving a murder, I now know it’s a mystery even if there’s action in it. And when I read a book about (also for example) stopping a terrorist attack, I know I’m reading a thriller even if the antagonist is unknown.

That’s a thing I know now.