Why ‘good’ versus ‘bad’ binaries can harm crime fiction

This post explores how oversimplifications of human motivation as  ‘good’ versus ‘evil’ can damage crime fiction, mysteries and thrillers.

In this post

Read on to find out more about:

• the trouble with clear-cut morality
• turning flat caricatures into relatable characters
• exploring justice that reflects reality
• building tension through real-world themes.

The trouble with clear-cut morality

In real life, morality is murky. Few people do harm ‘just because’. People do bad things for complex reasons, and those in investigative roles – and apparently on the side of justice – don’t always behave impeccably.

Compelling contemporary crime fiction tends to avoid rigid binaries that present ‘good’ and ‘bad’ characters, where the villain is evil because they commit a crime, and the sleuth is good because they solve it.
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Going down that route can weaken character development, limit emotional relatability and misrepresent how justice manifests in a way that’s plausible. 

​How to turn flat caricatures into relatable characters

In a binary model, the villain is ‘monsterized’ as inherently bad – the evil psychopath or lowlife. The focus is more on the nastiness they’ve done.

Meanwhile, the investigator is ‘heroized’ as inherently good – the wonderful restorer of order. The focus is on how they’ve saved the day.

However, when you provide a deeper understanding of the reasons why a criminal acted as they did, and when you make space for a sleuth’s flaws, doubts and moral ambiguity, readers are able to access more plausible and fully rounded characters with human backstories and worldviews, however flawed.

An example from the bookshelf
​One of my favourite examples of a flawed law-enforcement officer is Mick Herron’s Jackson Lamb, the unkempt, chain-smoking, foul-mouthed and flatulent head of Slough House, home to MI5 agents who’ve made career-ending mistakes.

He’s vicious but protective, revolting but brilliant, both burned out and razor-sharp, more anti-hero than saviour. It’s Lamb’s complexity that keeps readers turning the page.

• Herron, Mick. Slough House. John Murray, 2021. Cover image used under fair use for commentary

Prompt for writers and editors
Check your villain and sleuth. Where are the cracks that could move them away from binary stereotypes and towards human beings that your readers feel compelled to get under the skin of?

Does the sleuth wonder if they're doing the right thing? Does the criminal regret, justify or second-guess themself? Making space for this adds tension.

Exploring justice that reflects reality

Ditching binary models of ‘good’ and ‘bad’ allows you to explore crime and justice in a way that engages readers who’ve experienced systemic injustice in real life, as well as those whose privilege means they haven’t. 

For example, a criminal’s actions might stem from something far more alarming than pure greed. It could be grounded in, or driven by, their experience of poverty, fear, abuse, racial- or class-based oppression.
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Taking this approach asks readers to consider where biases in the system are, who the establishment serves, and whether equal opportunity really stands up under the microscope.

Examples from the bookshelf
​When I first read The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood over thirty years ago, Aunt Lydia, one of Gilead’s enforcers, didn’t get a voice, so I had no access to her motivations as a perpetrator. In The Testaments, she finally gets to narrate. It’s a glorious study of how abuse, fear and oppression can drive the most appalling behaviours, and what deeper motivation might lie beyond.
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On the surface, SA Cosby’s Razorblade Tears is a revenge thriller focusing on two former conmen – one Black, one white – bent on dishing out justice after their sons are murdered. But embedded within the criminality is a powerful story about grief and the prejudice each man must confront within himself. 

• Atwood, Margaret. The Testaments. Nan A. Talese/Doubleday, 2019. Cover image used under fair use for commentary.
• Cosby, S. A. Razorblade Tears. Flatiron Books, 2021. Cover image used under fair use for commentary.

Prompt for writers and editors
Check your assumptions. What lived experiences do your villain and sleuth bring to the table, and how do those affect their perception of the crime, evading detection and the approach to the investigation?
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Avoid telling readers who’s ‘right’ and who’s ‘wrong'. Instead, show them conflicting perspectives and allow them to decide for themselves.

Ask questions about your perpetrators and your investigators: What does this person want and fear? What trauma or injustice shaped their choices? Who might see them as a hero, and who might see them as a villain?

Building tension through real-world themes

Avoiding traditional ‘good’ and ‘bad’ binaries encourages space for exploring themes that cement tension throughout the novel, and speak to readers living in the world as it is now … or the one it might be in the not-too-distant future.

Through those themes, you might explore societies’ values, and what constitutes criminal behaviour in terms of your own and your readers’ values. Are there are circumstances where bad deeds might be justified for the greater good?

For example, could the perpetrator and the investigator both be grappling with thorny concepts that make who’s ‘right’ and who’s ‘wrong’ ambiguous?
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• Human comfort versus environmental sustainability: A resistance movement rises against a draconian regime that’s dismantled modern technology to prevent ecological collapse. Is this a fight for freedom or the beginning of a new disaster?
• The right to knowledge versus the threat of chaos: A journalist uncovers the existence of a human-made virus so dangerous that its mere exposure could trigger global panic. Do they reveal the truth or bury it for the greater good?
• Loyalty to the vulnerable versus telling the truth: A detective learns that their spouse has hidden evidence to protect their autistic child from prosecution. Do they uphold the law or shield their family?
• Security versus privacy: A whistleblower leaks details of an AI system that secretly monitors millions. Is it an act of justice, betrayal or both?

An example from the bookshelf
​​Tom R Weaver’s debut thriller Artificial Wisdom mixes
cli-fi, techno-political intrigue and ethical tension.

​It asks readers to consider whether truth matters more than survival, and whether we should trust our fate to humanity alone or something beyond it.

• Weaver, Thomas R. Artificial Wisdom: Random House Worlds, 2024. Cover image used under fair use for commentary.

Prompt for writers and editors
Check your underlying themes. Which big-picture questions might you draw the reader's attention to and that don’t have clearcut answers? What happens when the system itself is unjust? What if both the criminal and sleuth are victims of the same failing structure?

Summing up

Crime fiction and thrillers can reveal uncomfortable truths about people and systems. By embracing ambiguity, you can craft more emotionally resonant and morally engaging stories.

To keep your characters interesting and out of binary waters, ask yourself whether the most compelling villain might be one who almost persuades us, and whether the most unforgettable hero might be one who almost breaks our trust.

Other resources you might like

• Start Crime Fiction Editing: multimedia course
• Editing Fiction at Sentence Level: book
• Fiction editing line craft: books
• How to Line Edit for Suspense: multimedia course
• How to Write the Perfect Editorial Report: multimedia course
• Narrative Distance: multimedia course
• Resource library
• Switching to Fiction: multimedia course​

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About Louise

Louise Harnby is a line editor, copyeditor and proofreader who specializes in working with crime, mystery, suspense and thriller writers.

She is an Advanced Professional Member of the Chartered Institute of Editing and Proofreading (CIEP) and co-hosts The Editing Podcast.

• Get in touch: Louise Harnby | Crime Fiction & Thriller Editor
• Connect: X @LouiseHarnby, Facebook and LinkedIn
• Learn: Books and courses
• Discover: Resources for authors and editors

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