Conspiracy Fiction

Conspiracy Fiction

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 whodunnits 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.

A considerable part of the Conspiracy fiction works can also be considered as being secret history.

Read more about Conspiracy Fiction:  Literature, Film and Television, Gaming

Famous quotes containing the words conspiracy and/or fiction:

    America is a vast conspiracy to make you happy.
    John Updike (b. 1932)

    My mother ... believed fiction gave one an unrealistic view of the world. Once she caught me reading a novel and chastised me: “Never let me catch you doing that again, remember what happened to Emma Bovary.”
    Angela Carter (1940–1992)