The thriller is a genre of fiction in which tough, resourceful, but essentially ordinary heroes are pitted against villains determined to destroy them, their country, or the stability of the free world. The hero of a typical thriller faces danger alone or in the company of a small band of companions. The protagonist may be a law enforcement agent, a journalist, or a soldier, but typically he or she is cut off from the resources of "their" organization. More often the hero is an ordinary citizen drawn into danger and intrigue by circumstances beyond their control. Villains drive the plot of a thriller, creating obstacles for the heroes to overcome.
Homer's Odyssey is one of the oldest literary documents in the Greek language and is considered an early prototype of a thriller. Odysseus, king of Ithaca, makes a perilous voyage home after the Trojan War. He battles extraordinary hardships and various villains in order to be reunited with his wife Penelope.
Thrillers are typically novels or movies, though television series such as Alias, 24, The Sandbaggers and Spooks also fall into this genre, along with such non-fiction bestsellers as Holy Blood, Holy Grail and even Fermat's Enigma, Simon Singh's account of the conquest of Fermat's Last Theorem. While thrillers constitute a distinct genre, they often incorporate elements of other genres such as adventure, detective fiction, and espionage. A thriller includes suspense as an indispensable ingredient, attempting to envoke a mood of excitement and tension in the reader.
Novelists closely associated with the genre include: Robert Ludlum, David Morrell, Gayle Lynds, Frederick Forsyth, John Ling, Dan Brown, Tom Clancy, Matthew Reilly, Michael Crichton and Alistair MacLean.
Notable movie thrillers include: Psycho, The Thirty-Nine Steps, The Manchurian Candidate, Fight Club, North by Northwest, The Day of the Jackal, Duel, The Parallax View, In the Line of Fire, The Fugitive, The Silence of the Lambs and Marathon Man.