Abuses of Power in Crime Fiction
By Rebecca McKanna
July 24, 2023
If crime fiction is compelling because it shows us the best and worst of humanity, then power shows us something similar. How a person wields their power tells us everything about who they are and what they value. Whether it was a teacher who graded unfairly or a doctor who ignored our concerns, all of us have experienced power imbalances and the tension and helplessness they can create.
In my novel, Don’t Forget the Girl, I found myself coming back to abuses of power—a professor sleeping with a student, a teacher using his authority to play mind games with his students, a detective seducing a teenage girl connected to the case he’s investigating. These dynamics are perfect for thrillers, because of how disorienting, destabilizing, and damaging they can be for the victims of this kind of misconduct.
It made me think about other crime novels exploring abuses of power. Here are five of my favorites:
They Never Learn by Layne Fargo
Fargo’s delicious psychological thriller follows an English professor who is also a serial killer. Dr. Scarlett Clark targets men who have abused women on campus. This dark and intense novel is a sharp commentary about campus rape culture and men who abuse their power.
Lakewood by Megan Giddings
In this terrifying thriller, Lena drops out of college after her grandmother dies to become a subject in a secret program of medical experiments, hoping the compensation will help her pay down the family’s debt. However, she soon becomes uneasy, as she learns more about the research and realizes the participants are mostly minorities. Drawing on the U.S.’s painful history of exploiting Black bodies for medical research, Giddings’ novel is as chilling as it is compelling.
Saint X by Alexis Schaitkin
The crime at the center of this novel is reminiscent of the real-life case of Natalee Holloway, who went missing from her high school graduation trip to Aruba in 2005. As in the Holloway case, the missing girl’s disappearance in Schaitkin’s novel sets off a media frenzy. Years later, the missing girl’s sister tries to find out what actually happened, following the man suspected of her murder. Schaitkin creates a page-turner that also examines race, class, and power.
Reprieve by James Han Mattson
Early on in this gripping novel, we learn a real murder occurred at a full-contact haunted house in the Midwest. Although readers will tear through Mattson’s exquisitely written prose to learn how and why the murder occurred, the novel’s excellent exploration of race, power, and identity will stay with them long after the murder’s details have been revealed.
Long Bright River by Liz Moore
While Mickey works as a police officer, her sister Kacey is gripped by opiate addiction. When several murders happen and Kacey goes missing, Mickey races to find the killer and save her sister. The novel is both a twisty thriller and a meditation on the systemic abuses that ravage neighborhoods and fuel the opioid epidemic.