Top Ten Things a Good Crime Thriller Should Have

In other words: what makes "Law and Order: Special Victims Unit" so much better than "CSI"?
The Top Ten
1 Plausible Storytelling
2 Detectives with Complex Personalities

Agree to a certain extent. Complex, yes; clichéd, no. A clichéd detective are those who are a closet alcoholic or gambler; or those with marital problems. A really good detective I once read, was in fact a serial killer. Now THAT'S complex!

3 Killers with Complex Personalities
4 A Screenplay that Cares About the Characters
5 Intense Atmosphere
6 Characters that are Neither Entirely Bad nor Entirely Good

Everyone has a light and dark to their character and this should be portrayed in the writing. A mild-mannered person should derail sometimes and a villain should have a soft side that the reader can relate to to be believable. No one has one type of personality.

7 Authentic Depiction of Social Groups
8 A Respectful Way of Dealing with Serious Issues
9 A Unique and Distinctive Premise
10 Entertainment Value
The Contenders
11 A Twist
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