One of the ongoing debates in most romance reading circles is the specific answer to one question: What differentiates a romantic suspense from a romantic thriller? The answer is different depending on who you ask, but as far as I’m concerned, it boils down to the scope of the story. Romantic thrillers are filled with what happens as larger-than-life events take over the lives of people who mostly live their lives on or over the edge. Romantic suspense is personal, encompassing the trouble that happens in someone’s own backyard, whether it’s in their town or in their house.
Pamela Clare’s Breaking Point is a lovely example of a romantic thriller. Our heroine is a journalist who gets kidnapped by representatives of a Mexican drug cartel, one of many women this particular cartel has kidnapped for all sorts of purposes. Our hero turns out to be *spoiler* an undercover federal marshal. The goal is to free our heroine and stop the cartel. Global problems, larger scale: romantic thriller.
