Conspiracy Thriller

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.

A Thriller centered on the conflict between The Protagonist and The Conspiracy, often with an elaborate Conspiracy Theory as the background.

The story starts off with either a minor meaningless crime or a high-profile murder. A person related to the criminal blamed or the uncovered victim notices some odd discrepancies in the official story and digs deeper. Before the protagonist realizes it, he/she/it are caught in a multi-layered plot that involves possibly EVERYONE, especially those who are tasked with the official investigation... meaning that the hero/heroine can't go to the cops... or the press... or that janitor in the hallway they just passed who looks a little too much like the guy who'd been shadowing them the last day or so...

See also So You Want To: Write A Conspiracy Theory.

Examples of conspiracy thrillers include: