From recent article by on the emerging book genre:
"Can you really trust those who are closest to you?" This is the underlying premise of the latest "hot" crime genre, the domestic or marriage thriller.
Spurred on by the success of Gillian Flynn's Gone Girl, a number of authors have moved into realm of the domestic thriller where the common concern is the fear of a partner's unknowability. As one recent book in the genre noted, "The most dangerous lies are those closest to home".(Including by Australia's own Liane Moriaty.)
From a review of new release film, The Girl on the Train.
"...perhaps has more in common with Before I Go to Sleep, the 2011 debut novel from S.J. Watson, which was filmed in 2014 with Nicole Kidman, Colin Firth and Mark Strong in the leads. Both are what has been termed domestic thrillers (or domestic noir), with a female character at the heart of the story, the drama unfolding around the home, and trust the central issue (well, that and murder, which frankly doesn't help much with the old trust business).
It's a sub-genre that flourished in the early 1990s, and might include the likes of Fatal Attraction and Single White Female or even Joel Edgerton's excellent 2015 Hollywood directing debut The Gift.
Acknowledging his debt to classics of the genre such as Pacific Heights (1990) and The Hand That Rocks the Cradle (1992), he said at the heart of his movie was the question "how well do you know the person you're living with?".
Classic domestic thrillers:
Suspicion, 1941
Fatal Attraction, 1987
Malice, 1993
Gone Girl, 2014
The Gift, 2015
Image from Suspicion starring Cary Grant and Joan Fontaine.
