Psychological literature driven by action dominates the lists of best selling books, but is it possible to create a gripping psychological thriller where the heroes mostly talk? A contemporary writer D. Rudoy provides an answer with his short novel “A Million for Eleanor”.
Plot Summary
A retired cocaine tycoon offers $1,000,000 to the woman he loved in college for her consent to marry him the next day. But she knows him too well to expect anything good.
Can a depraved, murderous young millionaire forgive his beloved who scorned him when he was poor?
Can she deduce if the $1,000,000 is only a cruel ruse?
And will her stupendous beauty save her?
A Million for Eleanor is a psychological game of revenge between Richard, a top-tier cocaine dealer who quit the hazardous business as he made more money than he cared to spend, and Eleanor, the most stunning woman alive, who spellbound his heart a decade ago and never cared for what would happen to him. Set in New York in the beginning of the 21st century, the psychological thriller starts, progresses and ends with the dialogue best described as old-fashioned and aristocratic; yet, among the stylistic allusions to classical European and American literature, a disturbing question looms: will Richard follow through with the marriage, or will he think better of it and kill Eleanor?
Breaking the Stereotype of the Psychological Thriller
No law requires a good psychological thriller to be overt about the intentions of its characters, and no modern writer takes advantage of it more overtly than D. Rudoy. The novel’s suspense originates from unspoken fear covered by the veil of romance; it is predicated upon the uncertainty of whether or not the declared love is real. And if it isn’t, death awaits less than a step away.
“Suspense is not about action; it’s about the circumstance.”
“People who say that intellectual suspense is not rewarding must have never read a single Sherlock Holmes story.”
“A psychological romance built around love, money, revenge and the possibility of murder offers a lot of ground for plot twists… but the ending of Eleanor is inevitable not even from the novel’s beginning, it’s inevitable from before the novel begins.”
“By definition, psychological fiction rotates around the inner world of its heroes, but who said the inner must be exposed? Tarantino’s Pulp Fiction is so effective because most of the time the dialogue has nothing to do with the plot. But the suspense is there, growing unchecked as it is not diluted by deliberate bluntness.”
“Modern suspense thrillers abuse bluntness, both in literature and film. It’s as if the authors thought the readers could not understand what’s going on unless they read: mortal fear gripped her by the throat as she heard the floor squeak. But the scariest monster is the one we never see: The Blair Witch Project proved it with finality.”
“A Million for Eleanor does not spoon-feed the reader, but neither it withholds any necessary information. It really comes down to how much attention you pay. The only way to appreciate the suspense in the novel is to imagine what it must feel like to Richard and Eleanor, given their story, to finally meet under such circumstances.”
“This book is about what every character is not saying, how the other characters induce them to say it, and how the truth is dodged until the end, when everybody realizes they knew it all along.”
A Million for Eleanor – A Dialogue-Driven Psychological Thriller Book falls under the following genres of literature:
It may be of interest to readers seeking novelty in modern fiction.
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