A good thriller is like a layer cake—stack upon stack of delicious goodness that infuses social meaning apart from the plot. I learned to write my debut thriller, MULTO, like a layer cake the hard way.

What does it take to be a traditionally published author? Twenty years ago, I would have said talent and connections. Today, only one word comes to mind—grit. If your field is as cutthroat as publishing, here are four ways that helped me develop mental toughness, which could be the very thing you need.

At first glance, Rachel is just like the thousands of people who ride the train to and from London daily. Anyone who commutes, as I have done for almost a decade traveling from New Jersey to Manhattan and back every day, will appreciate her experience. But, unlike most commuters, Rachel has an enormous emotional and psychological baggage that slowly unravels in this excellent thriller.

Mick “Scorcher” Kennedy, the Dublin detective with the best solve rate in Tana French’s books, is assigned a vicious case in her latest thriller. Patrick Spain and his two young children have been murdered in their home. His wife, Jenny, is barely alive.

Alan Furst’s “Midnight in Europe” has all the essential elements of a spy novel: an intrepid hero with an active love life, a femme fatale, arms smuggling, and political intrigue that spans from Paris to Gdasnk to Odessa. At the same time, the novel deviates in a number of ways.