Today, publishers, reviewers, store owners, and even readers
love to organize books into genres. But genres are just cubbyholes where
writers and their stories are judiciously crammed, more out of convenience
than for any artistic reason. It's easier to say 'international
suspense thriller' as opposed to 'a story that involves
unique locales outside the United States where the stakes are high and
the intrigue paramount.'



And this habit may not be all bad. There is something to be said for
brevity.



But this particular genre - the international suspense thriller
- possesses a history that is anything but short.



Though others during the first half of the twentieth century were certainly
writing stories in a similar vein - Graham Greene being a notable
example - Helen MacInnes, a Scottish novelist who started writing
in the late 1930s, moved to the United States and became a citizen,
and continued writing until her death in 1985, may well be the person
who started the modern evolution of the international suspense thriller.
Then the stories were called spy thrillers. But Mrs. MacInnes transformed
them into something altogether different.



Her locales were European; her heroes ordinary people; her villains
either Nazis, Communists, or some other form of worldwide conspiracy.
Her plots were strangely prophetic, since she wrote of organized world
terrorism long before that evil became a clear reality. Her titles were
alluring: THE SALZBURG CONNECTION, THE VENETIAN AFFAIR, NORTH FROM ROME,
SNARE OF THE HUNTER.



We know a great deal about her because her personal papers are on file
at Princeton University. Included within that cache are hundreds of
fan letters which complimented her weaving of travel, history, and nostalgia
into the convoluted plots. An exchange of letters between Mrs. MacInnes
and the director of the Swiss Tourist Bureau revealed the positive affect
her novels had on European tourism. American reviews of her books (from
the 1950s) described her suspense thrillers as "travelogues"
and "Baedekers." Her United States publisher, Harcourt Brace
and World, actively encouraged her to include European tourist destinations
in her plots so as to promote sales. She obliged.



And the technique worked.



Nearly all of Helen MacInnes's books appeared as NEW YORK TIMES
bestsellers. Through her the international suspense thriller, as we
know it today, began to form.



But shaping that form fell to others.


Robert Ludlum burst onto the scene in 1971 with THE SCARLATTI INHERITANCE.
Frederick Forsyth came the same year with THE DAY OF THE JACKAL. Clive
Cussler emerged in 1973 with THE MEDITERRANEAN CAPER, and Ken Follett
made his debut in 1978 with THE EYE OF THE NEEDLE.



These four writers were then not the mega-sellers they are today. Instead,
they were fledgling craftsmen, anxious to see if a publisher or a readership
would care about their stories. Luckily for us their vision proved correct.
Combined, their works have spent countless weeks on every bestseller
list that exists, and they have sold hundreds of millions of copies.
Their careers have been long and varied, and each managed to survive
an ever-changing political world. And make no mistake, the realm of
the international suspense thriller is intricately linked to the real
world. Any writer of the genre knows that the closer the fiction can
be merged with reality, the better the story.



The decade from 1975 to 1985 was significant to the international suspense
thriller. The Cold War provided enormous fodder and the lingering remnants
of Nazi Germany still held a fascination. Both subjects can be found
in abundance within countless novels. A cursory examination of THE NEW
YORK TIMES bestseller lists from that decade reveals at least one international
suspense thriller in the top ten for nearly every week.



Without question, it was a golden age for the genre.



Then the Berlin Wall fell, the Iron Curtain dropped, the Soviet Union
dissolved, and the Cold War ended. So fast in fact did the unraveling
occur that international suspense novelists actually tried to keep that
conflict alive a few more years within their fiction. But by the early
1990s, storylines had thinned. Writers tried to replace the genre's
bread and butter with the Middle East, international assassins, and
bio-threats. But the vital link between reality and fiction had disappeared.
Reality took over.



And it was no longer considered suspenseful.



The genre contracted a disease, and publishers quickly recognized its
symptoms and pronounced the malady terminal. Unless you were one of
the solidly established giants of the realm, which translated into a
built-in readership, the chances of breaking in anew were slim. As newspaper
and television did for some aging celebrity when they drafted an obituary
months before the actual death, editors crafted the death notice for
the international suspense thriller by turning their attention to other
genres.



The legal thriller rose to prominence. Scott Turow whetted the public's
appetite in 1987 with PRESUMED INNOCENT. But a country lawyer from Oxford,
Mississippi became king with THE FIRM (1991). John Grisham went on,
during the 1990s, to sell more books than any other working writer.




The techno-thriller was born thanks to the imagination of an insurance
salesman who wrote a book in his spare time and managed to snag the
attention of President Ronald Reagan. THE HUNT FOR RED OCTOBER (1984)
launched not only Tom Clancy's career but the genre itself.



Dale Brown inaugurated the military thriller. The medical thriller matured
through Robin Cook, Michael Palmer, and Tess Gerritsen. The financial
thriller evolved through authors such as Stephen Frey and Christopher
Reich.



Meanwhile, the international suspense thriller, the darling of the 1970s
and 80s, only languished.



