Short novel set in MANHATTAN
THE DESTINATION THRILLER: A licence for crackpot storytelling?
3rd June 2026
The #destinationthriller: A licence for crackpot storytelling?
The destination thriller is a sub-genre of suspense storytelling where a beautiful and exotic location forms a backdrop to unfolding events. It might perhaps be a luxury enclave, an isolated island or a wilderness setting that becomes a character in its own right, there is a mix of beauty and ruggedness combined with a sense of danger. The setting serves to heighten the tension as the story progresses.
Weather in the chosen locale is also a useful factor for an author to employ, winds and storms keep the characters trapped, blazing sun, and high temperatures can literally turn up the heat and exacerbate mood and tempers. Flood waters, jungle and dense rainforest serve to disorientate people, who invariably are on a mission to escape the confines of their oppressive, sweaty environs.
The Beach by Alex Garland (set in Thailand and first published in 1996) was probably the first real #destinationthriller that garnered wide acclaim, and despite the action being outside the experience of 99% of readers, it was a mesmerising and gripping read, the oddball and offbeat storyline notwithstanding. It ticked so many boxes for so many people and became a classic in its own right.
At TripFiction, we have now read a good number of novels set in challenging and/or beautiful places that are billed as #destinationthrillers, from the African plains and deserts to the jungles, islands and rainforests of South East Asia and South America. Southern Europe also lends itself as a good backdrop. In the recent time, it has become increasingly evident that a #destinationthriller is a licence to set the characters in preposterous situations and have them doing really oddball things. Take the group of people who are in a rainforest, they have just discovered a maggot-ridden body and one of the party pops off behind some dense undergrowth to sort out a quick pregnancy test. My jaw dropped at this, it just felt, well, ridiculous.
“It is a regular bug bear of mine that authors choose to set their thrillers in interesting locations around the world (creating a “destination thriller”) and then oftentimes fall at the locational research level”
It’s all very well choosing the Savannah or Bali or a remote Maldivian island, but it’s important in this genre to work on the sense of place and do more than just comment on the sea, or the heat or the monsoon deluge. Mere mention of some nice houses, food and a few olive trees is insufficient to render a decent setting. Creating a superb backdrop really does take more than a bit of heat, sand and some lapping waves.
“So often a far flung setting feels like a licence to create an exciting but crackpot storyline, where
everything including the kitchen sink is shovelled in to create tension”
There are specifics, which eagle-eyed readers will flag for an errant author. Change your UK Sterling for Indian Rupees at a kiosk in London and the outcry will be audible (the Indian currency is a closed currency, which means you can only change your money IN India). And imagine being stuck in a hotel and someone pumping in gas that smells like Zyklon B (look it up, if you know what that smells like, you are dead anyway). Rescuing deadweight bodies from roiling seas, in the dark, is as easy as 1-2-3 (er, not).
One 5* resort had a door that wouldn’t lock and and remained broken, a helpful authorial device to move the narrative along, giving ample opportunity for earwiggers and nefarious interventions. In a real-life 5* resort, that door lock would have been fixed in minutes.
Some of the #destinationthrillers though, do include pertinent issues. One, set on Bali, tackles the theme of the the digital nomad and highlights the massive impact such tourists can have on a small place, leaving behind a legacy of disrupted lives and incomes.
There are, of course, several books in this sub-genre that really take the bull by the horns and create a riveting story with a tremendous backdrop. The more I read, though, the more I despair at some of the utterly ridiculous situations some authors create, it’s not fun reading something that is so way off ‘normality’ and is ludicrous. I hope there is move to dial back, reset and create more inventive, skilled and interesting storylines that don’t involve everything being thrown at them.
Tina for the TripFiction Team
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