The Last One at the Wedding

Content Warning: This section of the guide discusses domestic violence and sexual abuse. 

Domestic thrillers are a subgenre of psychological thrillers. Like psychological thrillers, domestic thrillers use mystery and suspense to explore complex psychological issues and generate feelings of anxiety and suspense. Domestic thrillers are additionally characterized by their specific focus on daily life, domestic settings, and fraught family relationships, and they often explore the impact that those situations have on individuals. The situations depicted in domestic thrillers, because they so closely parallel everyday life, create an especially familiar (and often tense) atmosphere. Their narratives are “closer to home” than espionage thrillers, police procedurals, or novels that focus on large-scale government intrigue.

Domestic thrillers often feature themes that explore the impact of secrecy, lies, and deception on families, but they also depict issues such as work-life balance, infidelity, troubled marriages, the difficulties of parenting, and sibling rivalries. They sometimes delve into darker topics such as intimate partner violence, childhood trauma, sexual abuse, and even murder. Domestic thrillers are typically character-driven, featuring a cast of figures who are complex and round. Because they so frequently explore the nature of familial relationships, domestic thrillers offer a window into at least one character’s emotional state, motivations, and drives.