That is not to say new writers weren't able to launch careers
during this time or continue successfully within the genre. Some in
fact did. John Case, Robert Cullen, Jack DuBrul, Daniel Easterman, David
Hagberg, Robert Harris, Joseph Kanon, John le Carré, Gayle Lynds,
Glenn Meade, David Morrell, James Rollins, Justin Scott, and Daniel
Silva, to name only a few.



Still, for most of the unlucky souls who submitted international suspense
thrillers for publication from 1992 to 2002, the standard response came
in unison: SORRY, AT THE MOMENT, THIS DOES NOT FIT OUR LIST. What should
have been added was the proviso: AND IT'S NEVER GOING TO FIT UNTIL
SOMETHING DRAMATICALLY CHANGES.



And that change came on March 18, 2003.



The book that went on sale that day was from a relatively obscure thriller
writer, Dan Brown, who'd managed to publish his first international
suspense thriller in 1998. He did it again in 2000 and 2001. But those
three earlier books barely garnered minimal reviews and sold only modestly.
Few noticed them.



His fourth manuscript was different. The story touched sensitive nerves
and forced the reader to confront conclusions that, in their uniqueness
and logic, were startling. Not that the novel was true, or even purported
to be actual history (remember it is fiction), or that it was even unique
(Katherine Neville blazed the trail for books in a similar vein long
before with her ingenious THE EIGHT in 1988 and then again in 1998 with
THE MAGIC CIRCLE). Instead, the story dared to challenge sacred beliefs
in a fresh and entertaining manner.



And readers loved it.



Even the title was intriguing .



THE DAVINCI CODE.



The book immediately climbed to #1 on every bestseller list and started
leaving shelves not in increments of thousands, but millions. Even in
2005, two years after publication, the book remains at the top of THE
NEW YORK TIMES bestseller list and its fraternal twin, THE DAVINCI CODE:
SPECIAL ILLUSTRATED EDITION, has now taken its place in the top ten,
too. The publishing run for THE DAVINCI CODE is unmatched. Approaching
twenty million books worldwide, no other hardcover fiction has performed
as well. Also, those first three obscure thrillers, DIGITAL FORTRESS,
ANGELS & DEMONS, and DECEPTION POINT, have joined their sibling
on the bestseller lists, selling millions of new editions.



Yet the effect of THE DAVINCI CODE started long before March 2003, and
I'm an example of the good fortune that book brought.



From 1997 until 2002, my agent, Pam Ahearn, submitted five of my international
suspense thrillers to New York publishing houses. All were rejected
a combined total of 85 times. On the 86th attempt, in April 2002, which
was a resubmission of one of those manuscripts, the right editor, at
the right moment, looking for that kind of story, found me. Why? He
was Mark Tavani at Ballantine Books, which is part of Random House,
and he knew that Doubleday, which is also part of Random House, had
a book in production called THE DAVINCI CODE that seemed destined for
great things.



The prepublication buzz had been phenomenal. Ten thousand advanced readers
copies had been distributed (which by itself is incredible). The excitement
had risen to the point that those same editors, who only a few years
before had sounded the death knell for the international suspense thriller,
were now talking resurrection - looking for books that could ride
the wind they firmly believed was about to start blowing their way.

I was lucky enough to be offered a ticket in May 2002.



Eventually three of the five manuscripts my agent submitted were bought
by Ballantine. It wasn't that the stories had changed; they hadn't.
But as in politics, in publishing timing is everything, too.



And I wasn't alone.



Other writers were given similar opportunities. Three who come directly
to mind are Paul Adam, UNHOLY TRINITY (2000), Ted Bell, HAWKE (2003),
and Raelynn Hillhouse, RIFT ZONE (2004). The genre suddenly sprang back
to life. Even established giants are now hoisting their sails into that
howling wind. John Grisham's latest, THE BROKER, is a radical
departure from his usual legal thriller formula. Doubleday is actively
promoting the book as an international thriller.



So the genre has turned full circle.



Life, then death, then life again.



Such is the way of the world and publishing.



Every few years a writer emerges who actually changes the way things
are done. Jacqueline Susann did this in the 1960s with her innovative
methods of self-promotion and marketing, many of which are standard
practice today. Stephen King regenerated the horror genre in the 1970s
with frightening tales about everyday things. In the 1980s and 1990s,
John Grisham catapulted the legal thriller to mega-prominence.



True, THE DAVINCI CODE has sold millions of books around the globe.
And yes, the paperback will one day sell millions more. And yes, Dan
Brown's next novel, THE SOLOMON KEY, could well eclipse THE DAVINCI
CODE.



But the real contribution of Dan Brown and his marvelously inventive
story will not be sales. It will be the effect that both he and his
publisher had on the international suspense thriller. Together they
breathed life back into something that was all but dead. And, in the
process, opened up opportunities for those of us who were out there
searching for a chance.

© 2004 Steve Berry

Steve Berry
lives on the Georgia coast with his wife and daughter, where he practices
law and serves on the Camden County Board of Commissioners. His first
two novels, THE AMBER ROOM and THE ROMANOV PROPHECY, were both national
bestsellers. His latest will be THE THIRD SECRET (May 2005). Rights
to Steve's books have been sold in twelve languages.