Everyone is said to enjoy mysteries, but is this really the case? The most popular literary genre is generally considered to be the crime fiction, mystery, and thriller subgenre because it consistently ranks at the top of bestseller lists. For thrillers to be so popular, something very significant must be happening. Why not give them a chance if you’ve avoided them like the sickness up until now? What could possibly go wrong? Maybe a few nights of insomnia? But goodwill all be worth it when you read a good crime thriller. Here are the top benefits of reading a criminal thriller novel.
- An Exercise for your Brain
The key to keeping your brain healthy and functioning properly is to keep it stimulated through learning. Okay, so reading doesn’t have the same benefits for brain health as exercise, but it’s still pretty darn good. This is the science portion. Older readers who regularly read have a 2.5 times lower risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease, according to research published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. It seems there is a real connection between intellectual pursuits like reading and the avoidance of a really terrible disease.
- Reduces Stress and Lifts your Spirits
Although it may seem contradictory, reading thrillers—the kind of suspenseful stories that make your heart race and your neck muscles tense up—is a great way to let stress out. Although you experience some physical reactions as you read, the experience is vicariously yours. Even though your brain responds as if these events are happening to you, they are not. At the conclusion of the book, you experience a catharsis, which is a purifying, liberating release akin to the positive side effects of physical activity. This makes stress relief another welcome and unexpected benefit.
- A Boost to your Esteem
The most important principles that define who we are as humans are life, liberty, and justice. Reading thrillers, mystery’s genre sister, has the same effect as reading mystery stories, as Sue Grafton noted in her introduction to the 1998 edition of The Best American Mystery Stories: “Each story touches on a facet of evil and, by implication, sheds light on its counterpart, good.” Reading a thriller with numerous threats to these fundamental principles gives you a chance to weigh, measure, and use a magnifying glass to examine your own principles and strengthen them internally. You sense the world returning to balance and are given new energy to carry on when good overcomes evil.
If you want to learn more about the benefits of reading a criminal thriller, then you should read a good criminal thriller novel, and you will be surprised when you start observing the benefits it is bringing you. A top recommendation for a crime thriller is Meth, Murder, and Amazon. The book is a perfect combination of suspense, crime, and humor. The author has written a non-fiction novel to prove that realities can sometimes be stranger than fiction stories.